Elementary School Science Fair Training

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

Questions to research in your lab book:

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. Below are the six students and their projects which earned accolades at the regional science fair.

University Wide Challenge

For the human practices component of our project, we wanted to encourage fellow students to consider the broad-spanning applications of synthetic biology. Through the group meetings spent designing our genetic circuit, we had developed a greater appreciation for the far-ranging applications of bacteria-based systems. As a first step, we sought counsel from McMaster faculty on how to best convey the same sense of enthusiasm, as well as knowledge and skills, to our peers so they too could engage with synthetic biology as a means of tackling societal problems.

Dr. Eva Klein, a corporate and clinical psychologist at the university, was approached on how to target university students to achieve the goal of awareness about synthetic biology possibilities. With her background in group dynamics, she suggested that university students also thrive in situations in which they are challenged with a problem, and must use an inquiry-based approach towards building an intricate knowledge of the tool. Furthermore, she highly recommended the process due to the implications on how well-rounded the resulting education would be. While learning in isolation or in one way communication can lead to biased beliefs and narrow thinking, an Inquiry-based approach allows for all angles to be considered. In the big picture, this allows for errors in thought to be identified and corrected, so that for the students we were targeting, they could develop a nuanced and balanced education on synthetic biology.

With the aim of Inquiry-based learning now driving forward our educational vision, our team chose to become involved in the planning and development of the inaugural McMaster University Life Sciences Competition (February 2017), an event that would bring together a wide range of students from a variety of educational disciplines, ranging from biochemistry and health sciences to mechanical engineering and computer sciences. The role of the McMaster iGEM team was not only to provide offer new ideas and angles for testable question-answer material, but also to elevate student education to a higher level by engaging teams in a meaningful self-directed, problem-based experience. Despite the discrepancy in these students’ knowledge base, the McMaster iGEM team recognized that these students were (a) eager and capable to learn the theory behind synthetic biology, as evidenced by the textbook readings they had completed in preparation for the molecular biology contest; and (b) aware of the potential utility of synthetic biology to the development of biosensors, material production, space exploration, and beyond.

Given that progress in synthetic biology is enabled by careful collaboration between diverse fields, we identified interdisciplinary communication and knowledge translation as the two most in-demand skills our contestants could benefit from learning. Fittingly, the Inquiry model of group-based, self-directed learning would empower these students to hone these very skills and, at the same time, envision how they would apply synthetic biology techniques to solve real-world health problems. Motivating these students to take charge of their learning was their own appreciation for the broad-spanning applications of synthetic biology, as well as the notion that they could learn by sharing information, concepts, and ideas from their individual areas of expertise.

The specific task we presented students with was to, in groups of three, engineer a molecular solution to end malarial drug resistance. In addition to retrieving evidence and researching methodologies that would support their proposed solution, students would need to present as a team and collectively defend their chosen approach. During the initial stages of knowledge extraction, we observed participants suggesting fragmented ideas which, upon iterative discussion, would evolve into full-fledged, integrative solutions ranging from CRISPR/Cas-9-guided genome editing to bioinformatics-based target identification to a strategy for targeting pharmaceuticals to malarial mitochondria.

Rather than using terms specific to their field of expertise, students honed their interdisciplinary communication skills through explaining CRISPR/Cas-9 in terms of the principles of engineering design or describing in silico analysis in terms of biologically relevant inputs and outputs.
Meanwhile, students honed their knowledge translation skills by delivering a three-minute thesis presentation to an even broader audience with the use of a static visual aid. This was followed by a question-and-answer session where presenters would need to justify their methodology, dissecting their complex blueprints into clear, cohesive, and appreciable ideas.