Difference between revisions of "Team:Pretoria UP/Practices"

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<h4>What grade are you in?</h4>
 
<h4>What grade are you in?</h4>
 
<p> All participants are in Grade 11.</p>
 
<p> All participants are in Grade 11.</p>
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@TODO add graph
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<h4>What is the highest Qualification of your parents?</h4>
 
<h4>What is the highest Qualification of your parents?</h4>
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<li>I don’t know or I prefer not to answer </li>
 
<li>I don’t know or I prefer not to answer </li>
  
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</ol>
  
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<p>
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<b>Fisher’s exact test</b>: P-value = 3.10x10-21 <br>
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Possibly the biggest difference between the two samples are the qualification of the participant’s parents. Qualification is generally much higher amongst the PBHS group. The fact that such a large proportion of LSS students indicated that they do not know or prefer not to answer, shows that it might not be a priority or they generally do not talk about academic qualifications with their parents. Another explanation might be that they prefer not to answer because they feel ashamed that their parents have not achieved higher academic qualifications.
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</p>
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<h4>From which source did you first find out about synthetic biology?</h4>
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@TODO add graph
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<p>
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Fisher’s exact test: P-value = 3.60x10-14<br>
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The results of this question might have been heavily influenced by the fact that the same presentation for LSS was not replicated for PBHS. Many participants would have had an idea of synthetic biology which is not necessarily the correct idea. The presentation might have brought a realization to LSS that what they thought they knew were, in fact, wrong and therefore they were more inclined to answer “iGEM”. As this more defined concept of Synthetic biology was not explained to PBHS, they might have come across closely related concepts and mistakenly assumed it is also synthetic biology.
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</p>
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<h4>In your opinion, synthetic biology: (you can choose more than one answer) </h4>
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<ol type="A">
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<li>Will revolutionize medicine, agriculture and applied biology within my lifetime</li>
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<li>I think synthetic biology and DNA technologies are exciting, but I don’t know what to expect in the future</li>
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<li>Will not affect me directly</li>
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<li>Is ethical, but should be carefully regulated</li>
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<li>Is unethical or wrong, and should be banned</li>
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<li>I am afraid that it will be abused</li>
 
</ol>
 
</ol>
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@TODO add graph
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<p>
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<b>Fisher’s exact test</b>: P-value = 9.50x10-11
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A general trend can be seen where the PBHS sample feel it will not affect them directly. It can also be seen that both groups are cautious of synthetic biology.
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</p>
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Revision as of 16:37, 17 September 2015

Human Practices

Synthetic Biology Awareness and Attitudes Among South African Youths: a Comparison of Socio-economic Influences




Project background

South Africa has a unique, turbulent and controversial political history of racial segregation, referred to as Apartheid. Prior to democracy in 1994, a white supremacist government forced non-white racial groups (black, indian and mixed race) to live in isolated townships on the outskirts of cities, and denied them access to quality education. 26 years after the advent of a free and fair democracy in South Africa, the vestiges of the Apartheid regime still persist in the form of historically segregated neighbourhoods, poverty, lack of basic health and sanitation services and compromised education in some previously disadvantaged areas.
@TODO : Images of school




Our Inspiration

With the recent advent of synthetic biology, we realized that high school learners in previously disadvantaged areas may not yet have heard about this cutting edge-field. In our Human Practices Project, we took the opportunity to both educate Grade 11 learners about synthetic biology as well as compare awareness, attitudes and consumer choice between learners from contrasting socio-economic circumstances.




The Survey

One hundred Grade 11 science learners from each school were asked 10 questions relating to (1) education, age and background, (2) general perception and (3) consumer choice regarding synthetic biology, as well as (4) their projections for the future of synthetic biology and (5) whether it will be relevant in the lives of South African citizens. We compared the results from learners at Lehlabile Secondary School and Pretoria Boys’ High School to identify statistically significant differences in the answers given.
(The survey administered can be viewed Here)

UP two schools


Survey Results

We expected to see a significant difference in most answers, due to the fact that there is such a big social and economic gap between the two distinct samples we surveyed. The results do show significant differences, but external influences might have had an effect on the results, for instance the videos we showed during our presentation at Lehlabile Secondary School (LSS) focused mainly on the positives of synthetic biology and it resulted that the Lehlabile sample had a more positive mindset when answering the survey. Contrasting to that is the fact that the presentation with those specific videos were not shown to the Pretoria Boys’ High School (PBHS) sample, therefore it is possible that they only knew about mostly the negatives of synthetic biology (or rather genetic modification), as is generally communicated by the mainstream and non-scientific media. However, even when keeping in mind that the conditions were not replicated between the two samples, the results can be accepted as true and are still in line with. We also applied the Bonferroni correction of multiple testing, where P = 0.05/11 = 0.004545455 (as we used 11 calculations)

How old are you?

Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test: P-value = 1.61x10-7
The LLS sample shows a much wider distribution than PBHS, with the averages differing by quite a large margin.
Avg. LLS = 17.5625
Avg. PBHS = 16.85

What grade are you in?

All participants are in Grade 11.

@TODO add graph

What is the highest Qualification of your parents?

  1. A. Neither of my parents have their matric
  2. Matric
  3. Diploma
  4. Degree
  5. Postgraduate
  6. I don’t know or I prefer not to answer
@TODO add graph

Fisher’s exact test: P-value = 3.10x10-21
Possibly the biggest difference between the two samples are the qualification of the participant’s parents. Qualification is generally much higher amongst the PBHS group. The fact that such a large proportion of LSS students indicated that they do not know or prefer not to answer, shows that it might not be a priority or they generally do not talk about academic qualifications with their parents. Another explanation might be that they prefer not to answer because they feel ashamed that their parents have not achieved higher academic qualifications.

From which source did you first find out about synthetic biology?

@TODO add graph

Fisher’s exact test: P-value = 3.60x10-14
The results of this question might have been heavily influenced by the fact that the same presentation for LSS was not replicated for PBHS. Many participants would have had an idea of synthetic biology which is not necessarily the correct idea. The presentation might have brought a realization to LSS that what they thought they knew were, in fact, wrong and therefore they were more inclined to answer “iGEM”. As this more defined concept of Synthetic biology was not explained to PBHS, they might have come across closely related concepts and mistakenly assumed it is also synthetic biology.

In your opinion, synthetic biology: (you can choose more than one answer)

  1. Will revolutionize medicine, agriculture and applied biology within my lifetime
  2. I think synthetic biology and DNA technologies are exciting, but I don’t know what to expect in the future
  3. Will not affect me directly
  4. Is ethical, but should be carefully regulated
  5. Is unethical or wrong, and should be banned
  6. I am afraid that it will be abused
@TODO add graph

Fisher’s exact test: P-value = 9.50x10-11 A general trend can be seen where the PBHS sample feel it will not affect them directly. It can also be seen that both groups are cautious of synthetic biology.

What are students’ concerns about SynBio?

UP two schools

Did the students find the information and survey interesting? Why?

UP two schools