Team:Bielefeld-CeBiTec/HP/School Talks
Synbio Schooltalks
Directed Evolution of Educational Outreach
Bringing synthetic biology and the iGEM projects in contact with the public is a relevant part of the iGEM competition.
In order to reach new interested groups, we dedicated in many activities to spread our public outreach.
Among other things we co-hosted the CeBiTec pupils academy (link), published a german homepage (link), presented our project at a scientific symposium (link) and the public ceremony of NRW-Day 2016 (link),
designed a postcard regarding synthetic biology (link) and had close communication with media and press (link), including a successful crowdfunding campaign (link).
Providing information about synthetic biology and scientific projects often is afflicted with several difficulties. Our experience in public relations especially with young people at the pupils academy and the nonscientific audience at NRW day 2016 shows, that explaining synthetic biology and iGEM projects understandable is very complicated and not always successful. This incomprehension could lead to disinterest or refusal. Similar to our project “Evobodies – Molecular Speed Dating” in public communication an optimal adaption to the target is essential. Different target groups require various approaches of interaction.
To optimize our public and educational outreach we considered possibilities to reach especially non-scientific and young people. In conversation with a cultural anthropologist of Frankfurt´s Goethe University we asked for advices in reaching our target group.
Providing information about synthetic biology and scientific projects often is afflicted with several difficulties. Our experience in public relations especially with young people at the pupils academy and the nonscientific audience at NRW day 2016 shows, that explaining synthetic biology and iGEM projects understandable is very complicated and not always successful. This incomprehension could lead to disinterest or refusal. Similar to our project “Evobodies – Molecular Speed Dating” in public communication an optimal adaption to the target is essential. Different target groups require various approaches of interaction.
To optimize our public and educational outreach we considered possibilities to reach especially non-scientific and young people. In conversation with a cultural anthropologist of Frankfurt´s Goethe University we asked for advices in reaching our target group.
Florian Helfer is student for cultural anthropology and European ethnology at Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. In his bachelor thesis he is determining several aspects of actual biohacking agitation. As iGEM team Bielefeld-CeBiTec, we decided to help Florian with his project and discuss our opinions and experiences with biohacking and iGEM. On notice of our several public and medial activities he suggested to search for barriers between iGEMers and non-scientifics. Especially the language barrier is supposed to be a main problem in the educational outreach. Technical and scientific terms as well as laboratory slang are common in the synbio-language. It is important to reduce opaque words and the complexity of used terms in presentations and publications.
To achieve a comprehensible and clear educational outreach, we realized a series of synbio-lectures with evolutional stages of improvement. For this, we presented our project in context with synthetic biology in front of a certain school classes. After our discourse, we tested the uptake and comprehension of this topic by performing a small examination. Beside questions for general biological terms and definitions and specific questions for our project, we included a survey to collect opinions and tips for the way of presenting and the setup of the presentation. After every stage of presentation, we adjusted our performance by analyzing the test and the survey.
To complete the fitting of our educational outreach to the public language we designed and published a conceptual dictionary “synbio -> public” (Link).
To achieve a comprehensible and clear educational outreach, we realized a series of synbio-lectures with evolutional stages of improvement. For this, we presented our project in context with synthetic biology in front of a certain school classes. After our discourse, we tested the uptake and comprehension of this topic by performing a small examination. Beside questions for general biological terms and definitions and specific questions for our project, we included a survey to collect opinions and tips for the way of presenting and the setup of the presentation. After every stage of presentation, we adjusted our performance by analyzing the test and the survey.
To complete the fitting of our educational outreach to the public language we designed and published a conceptual dictionary “synbio -> public” (Link).
