Team:Technion Israel/Engagement
Introduction
Science, as we see it, should be accessible to anyone who seek it, regardless of his/her occupation, age or gender.
We think it is essential for everyone to understand the basic principles of life and learn about the elementary processes of biology.
To achieve this, we designed and organized activities suitable for the following age groups:
- Kindergarten kids.
- High School students / teenagers.
- College Students.
- The general public.
- Seniors.
In addition to organizing the activities, we have created a "Do It Yourself" booklet including all the activities.
The purpose of this booklet is to enable other iGEM groups or educators to repeat and improve the activities.
Kindergartens
Introducing young children to the wonderful and interesting world of science is the best way to encourage them to be curious,
ask questions about life and not be afraid of the unknown.
This is why we met with the scientists of the future, and provided
them some of the basic tools of science.
With the help of Nobel Prize winner - Prof. Dan Shechtman, we contacted three scientific kindergartens (kindergartens aimed
to teach science) and arranged three meetings for each.
The goal of these meetings was to teach and explain the different aspects
of water. For example, the three states of water: solid, liquid and gas. Furthermore, this activity provided the children with the basic
tools required to tackle scientific problems in the future.
For more information, see our "Do It Yourself"
booklet for kindergartens.
Teenagers & High School students
Today's high school students are familiar with the phrases: biology, DNA and genetic code, however they have rarely
encountered “synthetic biology” or the “iGEM” competition.
To help promote the high school iGEM platform and encourage young entrepreneurship, we collaborated with
“MadaTech” – The Israel National Museum of Science, Technology and Space. Through this collaboration, a group
of students from a Mexican high school was hosted at a “MadaTech” lab, where we introduced them to the world
of “synthetic biology” and the “iGEM” competition. Moreover, they learned the basic concepts of operating a
microscope, while examining samples from different sources (hair, onions and more). Also, they learned about the
bacteria surrounding us.
This meeting proved to be successful, the students came up with some unique ideas for iGEM projects and
learned about the qualities of the microscopic world.
To see more about the activity, look at our "Do It Yourself" booklet at the high school students section.
Or, see the presentation presented during the activity.
College students
"Science at the Bar" nights were an excellent and successful tool to promote science and knowledge among young adults.
As the name implies, a scientist was hosted and gave a lecture at a local pub in Haifa city – "Junta". Through the lecture
the audience was introduced to the scientist's field of study, while getting hands-on information, regarding the cutting
edge research performed in the lab.
We arranged three nights, with different scientists who spoke about their research. Each of the scientists works in a
unique and a innovative field, with little information known to the public including ourselves!
On the first night, we hosted Prof. David (Dedi) Meiri from the faculty of Biology, Technion.
His lecture
"Is cannabis the antibiotic of the next century?"
focuses on the effects of
medical cannabinoid (cannabis) on different types of diseases, such as cancer, epilepsy and diabetes. This lecture was in such high demand that we decided to invite Prof. Meiri to speak again.
On the second night, Prof. Avraham Haim from the faculty of Natural Sciences, Haifa University was hosted. His lecture
"Is green really green? The complexity of solutions to environmental issues"
focuses on light pollution – the effects of lights and the LED lamps on our sleeping cycles and our daily lives.
Lastly, we hosted Prof. Meytal Landau from the faculty of Biology, Technion. Her research
"Medicine, bacteria and Particle accelerators"
focuses on recent advances in cutting edge drug research.
The general public
To reach a wider audience, we collaborated with both Tel-Hai iGEM team and MadaTech - The Israel National Museum of Science, Technology and
Space, to participate in the “European Researchers' Night – 2016”, dedicated for science games.
In this special night, various museums and universities around Europe, including Israel, opened their
gates and invited people from all ages to see the exhibitions and meet scientists from all fields.
We set up a counter, named “playing with genes”, where we talked about synthetic biology, iGEM foundation and about our project. Aside
from the explanations, we offered the visitors a chance to play with genes,
as we do in our lab. They took a circular ribbon (plasmid), digested it with scissors (restriction enzyme) and added
a new color ribbon (insert) to it. Afterwards, they transformed it into a balloon (bacteria), and inflated the balloon. In 10 minutes the visitors got a general idea about our work in the lab, and learned basic
concepts in biology.
The activity got a lot of attention, and many visitors got the chance to “play with genes”.
To try this activity, see our "Do It Yourself" booklet.
Seniors
As seniors have experienced life, we often come to hear their stories and get their advice.
We believe it is time to
give them something back, and grant them basic terms and tools from the world of science.
Understanding the concepts of life and expanding one's horizons is always positive, no matter the age.
As a finale to our educational project, we went to a retirement home in our neighborhood to meet with the seniors
staying there. They were eager to hear our lecture
about synthetic biology, iGEM foundation and our project (also available in pptx format). After the presentation they stayed and asked many questions.
We learned that even after 70 years the mind is creative and ambitious, sometimes even more than some 20 years old minds.
