Team:Judd UK/Pages/12424h5sd5

Human Practices

March for Science

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Bioblast

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To introduce the lower school to synthetic biology and the ethics involved in this exciting field of science we created a weekly club within our school. We chose to make the club specifically for year 7s because by teaching them the basic principles of genetic engineering they can research further throughout their time in high school and form their own opinions about genetic engineering and potentially become the future iGEM team. The club provided the iGEM team with the opportunity to engage with the younger members of the school community and explore their opinions about the complex ideas we were introducing them to.

Each weekly 1-hour session in the BioBlast club built upon their knowledge about DNA and genetic engineering starting from the basics and gradually working up. We started by looking at cells and using microscopes to identify the nucleus, then in following sessions, we studied DNA and its structure. All our sessions had a practical element to keep students engaged since they were 11-12 years old. For example, when we were looking at the structure of DNA we used sweets to create 3D models - this was very successful as by the end of the session they could identify elements of the DNA structure. In following sessions, we transitioned onto Darwin and Mendel and the effect of genes on phenotypes (demonstrated by a practical involving Gelli-baff which mimicked natural selection) and then moved onto genetic engineering. It was in these sessions that big ethical debates were raised naturally by the students and lead onto organic discussions such as “Should we genetically engineer a ‘perfect’ human?” and “Is it ethical to genetically modify farm animals for agriculture?”.

It was very encouraging to see these debates developing without prompting from us and to see these issues discussed with a solid scientific background. In the final session, we played a board game created by the Exeter IGEM team in 2016 which taught the students about plasmid construction and illuminated the vast potential of genetic engineering- this was very successful as at this point the students had a solid scientific foundation and could follow along very well to a game created for slightly older students.

Interactivity

It was important to us that the club was interactive and can be delivered by other schools in the future using the resources we created so for every session we created a Kahoot quiz which can be found by searching Kahoot for the username ‘BioBlast_Club’ and all the PowerPoints we used can be found on our <a href="https://frog.judd.kent.sch.uk/app/os#!igem/home">website</a> as well as a more detailed description of what we did and how others can run this club.



Presentations

Young Scientist Journal

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Biology Society

It was very encouraging to see these debates developing without prompting from us and to see these issues discussed with a solid scientific background. In the final session, we played a board game created by the Exeter IGEM team in 2016 which taught the students about plasmid construction and illuminated the vast potential of genetic engineering- this was very successful as at this point the students had a solid scientific foundation and could follow along very well to a game created for slightly older students.

Tonbridge Science Conference

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Medical Society

The presentation given in the Judd medical society was focused on the issue of iron deficiency and excess iron in the body. The talk covered the prevalence of iron deficiency in the developing world and how our project is specifically designed for this demographic. The medical society presentation was a good opportunity to focus on the potential of our project in the real world before our interview with the haematologist. The medical society is attended by students from all years but primarily by sixth form who have an interest in studying medical sciences therefore the talk also covered why healthy iron is so fundamental to life and addressed common misconceptions surrounding anaemia and iron deficiency as well as discussing some of the latest research which illuminates just how harmful excess iron can be in body. We raised awareness about iGEM and synthetic biology among students who have expressed an interest in medicine and hopefully shown them the global positive impact can have in the medical field.