Team:Carnegie Mellon/Hum-Outreach

From 2012.igem.org

(Difference between revisions)
 
(47 intermediate revisions not shown)
Line 16: Line 16:
<li>
<li>
<a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon/Hom-Team">Team</a>
<a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon/Hom-Team">Team</a>
 +
</li>
 +
<li>
 +
<a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon/Hom-Attributions">Attributions</a>
</li>
</li>
<li>
<li>
Line 72: Line 75:
<li>
<li>
<a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon/Mod-Matlab">Matlab</a>
<a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon/Mod-Matlab">Matlab</a>
 +
</li>
 +
<li>
 +
<a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon/Mod-Expanded">Expanded</a>
</li>
</li>
</ul>
</ul>
Line 79: Line 85:
<a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon/Hum-Overview">Human Practices</a>
<a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon/Hum-Overview">Human Practices</a>
<ul>
<ul>
-
<li class = 'offset' style ='width: 615px'> <a href="#"></a></li>
+
<li class = 'offset' style ='width: 296px'> <a href="#"></a></li>
<li>
<li>
<a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon/Hum-Overview">Overview</a>
<a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon/Hum-Overview">Overview</a>
Line 91: Line 97:
<li>
<li>
<a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon/Hum-Software">Software</a>
<a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon/Hum-Software">Software</a>
 +
</li>
 +
<li>
 +
<a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon/Hum-Team">Team Presentation</a>
 +
</li>
 +
<li>
 +
<a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon/Hum-Teaching">Teaching Presentation</a>
</li>
</li>
</ul>
</ul>
Line 96: Line 108:
</ul>
</ul>
     <br /><br /><br />
     <br /><br /><br />
 +
<!--Main Contents -->
<!--Main Contents -->
Line 132: Line 145:
             <header id = "header2">
             <header id = "header2">
            
            
-
                     <h1 id="section1-1"> Summer presentations to high school students </h1>
+
                     <h1 id="section1-1"> Summer Presentations to High School Students </h1>
                 <p>
                 <p>
-
                 With the goal of reaching out to and educating Pittsburgh area high school students about synthetic biology, we organized several sessions where we introduced synthetic biology to students, talked about state-of-the-art, goals and obstacles of the field, and presented our iGEM project.  
+
                 The  <a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon/Hum-Overview">Human Practices/Overview</a> page provides information about the teaching materials, including a circuit kit, that our team created for the Lending Library of Kits of <a href="http://www.cmu.edu/cnast/DNAZone/index"> DNAZone</a>, the K-12 grade outreach program of the  <a href="http://www.cmu.edu/cnast/"> Center of Nucleic Acids Science and Technology (CNAST)</a> at Carnegie Mellon.  The Synthetic Biology kit will be used by high school Science teachers in classrooms in the Pittsburgh Public School System. We have already tested the kit in several presentations given by the team to High School students studying on the Carnegie Mellon campus this summer.
                 </p>
                 </p>
                 <p>
                 <p>
Line 141: Line 154:
             </p>
             </p>
<p>
<p>
-
<ol><li> July 18:
+
<ol><li> July 18 and August 1: Presentations to rising junior and senior high school students who participated in the Summer Academy of Math and Science at Carnegie Mellon. 
-
</li><li> July 20:
+
"The Summer Academy for Mathematics and Science (SAMS) is a rigorous residential summer experience for good students who have a strong interest in math and science and want to become excellent students." An objective of SAMS is to contribute to the expansion of the pipeline of outstanding college-bound high school graduates with diverse backgrounds.
-
</li><li> August 1:
+
</li><li> July 20: Presentation to high school students taking AP Biology at Carnegie Mellon and their teacher. 
</ol>  
</ol>  
</p>
</p>
  <p>
  <p>
-
In these presentations (see our slides here), we used the built circuit kit to visualize and demonstrate the main aspects of our project.
+
In these presentations (<a href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Carnegie_Mellon/Hum-Team"> download here!</a>), we introduced Synthetic Biology and iGEM to the students. <br>
-
</p>
+
<iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/14905934" width="476" height="400" align="middle" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" ></iframe>
 +
<br><br>
-
<p>
+
In conjunction with the presentation, we used the circuit kit to explain the main aspects of our research project and to demonstrate how the biosensor can be used to characterize a promoter.  For a given set of electronic components, we measured and displayed graphical representations of the current/voltage. 
-
Using the circuit kit, we demonstrated to the students a simulation of the fluorescent sensor, which reveals promoter characteristics. We plotted graphical representations of mRNA and protein production, and then analyzed the changes in the output when certain parts of the sensor model are removed or changed. Finally, we ranked a group of promoters that can be interchanged in the model by strength based on the graphical data we plotted.
+
<br>
 +
<br>
 +
<b> Interactive Mini-game </b>
 +
<br><br>
 +
<img src ="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2012/f/f1/Minigame.png" width="385px" height="345px" align="right">
 +
To encourage the students to interact and play with the circuit kit, we devised a mini-game which placed the students in our shoes: <b> as Synthetic Biologists using our BioBrick system to characterize new promoters. </b> <br><br>
 +
We did this by giving the students a set of different resistors, and gave them the challenge to find the best promoter by mixing and matching these parts and characterizing them using our circuit kit. <br>
 +
Students could then change the electronic components and observe the corresponding changes in current/voltage. In the process, we explained to the students the formal equivalence of the electronic components and Biobricks and of the current/voltage and measured fluorescence signals. We also explained to them the biological significance of the graphs obtained.
</p>
</p>
 +
<br>
<p>
<p>
-
From our presentation, the students were able to learn about:
+
The students who attended our presentations learned about:
-
<ol><li>Biological systems and synthetic biology
+
<ol><li> Synthetic biology and its relationship to Biology and Science and Engineering in general
-
</li><li> The interdisciplinary nature of synthetic biology
+
</li><li> Gene expression and the central dogma of molecular biology
</li><li> Gene expression and the central dogma of molecular biology
-
</li><li> How the software measures properties of promoters
 
</li><li> How synthetic biologists tackle real-world problems
</li><li> How synthetic biologists tackle real-world problems
-
</ol>  
+
</li><li> The iGEM competition and how our iGEM team's project enables one to measures the properties of promoters
 +
</li><li> The interdisciplinary nature of synthetic biology
 +
</li><li> The advantages and challenges of interdisciplinary work
 +
</li></ol>
</p>
</p>
-
<p> Photos... </p>
+
<p> Photos from our summer presentations can be found <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7kqncwq63vay4za/5zUMzdUbNs"> here</a>. </p>
             </section>
             </section>
Line 182: Line 205:
<h1 id = "section1-2">
<h1 id = "section1-2">
-
   Future outreach plans
+
   Future Outreach Plans
</h1>
</h1>
         </header>
         </header>
Line 191: Line 214:
<p>
<p>
-
   The circuit will be the basis for a kit to be used by HS biology teachers in
+
   The circuit is the basis for a kit to be used by high school Science teachers in classrooms in public schools in Pittsburgh. This is a means to incorporate Synthetic Biology in the HS curriculum. The kit is made available through the Lending Library of Science Kits of <a href="http://www.cmu.edu/cnast/DNAZone/index"> DNAZone</a>, the K-12 outreach program of the <a href="http://www.cmu.edu/cnast/"> Center of Nucleic Acids Science and Technology (CNAST)</a>.
-
classrooms in public schools in Pittsburgh. The goal is to incorporate Synthetic Biology in the HS curriculum. The kit will be implemented by DNAZone, the outreach program of CNAST, and become part of their lending library of teaching materials.  
+
<br>
 +
  We also came up with a teaching presentation to assist teachers in using our kits for teaching about Synthetic Biology. To download the presentation, please go to the Teaching Presentation portion of our Wiki.
 +
 
 +
<br>
 +
 
 +
<iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/14905902" width="476" height="400" align="middle" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" ></iframe>
 +
<br>
</p>
</p>
<p>
<p>
-
  Educational Objectives:
+
The educational objectives of the classes in which the students use our Synthetic Biology kit are:
-
<ol><li>Students will be able to define and describe the importance of synthetic biology  
+
<ol><li>Students will be able to give a definition of synthetic biology
-
</li><li> Students will be able to identify one real-world application of gene expression
+
</li><li> Students will be able to identify one real-world application of synthetic biology
</li><li> Students will be able to explain how technology is used to extend human abilities
</li><li> Students will be able to explain how technology is used to extend human abilities
-
</li><li> Students will be able to analyze the correlation between the input and output values of the sensor model
+
</li><li> Students will be able to recognize the correlation between the input and output of a biological or electronic circuit
-
</li><li> Students will be able to list advantages and disadvantages of using models to simulate processes and outcomes
+
</li><li> Students will be able to recognize the advantages and limitations of using models to simulate processes that relate an input and its output
-
</li><li> Students will be able to discuss the contributions that different science fields make to the interdisciplinary field of synthetic biology
+
</li><li> Students will be able to discuss the value of collaboration in interdisciplinary fields  
</li><li> Students will be able to discuss ethics aspects related to synthetic biology
</li><li> Students will be able to discuss ethics aspects related to synthetic biology
</ol>  
</ol>  

Latest revision as of 03:38, 27 October 2012

Image:CMU_image6.jpeg




Summer Presentations to High School Students

The Human Practices/Overview page provides information about the teaching materials, including a circuit kit, that our team created for the Lending Library of Kits of DNAZone, the K-12 grade outreach program of the Center of Nucleic Acids Science and Technology (CNAST) at Carnegie Mellon. The Synthetic Biology kit will be used by high school Science teachers in classrooms in the Pittsburgh Public School System. We have already tested the kit in several presentations given by the team to High School students studying on the Carnegie Mellon campus this summer.

This was the schedule and audience of our presentations:

  1. July 18 and August 1: Presentations to rising junior and senior high school students who participated in the Summer Academy of Math and Science at Carnegie Mellon. "The Summer Academy for Mathematics and Science (SAMS) is a rigorous residential summer experience for good students who have a strong interest in math and science and want to become excellent students." An objective of SAMS is to contribute to the expansion of the pipeline of outstanding college-bound high school graduates with diverse backgrounds.
  2. July 20: Presentation to high school students taking AP Biology at Carnegie Mellon and their teacher.

In these presentations ( download here!), we introduced Synthetic Biology and iGEM to the students.


In conjunction with the presentation, we used the circuit kit to explain the main aspects of our research project and to demonstrate how the biosensor can be used to characterize a promoter. For a given set of electronic components, we measured and displayed graphical representations of the current/voltage.

Interactive Mini-game

To encourage the students to interact and play with the circuit kit, we devised a mini-game which placed the students in our shoes: as Synthetic Biologists using our BioBrick system to characterize new promoters.

We did this by giving the students a set of different resistors, and gave them the challenge to find the best promoter by mixing and matching these parts and characterizing them using our circuit kit.
Students could then change the electronic components and observe the corresponding changes in current/voltage. In the process, we explained to the students the formal equivalence of the electronic components and Biobricks and of the current/voltage and measured fluorescence signals. We also explained to them the biological significance of the graphs obtained.


The students who attended our presentations learned about:

  1. Synthetic biology and its relationship to Biology and Science and Engineering in general
  2. Gene expression and the central dogma of molecular biology
  3. How synthetic biologists tackle real-world problems
  4. The iGEM competition and how our iGEM team's project enables one to measures the properties of promoters
  5. The interdisciplinary nature of synthetic biology
  6. The advantages and challenges of interdisciplinary work

Photos from our summer presentations can be found here.

The circuit is the basis for a kit to be used by high school Science teachers in classrooms in public schools in Pittsburgh. This is a means to incorporate Synthetic Biology in the HS curriculum. The kit is made available through the Lending Library of Science Kits of DNAZone, the K-12 outreach program of the Center of Nucleic Acids Science and Technology (CNAST).
We also came up with a teaching presentation to assist teachers in using our kits for teaching about Synthetic Biology. To download the presentation, please go to the Teaching Presentation portion of our Wiki.

The educational objectives of the classes in which the students use our Synthetic Biology kit are:

  1. Students will be able to give a definition of synthetic biology
  2. Students will be able to identify one real-world application of synthetic biology
  3. Students will be able to explain how technology is used to extend human abilities
  4. Students will be able to recognize the correlation between the input and output of a biological or electronic circuit
  5. Students will be able to recognize the advantages and limitations of using models to simulate processes that relate an input and its output
  6. Students will be able to discuss the value of collaboration in interdisciplinary fields
  7. Students will be able to discuss ethics aspects related to synthetic biology

Image:TartanFooter.jpeg