We made various presentations to educate the public on topics related
to Vitamin D as well as information regarding our project. There are 3
versions total: advanced, general, and Chinese. These different
versions were created for specific audiences in mind, including people
of different scientific backgrounds and those who speak different
languages. The advanced version provides a detailed explanation of
vitamin D, including background information on its functions as well
as treatment for deficiency. We also included a section about our
project with information about our targeted genes, pathways, protein,
as well as a more detailed explanation of our synbio solution. The
general version is for people younger in age with content that is less
complex and scientific. Chinese versions are made for both the
advanced and the general presentations. The purpose of our
presentation is to educate the public on the basics of vitamins, more
specifically vitamin D, in order to create a basis to introduce an
alternative solution to vitamin D deficiency, which is our product
“D-licious”.
Our public opinion survey indicates that most people are not aware of
vitamin D deficiency. 1055 out of the 1355 people who responded
indicated that they don’t usually pay attention to their daily vitamin
D intake. Furthermore, most survey respondents also indicated that
they had little to no knowledge about the symptoms and health effects
of vitamin D deficiency. This phenomenon proves the importance of our
public education presentation. By educating the public on the basics
of vitamin and deficiency, we not only raised awareness for this often
overlooked disease, but also proved our product to be essential for
the community.
To promote wellness and a healthier lifestyle, we employed the use of
our official Instagram account
(@kcis_igem)
to post applicable knowledge about vitamins and health. Veering away
from mundane knowledge present in textbooks, we included fun facts and
puns to make the information even more engaging and memorable; complex
information was rewritten with simple words and phrases, to help
people understand with ease. Not only does this reach a broader
audience, but it also helps us advertise our product in a healthy and
efficient way.
*Fig 1.& Fig 2. Vitamin A Educational Post on Instagram
Outreach
To put our public education presentations into practice, we gave
online presentations at different schools and educational
organizations in Taiwan. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19
restrictions and the recent rise in cases, we had to give the majority
of our presentations online. Therefore, raising awareness for vitamin
D deficiency is extremely essential during the pandemic, because of
the lack of sunlight and access to vitamin D-containing food.
We translated theirs to Mandarin while they translated ours to
Japanese. The pamphlets were then distributed to our respective
communities. Check out the collaborations page for more details!
Educating the Community
We held education presentations in order to emphasize the importance
of vitamin D and improve community awareness of the issue of vitamin D
deficiency. After reaching different groups of audiences, we feel that
we have an influence on the audience since they do not seem to have a
lot of knowledge about the problem of vitamin D deficiency. Showing
that we have properly educated them to learn more about it and become
more aware of the issue.
Elementary Schools
Since most elementary students do not have the ability or knowledge to
understand the science of vitamin D and its deficiency, we focus more
on teaching them the knowledge that can be applied to their daily
life, for example, foods that have a significant amount of vitamin D.
Yong An (永安) Elementary School 9/16
Yong An (永安) Elementary School is a public school located in Taipei,
Taiwan. Through Google Meet, we got a chance to talk to the 6 graders
about Vitamin D using our Chinese presentation during their morning
self-study session. The teacher wanted the students to learn some
English vocabulary, so we also incorporated some English into our
presentation.
Junior-High & Parents
Most of the junior-high-students and parents have the basic science
background to understand the science, so we added extra science
information into this presentation. This helps them adopt a more solid
base knowledge of vitamin D.
G8 Students and Parents 9/23
We got a chance to educate a group of grade 8 students and their
parents at a cram school. Through Google Meet, we taught both the
students and the parents about Vitamin D using the general & Chinese
version presentations. Moreover, we also introduce iGEM to them,
encouraging them to join next year’s competition.
High-School
Having solid biology understanding, high-school
students are the most likely to comprehend scientific information.
Thus, we build onto the simplified version by adding more explanation
of our project. For example, how increasing butyrate can enhance the
number of vitamin receptors. Through this presentation we want
students to learn how essential vitamin D is to human health, and gain
trust in our project.
Kang Chiao International School Xiugang
Campus 9/1
Kang Chiao International School Xiugang Campus is located at Xindian,
New Taipei, Taiwan. Since one of our members is a student at this
school, we got a chance to do our education in person, presenting the
advanced version presentation to a class of 12 graders.
Kang Chiao International School LinKou
Campus 9/24
This is the same school as the one above but a different campus,
located at LinKou, New Taipei, Taiwan. One of our members is from this
school, so we decided to do an in-person education with a class of 11
graders.
Wego International School 9/30
Located in Beitou, Taipei, Taiwan, Wego International School gave us a
chance to educate their students.
