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, its three states: solid, liquid and gas. Furthermore, this activity provided the children with the basic tools needed to tackle scientific problems in the future.

For more information, see our "Do It Yourself" booklet for kindergartens:
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Today's high school students are familiar with the phrases: biology, DNA and genetic code, however rarely have they 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:
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Or, see the presentation presented during the activity:
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"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 a different scientist speaking at each of them. Each of the scientists was working in a unique and a new 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?" Link to the first abstract 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" Link to the second abstract 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" Link to the third abstract focuses on recent advances in cutting edge drug research.

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.
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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. 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.