Team:Queens Canada/SynthetiQ/whowhy
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<p><b>1st Year, Physical and Health Education</b><br> | <p><b>1st Year, Physical and Health Education</b><br> |
Revision as of 05:56, 26 October 2012
Why?
This is the big question. Why would anyone do this? What are the advantages? Is it worth the effort? And there are so many different answers to these questions. Some of these answers can be found in Dr. Bohannon's TEDxBrussels talk can be found from feedback of the Dance Your PhD Contest. In his series of articles in Science, called the Gonzo Scientist, he talks about each year of the competition as well as number of his other projects. In Episode 13, he asked the participants of the DYPhD Contest why they did it.
In general, dancing their science helped them:
- Get jobs and scholarships.
- Summarize extensive research, into a few minutes of video.
- Explain their work to friends and family.
- Have lots of fun
The kinesthetic learning style in scientific theory is virtually non-existent. Lectures and textbooks are the predominant form of teaching. But, there's so much potential in teaching with movement. Everyone remembers the "Right-hand rule", be it from physics, or the helical direction of DNA. Teaching and learning through dance or movement can extrapolate from that basic idea. We can make science more like riding a bike, even if your mind doesn't quite remember how to do it, your body does, and after just a couple tries, it's just like you've been doing it for years.
One of the big goals of the DYPhD contest, is to make your research easier to understand, using a few words as possible. Overall, we want there to be a better understanding by the public. On a larger scale, it's important for the general public to have an understanding of the impact of scientific research. By gaining more support and awareness from the public, research and development can become more of a priority for the government and future elections.
We all have friends and families that ask about our research. By using this form of communication, we are able to simplify things. So that they can understand what we're doing and why it's exciting, and then they can get excited and tell or show others our research.
Body language is something that everyone can speak. So whether you're trying to explain something to somebody who doesn't have a scientific background, or doesn't even speak the same language as you, this method will be the most effective way of communicating the ideas. This doesn't just appeal to interpretation by the mind, but to also basic human instincts and how we interpret the expression or movement of another human being.
What about us?
In our presentation at the iGEM Americas East Regional Competition, we wanted to test what it would be like to do something like this in an actual research setting. We imagined a situation in which dance is the commonly used method to present research. And that's how we designed our presentation, incorporating the dancers to explain our research naturally, without pointing out that these are our dancers.
This presentation has already turned up results:
- A packed auditorium for our presentation.
- The Best Model Award
- Advancement to the World Finals
- Gold Medal
- Lots of attention at our school and worldwide
- Everyone learned something new about synthetic biology
And these are just our initial results. Because our team is composed solely of undergraduate students from many different backgrounds, we're are still waiting to see how this unique experience will benefit them in their futures. And there is so much potential. In addition to learning a new, unique dance routine, we have learned from the experiences and challenges that we have overcome and are incredibly excited to see what comes next.
Who are we?
Devon Ryan![]() Choreographer, 3rd Year, Civil Engineering |
Sam Demetrious![]() 4th Year, Sociology Major |
Michelle Rea![]() 3rd, Chemical Engineering |
Leandra Guillet![]() 1st Year, Arts and Science |
Melissa Guertin![]() 3rd year, Civil Engineering |
Christina Robitaille![]() 2nd Year, Life Science |
Alisha Giglio![]() 2nd year, Chemistry Major Being apart of Queen’s iGEM this year has been a truly amazing experience. By combining synthetic biology and dance, I believe we have helped broaden many people’s views and hopefully made many think about new and innovative ways to portray their research, which could potentially change the world of boring science presentations as we know it. This whole experience has been rewarding as I have been able to combine two things I am interested in, as well, I am really excited to see how this concept will develop and what it will mean for dance and science in the future! |
![]() Jaclyn Kemp1st Year, Physical and Health Education |