iGEM2021_BIT-China conducted a science popularization activity at the Science Teaching Building of Beijing Institute of Technology
In September 2021, members of the BIT-China team came to the Science Building of Beijing Institute of Technology to give a lecture on "Biotechnology and the Nobel Prize" to the students of Beijing Institute of Technology.
Through the popularization of biotechnology (DNA recombination, targeted mutation, PCR principle, DNA replication application), students learned that biotechnology is a technology widely used in life. Through the understanding of Nobel, students learned about his life and his outstanding contributions. Through small videos and explanations, students learned that synthetic biology is an amazing discipline. Through the introduction of iGEM and its influential projects, students experienced the charm of this competition and wanted to further participate in it. Through the introduction of iGEM and its influential projects, students experienced the charm of this competition and wanted to participate in the further.
The number of participants in this science popularization activity was 101, and the number of questionnaires collected before and after the class was 90 and 86 respectively.
Through the pre-class survey, we investigated the students' knowledge about biotechnology, Nobel, DNA-related knowledge, synthetic biology and iGEM, as well as asked them about their expectations for this science popularization.
The pre-course survey revealed that students have a general understanding of biotechnology, but they have not heard of synthetic biology and iGEM. Therefore, we hope to bring more biotechnology knowledge to the students, and add the knowledge of synthetic biology, an emerging discipline in the 21st century, so that the students can use multidisciplinary knowledge to learn biology. At the same time, by introducing the projects in iGEM that use the Nobel Prize technology, or projects related to Nobel Prize, we can inspire the students to aspire to iGEM.
Expectation:
Learn about biology and pay attention to the progress of biotechnology; deepen the understanding of biology; experience the process of exploring multifaceted knowledge and specific inquiry problems; gain cutting-edge knowledge about biotechnology and improve the level of understanding of biotechnology; gain interest in biology and some knowledge; enrich their knowledge base; gain interests in understanding what kind of biological research can win the Nobel Prize; learn a different understanding of proper nouns as well as master the technology that can be applied to our daily life.
After our first session, through an anonymous questionnaire, the students gave the following feedback:
The feedback after the class showed that the students had a good absorption and understanding of the course content, and almost all of them had learned about biotechnology and could briefly elaborate on the operation of DNA. Through the introduction of biotechnology and synthetic biology applications in life, students thought that biotechnology is important in life with a score of 4.53 out of 5. 94% of the students may want to continue their biology-related research in the future to contribute to society, and 17% of the students clearly want to participate in the iGEM competition to show their talents and explore in the field of synthetic biology.
Based on the feedback from the students, we adjusted the content of our next course to introduce the biotechnology that won the Nobel Prize in a slightly more professional language, and introduce the cutting-edge synthetic biology research directions, achievements and applications in life, analyzing which directions are expected to win the Nobel Prize. Meanwhile, we will continue to share the promising projects in iGEM to stimulate their interests in synthetic biology and iGEM, encouraging then to continue their research in synthetic biology in their future life.