Difference between revisions of "Team:Manchester-Graz/Practices/Outreach"
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/f/fe/Manchester-Graz_Stuttgart2.jpg" alt="Stuttgart2" width="380" height="285"> | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/f/fe/Manchester-Graz_Stuttgart2.jpg" alt="Stuttgart2" width="380" height="285"> | ||
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To make sure the students (most of them 17 or 18 years old) knew what we were going to talk about we started our presentation with a short explanation of DNA, genes, transcription and translation followed by the principles of plasmids, cloning and their use for BioTech and SynBio. That theory was also illustrated by several examples of how those two research fields are a substantial part of our everyday life, even if we might not always be aware of it. Thereafter we took time to answer questions arising from our audience regarding that topics as well as biotechnology programs at university. <br><br> | To make sure the students (most of them 17 or 18 years old) knew what we were going to talk about we started our presentation with a short explanation of DNA, genes, transcription and translation followed by the principles of plasmids, cloning and their use for BioTech and SynBio. That theory was also illustrated by several examples of how those two research fields are a substantial part of our everyday life, even if we might not always be aware of it. Thereafter we took time to answer questions arising from our audience regarding that topics as well as biotechnology programs at university. <br><br> | ||
After all that talking the students got a chance to get their hands right onto the topic and isolated DNA from strawberries. The surprise was huge by the amount of slimy mass consisting of DNA and proteins they could isolate from a small amount of strawberry and even take their results home in micro centrifuge tubes.<br><br> | After all that talking the students got a chance to get their hands right onto the topic and isolated DNA from strawberries. The surprise was huge by the amount of slimy mass consisting of DNA and proteins they could isolate from a small amount of strawberry and even take their results home in micro centrifuge tubes.<br><br> | ||
| − | For us it was quite an experience to talk about Synthetic Biology in front of | + | For us it was quite an experience to talk about Synthetic Biology in front of pupils since we were only used to discussing our results and scientific topics in front of fellow students or teachers. Especially explaining complex biological processes (such as transcription and translation) and methods (for example PCR) made it quite challenging for us, as we had to simplify our language to make sure pupils really understood what we were talking about.</p> |
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/1/1a/Manchester-Graz_Schools1.jpg" alt="Schools1" width="380" height="253"> | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/1/1a/Manchester-Graz_Schools1.jpg" alt="Schools1" width="380" height="253"> | ||
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/d/d7/Manchester-Graz_Schools3.jpg" alt="Schools3" width="380" height="253"> | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/d/d7/Manchester-Graz_Schools3.jpg" alt="Schools3" width="380" height="253"> | ||
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/3/3f/Manchester-Graz_Schools4.jpg" alt="Schools4" width="380" height="253"> | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/3/3f/Manchester-Graz_Schools4.jpg" alt="Schools4" width="380" height="253"> | ||
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/b/b7/Manchester-Graz_Schools5.jpg" alt="Schools5" width="380" height="253"> | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/b/b7/Manchester-Graz_Schools5.jpg" alt="Schools5" width="380" height="253"> | ||
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/7/76/Manchester-Graz_Schools6.jpg" alt="Schools6" width="380" height="253"> | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/7/76/Manchester-Graz_Schools6.jpg" alt="Schools6" width="380" height="253"> | ||
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<h2>Open Day</h2> | <h2>Open Day</h2> | ||
| − | <p>In June we had the chance to spread the love for synthetic biology and spark an interest in Parkinson’s disease at a two day event hosted by the Faculty of Life Sciences | + | <p>In June we had the chance to spread the love for synthetic biology and spark an interest in Parkinson’s disease at a two day event hosted by the Faculty of Life Sciences. At our stand we offered activities such as optical illusions to show how the brain works. We explained the disease process of Parkinson’s as well as the current treatment and how our project might benefit patients. <br><br> |
| − | + | 800 people visited the open day over the two days including school children, families as well as academics.</p> | |
| − | We explained the disease process of Parkinson’s as well as the current treatment and how our project might benefit patients | + | |
| − | + | ||
<div style="height:50px; width:900px;"></div> | <div style="height:50px; width:900px;"></div> | ||
| − | <div id="pictureleft"> | + | <div id="pictureleft" style="margin-top:5px;"> |
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/a/ad/Manchester-Graz_OpenDay1.jpg" alt="OpenDay1" width="380" height="253"> | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/a/ad/Manchester-Graz_OpenDay1.jpg" alt="OpenDay1" width="380" height="253"> | ||
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/4/48/Manchester-Graz_OpenDay2.jpg" alt="OpenDay2" width="380" height="253"> | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/4/48/Manchester-Graz_OpenDay2.jpg" alt="OpenDay2" width="380" height="253"> | ||
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| − | <div id="pictureleft"> | + | <div id="pictureleft" style="margin-top:10px;"> |
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/b/b7/Manchester-Graz_OpenDay3.jpg" alt="OpenDay3" width="380" height="253"> | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/b/b7/Manchester-Graz_OpenDay3.jpg" alt="OpenDay3" width="380" height="253"> | ||
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<div style="height:1750px; width:900px;"></div> | <div style="height:1750px; width:900px;"></div> | ||
<h2>Sociological Survey</h2> | <h2>Sociological Survey</h2> | ||
| − | <p>As public outreach was | + | <p>As public outreach was one of our main concerns during the summer we created a survey which we handed out people from Austria and UK after a presentation. We are a multinational team and so the comparison of the two countries Austria and United Kingdom was important for us. We worked out 8 questions concerning public’s opinion about synthetic biology and genetic engineering </p> |
| − | <p> | + | <p>All in all 91 people took part in our survey- 55 Austrians and 36 people from the United Kingdom. We were able to reach persons of different age, ethnicity and education. </p> |
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<div style="height:440px; width:900px;"></div> | <div style="height:440px; width:900px;"></div> | ||
| − | <p>Most Austrians (63%) agree that they feel they know what synthetic biology is. In comparison to that more people from | + | <p>Most Austrians (63%) agree that they feel they know what synthetic biology is. In comparison to that more people from UK do not feel sure if they do (Fig.1). British even disagreed/strongly disagreed at this question. Overall it can be said that Austrians feel more informed about synthetic biology than the British. </p> |
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| − | <p>A huge part of Austrians and people from UK do not feel sure about using products made with genetic engineering (Fig.3). Thus more educational work should be done in both countries to provide more information. However, only a small stake of people asked would refuse to use products produced by GMOs.</p> | + | <p>A huge part of Austrians and people from UK do not feel sure about using products made with genetic engineering (Fig.3). Thus more educational work should be done in both countries to provide more information. However, only a small stake of people asked would refuse to use products, produced by GMOs, completely.</p> |
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<div style="height:500px; width:900px;"></div> | <div style="height:500px; width:900px;"></div> | ||
| − | <p>A majority of people asked in Austria and in the UK did not feel sure about if it is difficult to take part in real scientific discussion (Fig.5). Interestingly the British are more confident about scientific discussions than Austrians. | + | <p>A majority of people asked in Austria and in the UK did not feel sure about if it is difficult to take part in real scientific discussion (Fig.5). Interestingly the British are more confident about scientific discussions than Austrians. Just a slight amount of people from the UK found it difficult to take part in scientific discussions, where else nearly 40 percent of Austrians find science-related discussions difficult or very difficult.</p> |
<h3>Further information about people asked in Austria/United Kingdom </h3> | <h3>Further information about people asked in Austria/United Kingdom </h3> | ||
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<div style="height:500px; width:900px;"></div> | <div style="height:500px; width:900px;"></div> | ||
| − | <p>Nearly all Austrians feel more informed about Synthetic Biology and Genetic Engineering after our outreach activities. Nearly 70% of the British asked felt more confident about the topic.</p> | + | <p>Nearly all Austrians feel more informed about Synthetic Biology and Genetic Engineering after our outreach activities. Nearly 70% of the British asked felt are more confident about the topic.</p> |
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| − | <p>The major part of Austrians and also of people from the UK enjoyed | + | <p>The major part of Austrians and also of people from the UK enjoyed the outreach of our team. </p> |
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<p>Most people of both countries are interested to learn more about Synthetic Biology after our outreach activity. </p> | <p>Most people of both countries are interested to learn more about Synthetic Biology after our outreach activity. </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | <h2>Warwick</h2> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p>In September we teamed up with <a href=" https://2015.igem.org/Team:Warwick">Warwick iGEM</a> to give five lessons at Newman College in Oldham. We designed two different presentations to present to different age groups; one on going to University and Studying science for ages 14-15 as well as one on Synthetic Biology and our iGEM projects for ages 16-17.</p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p>As many of the students were of an age where they start thinking about whether or not to go to university, we thought it was important to give them an insight into university life and how exciting it can be to study science. Furthermore we wanted to show them how the science they learn at school can be relevant and related to real life problems and projects such as iGEM. We also had the chance to teach a year 11 science class taking the chance to talk in a bit more detail about synthetic biology and our projects. </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p>We found the whole day to be a great experience during which we got the chance to share our passion for science and gage interest for synthetic biology in young people. The feedback and questions we received from both students and teachers were very positive and showed us that our presentations were successful. It was also a great pleasure to be able to meet another iGEM team ahead of the Giant Jamboree and get an insight into their project.</p> | ||
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| + | <div style="height:50px; width:900px;"></div> | ||
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| + | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/d/dc/Manchester-Graz_Outreach_Warwick4.jpg" alt="Warwick1" width="380"> | ||
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| + | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/2/24/Manchester-Graz_Outreach_Warwick1.jpg" alt="Warwick2" width="380"> | ||
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| + | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/5/56/Manchester-Graz_Outreach_Warwick2.jpg" alt="Warwick3" width="380"> | ||
| + | </div> | ||
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| + | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/0/07/Manchester-Graz_Outreach_Warwick3.jpg" alt="Warwick4" width="380"> | ||
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Revision as of 18:26, 16 September 2015
Outreach
CHEM21 Conference in Stuttgart
On 26.03.2015 we joined the CHEM21 conference in Stuttgart to start off our joined iGEM project. CHEM21 brings together six pharmaceutical companies, 13 Universities and four small to medium enterprises from across Europe with the aim to develop sustainable biological and chemical alternatives to finite materials.
As the University of Technology Graz and the University of Manchester are also part of CHEM21, it made perfect sense to introduce partners in industry and other universities to iGEM and our project ideas. We did not only present our visions in front of the entire CHEM21 meeting but also talked to participants of the conference in front of our poster.
For us it was also an excellent opportunity to get some feedback about our idea of a trans European team and also hear some opinions on our research project concepts. Based on these comments we finally decided on a joint project and were able to start working out the details and design experiments.
School Visits
As a part of our public outreach we visited two Highschools in Austria, BRG Kepler in Graz and HLW Deutschlandsberg, to talk about Biotechnology, Synthetic Biology and our iGEM project.
To make sure the students (most of them 17 or 18 years old) knew what we were going to talk about we started our presentation with a short explanation of DNA, genes, transcription and translation followed by the principles of plasmids, cloning and their use for BioTech and SynBio. That theory was also illustrated by several examples of how those two research fields are a substantial part of our everyday life, even if we might not always be aware of it. Thereafter we took time to answer questions arising from our audience regarding that topics as well as biotechnology programs at university.
After all that talking the students got a chance to get their hands right onto the topic and isolated DNA from strawberries. The surprise was huge by the amount of slimy mass consisting of DNA and proteins they could isolate from a small amount of strawberry and even take their results home in micro centrifuge tubes.
For us it was quite an experience to talk about Synthetic Biology in front of pupils since we were only used to discussing our results and scientific topics in front of fellow students or teachers. Especially explaining complex biological processes (such as transcription and translation) and methods (for example PCR) made it quite challenging for us, as we had to simplify our language to make sure pupils really understood what we were talking about.
Open Day
In June we had the chance to spread the love for synthetic biology and spark an interest in Parkinson’s disease at a two day event hosted by the Faculty of Life Sciences. At our stand we offered activities such as optical illusions to show how the brain works. We explained the disease process of Parkinson’s as well as the current treatment and how our project might benefit patients.
800 people visited the open day over the two days including school children, families as well as academics.
Sociological Survey
As public outreach was one of our main concerns during the summer we created a survey which we handed out people from Austria and UK after a presentation. We are a multinational team and so the comparison of the two countries Austria and United Kingdom was important for us. We worked out 8 questions concerning public’s opinion about synthetic biology and genetic engineering
All in all 91 people took part in our survey- 55 Austrians and 36 people from the United Kingdom. We were able to reach persons of different age, ethnicity and education.
Figure 1The blue bar refers to Austria and the orange one to the United Kingdom. SA stands for Strongly Agree, A for Agree, NS for Not Sure, D for Disagree, SD for Strongly Disagree and NA for not applicable.
Most Austrians (63%) agree that they feel they know what synthetic biology is. In comparison to that more people from UK do not feel sure if they do (Fig.1). British even disagreed/strongly disagreed at this question. Overall it can be said that Austrians feel more informed about synthetic biology than the British.
Figure 2 The blue bar refers to Austria and the orange one to the United Kingdom. SA stands for Strongly Agree, A for Agree, NS for Not Sure, D for Disagree, SD for Strongly Disagree and NA for not applicable.
The UK bars strongly agree, agree and no sure hold the balance (Fig.2). Most of the British think that Synthetic Biology is a good thing. Also most Austrians feel positive about Synthetic Biology. Only a small part of people asked do not feel confident about Synthetic Biology.
Figure 3 The blue bar refers to Austria and the orange one to the United Kingdom. SA stands for Strongly Agree, A for Agree, NS for Not Sure, D for Disagree, SD for Strongly Disagree and NA for not applicable.
A huge part of Austrians and people from UK do not feel sure about using products made with genetic engineering (Fig.3). Thus more educational work should be done in both countries to provide more information. However, only a small stake of people asked would refuse to use products, produced by GMOs, completely.
Figure 4 The blue bar refers to Austria and the orange one to the United Kingdom. SA stands for Strongly Agree, A for Agree, NS for Not Sure, D for Disagree, SD for Strongly Disagree and NA for not applicable.
In Austria as well as in the UK people asked (strongly) agree that they feel confident about using genetic engineering for medical purposes (Fig.4). Only a few percent of people of both countries disagreed at this point.
Figure 5 The blue bar refers to Austria and the orange one to the United Kingdom. SA stands for Strongly Agree, A for Agree, NS for Not Sure, D for Disagree, SD for Strongly Disagree and NA for not applicable.
A majority of people asked in Austria and in the UK did not feel sure about if it is difficult to take part in real scientific discussion (Fig.5). Interestingly the British are more confident about scientific discussions than Austrians. Just a slight amount of people from the UK found it difficult to take part in scientific discussions, where else nearly 40 percent of Austrians find science-related discussions difficult or very difficult.
Further information about people asked in Austria/United Kingdom
Figure 6 The blue bar refers to Austria and the orange one to the United Kingdom. SA stands for Strongly Agree, A for Agree, NS for Not Sure, D for Disagree, SD for Strongly Disagree and NA for not applicable.
Nearly all Austrians feel more informed about Synthetic Biology and Genetic Engineering after our outreach activities. Nearly 70% of the British asked felt are more confident about the topic.
Figure 7 The blue bar refers Austria and the orange one United Kingdom. SA stands for Strongly Agree, A for Agree, NS for Not Sure, D for Disagree, SD for Strongly Disagree and NA for not applicable.
The major part of Austrians and also of people from the UK enjoyed the outreach of our team.
Figure 8 The major part of Austrians and also of people from the UK enjoyed the outreach of our team.
Most people of both countries are interested to learn more about Synthetic Biology after our outreach activity.
Warwick
In September we teamed up with Warwick iGEM to give five lessons at Newman College in Oldham. We designed two different presentations to present to different age groups; one on going to University and Studying science for ages 14-15 as well as one on Synthetic Biology and our iGEM projects for ages 16-17.
As many of the students were of an age where they start thinking about whether or not to go to university, we thought it was important to give them an insight into university life and how exciting it can be to study science. Furthermore we wanted to show them how the science they learn at school can be relevant and related to real life problems and projects such as iGEM. We also had the chance to teach a year 11 science class taking the chance to talk in a bit more detail about synthetic biology and our projects.
We found the whole day to be a great experience during which we got the chance to share our passion for science and gage interest for synthetic biology in young people. The feedback and questions we received from both students and teachers were very positive and showed us that our presentations were successful. It was also a great pleasure to be able to meet another iGEM team ahead of the Giant Jamboree and get an insight into their project.
