Team:McMaster II/Education Initiative
The aim of the McMaster iGEM Education Initiative is twofold; (1) to foster an appreciation for the interdisciplinary field of synthetic biology; and (2) to equip the younger generation with self- directed research skills that will support them in taking control of their education. To do so, we reached out to students, teachers, and administrators at Hamilton’s local Hess Street Elementary School to identify gaps and opportunities in the science curriculum. We then worked to fill these knowledge gaps by visiting on a weekly basis to teach students about chosen topics, from yeast colonization to calorimetry as well as potential engineering applications. These students then harnessed their knowledge to pursue tangible science fair projects, for which we acted as mentors to promote collaboration, provide feedback, facilitate self-directed learning, and hone presentation skills. As a result, two of three teams from Hess Street Public School would earn medals at the 2017 Bay Area Science & Engineering Fair. Examples of science fair deliverables and resources we worked with students and teachers to develop are as follows:
Experimental Overview
Students will explore the effect of various food sources on the growth and metabolic activity of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), a class of microorganisms important to the industrial production of alcohol and bread. Sugars, also known as saccharides, are the primary source of energy for yeast, though sugar is really a blanket term which refers to a variety of chemical species, such as sucralose or saccharin. In this experiment, students will feed standard amounts of different sugar products to yeast cells and measure the volume of carbon dioxide produced as a byproduct of the organism’s metabolic reactions which are involved in the division of yeast cells. The energy to carry out these metabolic reactions is acquired through the breakdown of sugars
Materials
- Sucrose
- Dry Yeast
- Iodine or methylene blue stain
- Four substitute sugars, such as Splenda (sucralose), Stevia, Sweet’n Low (saccharin), acesulfame potassium, aspartame x smallest packages of each (try to get these from the school, or any Starbucks)
- Clear rubber tubing, ~50cm
- Flask and rubber stopper with hole
- Light microscope
- Graduated cylinder
- Plastic bowl/tub (large enough to fit graduated cylinder)
- Plastic water bottles (enough for all the trials conducted)
Experimental Protocol
- Place 10g of sugar into a beaker and add-warm water.
- Add yeast to a separate petri-dish, just enough to cover a small circle in the middle of the dish.
- Iodine or methylene blue stain
- With the dropper, add enough of the solution into the petri dish so the entire dish has some solution in it (Should not be too much). When you want to different concentrations, use the 12- well plate so you can keep track of which “wells” have more or less sugar concentrations.
- After approximately 10 mins, the yeast should be dividing.
Information Gathering
- What are yeast, what kind of organelles do they have, what does each do?.
- What is a prokaryote, how are they different from eukaryotes?
- Why do yeast produce CO2, and why can you only stain them blue when the yeast is dead
- Why do they grow so fast?
- Learn everything you can about yeast, and take as many notes as possible in your lab books.
Through collaboratively developing reusable resources for Hamilton area elementary school students, the McMaster iGEM team set up a sustainable framework for informed yet self-directed research from a young age. Apart from the wet-lab science, we coached our science fair mentees to think critically about the applications, societal implications, and ethical considerations associated with their work, helping them develop an appreciation of the global problems for which they were engineering solutions.
