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After finding out how people of varying ages engage with science outside of the classroom at Big Bang, we were inspired to write a blog about the science communication areas of our research. The blog, Transform and Translate, can be read here: Link to blog wiki page
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Social media and online sources were really popular ways of reading about science outside of the classroom, so the blog helped us engage in a more informal and wide-reaching way!
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We also maintained an active presence on our twitter (@newcastle_igem) to share all of our iGEM activities and interact with the worldwide iGEM community.
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Revision as of 16:35, 23 October 2017

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Human Practises Silver

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world” -Ludwig Wittgenstein

When considering reasons for the lack of uptake of biosensors, we chose to investigate one of the most fundamental aspects for the success of any project: communication. Communication also affects how synthetic biology as a field, and many more projects emerging from it, are received. Because of this, many of our Human Practises and Education and Public Engagement Activities have centred around sharing the research and activities we have completed in relation to science communication.

Attending the N8 conference made us aware of the barriers which must be overcome to increase uptake of biosensors. Alongside other factors which we have identified and tackled through experimental and design adaptation, communication between scientists and the public is an aspect which we have considered in our aim of increasing uptake of biosensors and synthetic biology.

In our work, we used different perspectives and methods to investigate science communication. By gaining advice from academics working in the humanities and social sciences, and completing our own engagement and research, we have taken a journey through science communication and considered how this can help the success of our project!

A Journey Through Science Communication
Synthetic Biology Dialogue

To gain awareness of previous work which has been completed in understanding public and stakeholder attitudes towards synthetic biology, we have read and reviewed the BBSRC’s 2010 study ‘Synthetic Biology Dialogue’. This has led us to carry out further research into certain points which were particularly pertinent for Newcastle University’s iGEM project, including concerns surrounding regulation, transparency in communication, and how these topics are covered by the media.

We compiled a report which selects and discusses key points from the dialogue which are of particular relevance to our 2017 project, which can be read below!

link to bbsrc report

North East Big Bang Fair

In July, we attended the North East Big Bang Fair- a large and exciting science fair. Over 2000 students and teachers attended, and we got the opportunity to talk to everyone about synthetic biology, iGEM, and our project! We had a few different activities to get the students and teachers involved with synthetic biology…

‘Build your own Biosensor’ is an interactive activity we developed to get the students thinking about synthetic biology independently. Many of the students did not know what a biosensor was, so this was also a good way to introduce the function and purpose of biosensors in an understandable and relatable way. We asked the students to think about what they would like to sense (an input), and how this would be detected (an output). There were lots of fun and creative responses!

We also had many great conversations with both school pupils and teachers, based around 4 main questions that we posed…

  • What is synthetic biology?
  • What do you think synthetic biology can achieve?
  • How does the current curriculum tackle synthetic biology, and how would you change science teaching if you could?
  • How do you engage with science outside of the classroom?

It was great to spread awareness of synthetic biology among the next generation of scientists, and even give teachers ideas for how they could introduce synthetic biology teaching into their lessons!

Transform and Translate

After finding out how people of varying ages engage with science outside of the classroom at Big Bang, we were inspired to write a blog about the science communication areas of our research. The blog, Transform and Translate, can be read here: Link to blog wiki page

Social media and online sources were really popular ways of reading about science outside of the classroom, so the blog helped us engage in a more informal and wide-reaching way!

We also maintained an active presence on our twitter (@newcastle_igem) to share all of our iGEM activities and interact with the worldwide iGEM community.

PARAGRAPH PDF ITALICS BOLD Underline LINK HERE

  • Point
  • Point 2

SUB heading
TEXT HERE