The ASU iGEM team presented the “Exploring Synthetic Biology” curriculum to high school biotechnology classes. The ASU iGEM team is working with various high schools around the state of Arizona to start iGEM teams. In addition, ASU iGEM is working with Bioscience high school to develop a project idea for the 2013 high school iGEM competition. This past year, ASU helped Bioscience High School become the first high school iGEM team in Arizona and receive Honorable Mention for Best New BioBrick Part or Device.

The high school division of iGEM has the potential to alter the current approaches to teaching science education in high school. Currently, many students are discouraged to continue in the sciences upon reaching college due to the perceived tediousness and rote memorization that has defined many high school science classes. iGEM, with its hands-on approach, could rekindle an interest and enthusiasm in the natural sciences engineering, and mathematics amongst high school students.

Currently, the high school division of iGEM is centralized to the American midwest, with sparse involvement from other regions. We aim to challenge this current predicament by introducing the emerging field of synthetic biology to high schools across the state of Arizona to spur curiosity towards the field and allow high school students to get involved in cutting-edge research opportunities.

Our vision for the future of the high school division involves a multitude of high schools across Arizona participating in the iGEM competition and spreading the competition to nearby states to transform the high school competition into one that spans the entire United States and possibly the world. A problem that many high schools run into is the fact that they cannot afford to the travel expenses necessary to send students to competition. We would like to see iGEM expand to a virtual forum in which the competition is not centered on in-person presentations. This allows for iGEM to be all inclusive thereby allowing interested high schools to be a part of the competition regardless of financial constraints.

Arizona State University holds a required introductory course to introduce first-year students to the unique culture, challenges, and opportunities at the nation’s largest university. Over 9,000 freshmen take this course their first semester. By the end of the semester, all ASU freshmen will know what is expected of them as college students and how to succeed. ASU’s 2012 iGEM team came to speak in the ASU 101 classes for science majors. The team introduced the freshmen to the new field of synthetic biology. In addition, the team informed the students about the iGEM foundation, about the competition and ASU’s iGEM project this year, and how students can become involved with iGEM.