Biochildrens: A Review of Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology is an unfamiliar concept for the majority of people, in this case, of high school students. Therefore we decided to teach and bring them the great world of synthetic biology. ESBIN (“Escuela Secundaria Bilingüe Isaac Newton”) was the place where we went and took the great opportunity to show what is biotechnology and synthetic biology. For that, the school gave us seven groups, and along all week (September 7- September 11) we had an activity with them, which consisted in a presentation and a game.

During the presentation, we shown them what is biotechnology, the size of life, genetic engineering, what is synthetic biology, what is iGEM and of course we talk a little about what our project consists. Later, we play a game made in kahoot.it, what is a platform were you can made a quiz and create a competition.

Caro, who is a member of iGEM Tec-Chihuahua said:

"The experience that we had in front of the class 3C and 3B was awesome. Of course, as it was expected, the group was quiet at the beginning, but they got more interested while the class was still continuing. The students had a little knowledge about the topic so was not difficult for us to talk with terms more specific. Our favorite part was the game. They got insane! We planned a game but it turned to a challenge for them, it was amazing! You must’ve seen their enthusiasm and efforts to get the first place of the competition! Definitely, it was a very nice experience!”

In this third picture Romina playing a quiz with the students, and then is April talking in front of the group about our subject.

Also, Adrian and Manuel went to ESBIN and made the activity; they were there the last day (September 11). This activity was successful because we motivated the students to think and discover things that they don’t know; also we sowed the shed to be more interested in synthetic biology.