Team:Thessaly/Education




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Overview

Gut health is a topic everyone can relate to, from healthy individuals to chronic patients. Through our Educational initiatives, we tried to include as many different target groups as possible, organising events characterised by the fine balance between inclusivity and specificity in regards to our target audience. Within our activities, both virtual and in person, we managed to cover a wide spectrum of topics, from teaching preschoolers about the importance of gut microbiome, to organising webinars for other iGEM teams about enteropathies and engineering of microbial communities. Our goal was to inform, educate and inspire our audience, make Synthetic Biology more approachable and prove that science is a very fun way to learn very serious things.

INSPIRATION FOR PRESCHOOLERS, STUDENTS, PATIENTS AND GASTROENTEROLOGISTS

Introduction of Synthetic Biology to education
Synthetic Biology is a field completely unknown to high school students and most Biology teachers in Greece. Our team decided to familiarise these two groups with Synthetic Biology and iGEM competition, by creating a complete set of educational material, customised for teachers and for students and articulated in a gender inclusive language. The guides were firstly developed and distributed in Greek but aiming to make our work accessible to the iGEM community while contributing with materials that future teams can build upon, we fully translated them in English. This set comprised of:

  • 2 teachers’ guides, for the equivalent of 11th and 12th grade in Greece, respectively.
  • A set of 13 Powerpoint presentations for the students, corresponding to each one of the guides’ units.
  • Edifying material for the teachers, consisting of:
    • Scientific papers related to Synthetic Biology, divided into “Basic” and “Advanced” based on their complexity.
    • Links to videos explaining in a relatively simple way Synthetic Biology concepts. The videos were divided into subcategories: “Basic understanding of Synthetic Biology”, “Advanced understanding of Synthetic Biology” and “Special Applications of Synthetic Biology”.
    • The presentation “Engineering Biology?” from Waterloo iGEM team.
    • The “Standardisation in Synthetic Biology: A white book” e-book by the BioRoboost EU Horizon 2020 Project
Each unit’s content -Teacher’s Guides and Presentations- is based on a chapter from the Biology books that are currently used in high schools. Moreover, we took into consideration the fact that till the end of the school year, only a fraction of the book is actually used as teaching material, leaving certain chapters out. This way we introduce new subjects to our audience, while making sure they have the gnostic background required to process the new information. Keeping this in mind we structured the guide’s and Presentation’s units in this way:
  • Brief theoretical introduction to the unit’s subjects.
  • Questions inspired by the content of the unit and the corresponding book’s chapter. These questions do not focus on testing the students on the knowledge or technical skills they were introduced to by each unit’s topic. They instead, emphasise on helping the students improve their critical thinking, combine their knowledge on different topics and employ that knowledge in order to solve real life problems. This particular goal is one of the most important out of all those we hope to achieve through this initiative; the students need to understand, that their efforts while studying STEM subjects are not made in vein, but are of vital importance when one tries to solve almost any of the modern day’s regional or worldwide problems.

    Notably, none of these questions are included in the student’s Presentations. They are included only in the teacher’s guide, so that the teacher integrates them into their teaching whenever it feels right. There is no intention from us to indicate a curtain, restrictive way by which a teacher should lecture, as we recognise that when it comes to lecturing and communicating with a class of students, the teachers are the real experts.
  • Case studies on Synthetic Biology projects, mostly from iGEM teams. The students learn to deconstruct a Synthetic Biology idea and understand some of its core elements: The problem it is trying to solve, the theoretical background the team builds upon and the way that the team actually utilises that information to achieve its goal.
  • Complementary content in the form of hyperlinks, leading to audiovisual material. The platform from which we abstracted most of this content was youtube. We made that choice for a very important reason: It is easily accessible, the students are quite familiar with it and most importantly, when it comes to high schoolers, it is almost exclusively used for entertainment purposes. We wanted to show them how versatile this platform is and how they can start using it in a different way.

Two key factors that shaped our approach, was that on one hand, the High school Biology books’ content is pretty outdated and on the other hand, there is no regard from Greek schools for the students’ vocational guidance. On top of that, the rate at which knowledge is accumulated nowadays in combination with the increased requisitions made -both in hard and soft skills- from employers, give birth to an urgent need for informational and instructional initiatives in Greek schools. Our goal was not only to introduce a new subject to the students, but also show them the huge variety of possibilities that are available for them, especially when working in a field with the multidisciplinarity of Synthetic Biology.

Exam-centered education is a core element of Greek High schools. At the end of High school all students sit for a major exam that determines their access to a University, and thus, from at least one year before those exams, the students start to prepare. This system leads to the neglection of the subjects that the students are not going to be tested on and also discourages them from exploring a subject beyond the limited topics of examination. This system also makes the process of learning extremely stressful and correlates it, in the mind of the students, with negative experiences. Our goal was to help redefine this relationship. We tried to show that science can be inspiring, interesting and fun, and also something that one can work on, without feeling coerced to do so.

In order to achieve those goals we needed both the teachers’ feedback and the face to face contact with the students. We started by organising a seminar on the introduction of Synthetic Biology to Education, exclusively for Biology teachers.

Figure 1:  Screenshot from the presentation of our educational material to High School teachers


We talked about the Synthetic Biology field, iGEM competition, our project AMALTHEA, the educational material we prepared and curtain pedagogical approaches to our research and conversations with a philologist who specialises on educational techniques, prompted us towards. During our conversation we received their opinion on our material and our proposed approach, in order to adopt it in a way that fits better the reality of the educational process in a classroom. After that we sent our material to the participants and came to an agreement with one of them to visit her school and talk to the students.

12 days after the seminar we finally managed to get into a classroom! We made a presentation about the field of Synthetic Biology, iGEM competition and project Amalthea. We tried to inspire the students to explore themselves, go beyond their limits and look for things that impassionate them. We emphasised on the multidisciplinarity of Synthetic Biology, the importance of interaction between people with different backgrounds and the career prospects of a professional or an undergraduate -as these students are soon going to be. We finally encouraged them to start their own high school iGEM team, and be the first to do so in Greece.

After extensive conversations with the teachers we are very hopeful that a Greek High school team iGEM might actually become a reality! Teachers were quite positive and asked for more guidance on their first steps, so except for the aforementioned material, we sent them the pages of various High School iGEM teams to analyse, come back with questions and come up with their own strategy. iGEM Thessaly is committed to help them along the way and takes great pride in this possible new initiative!

Finally, We contacted the Greek Institute of Educational Policy and submitted our work as a candidate for formal integration into the schools’ curriculum. Unfortunately our request is still pending, so this initiative is going to be carried out after the end of this year’s competition.
Generation Next
Generation Next is an educational program that aims to get High school students and teachers in contact with STEM education and help them discover new technologies, broaden their knowledge, and cultivate their skills. Generation Next organises an event, called “Tipping the Point”, in which it gives students the opportunity to talk with mentors from all around the world -from doctors in remote Greek islands, to NASA mechanics- with the goal of helping students make the decisions regarding their higher education wisly. The participants will engage in activities that are going to teach them how to learn themselves better, discover their talents, improve their skills and settle on the things they are inclined to, without being misled by stereotypes. This process is vital for proper vocational guidance, a purpose that we also make efforts to fulfil through our contact with students independently from the Generation Next initiative. For that reason we accepted their invitation and took this opportunity to reduce the randomness that exists right now in Greece, concerning the career selection process and at the same time, publicize iGEM competition and Synthetic Biology in general.
Figure 2:  Screenshot from our acceptance as mentors at the "Tipping the Point" event from Generation Next


Athens Science Festival: An Era of Heros
Athens Science Festival, is an event devoted to Science and Innovation, constituting an established cultural landmark in the field of Science, Technology, Innovation and Art. Our participation offered us the opportunity to familiarise high school students with the concepts of “genetic material”, “plant colours” and “cultivation” through two different games, one being a crossword puzzle and another being an experiment. Most of the crossword’s questions were simple, providing new pieces of knowledge in a fun and easy way. The excitement factor came into play when the students realised that all the words of the crossword puzzle were everyday ingredients from their kitchen. The same ingredients were used afterwards for the experiments. The instructions for each experiment were given through a demonstration video in which a member of our team explained the procedure step by step. The first puzzle and video related to the term “genetic material’’ that was first introduced through the crossword and included an easy experiment of extracting DNA from a banana. The second set of educational material related to the term “plant colours’’ (e.g. anthocyanins) and how to achieve that through modifying the pH, while the third one related to the term “cultivation’’ and how to easily cultivate yeast.

Figure 3:  Screenshot from our Synword game at Athens Science Festival




Video 1:  DNA extraction experiment from a banana
Engaging with Scouts of Greece
In our effort to ensure sustainability and inform about the possibilities of Synthetic Biology in its development, we decided to get in contact with the local department of Scouts of Greece.

Figure 4 & 5:  We see Kostas talking to a group of scouts a collection of scouts' ideas about the achievement of SDGs' goals
Figure 6:  Scouts of Greece banner


Recently, the Greek Scouts, proud ambassadors of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and always committed to a world without inequality, signed the Charter of Diversity. For that reason, we decided to contact our local scouting network in Larissa, discuss what it takes to ensure sustainability by action and inform them how Synthetic Biology can become a promising tool to change the world for the better.

Microbiome: Learn and Create
Newly defined terms such as the microbiome are not easily explained even at an academic level. “Microbiome: Learn and Create” is an in-person event with several working stations aiming to educate children about the morphology and the function of the gut microbiome, through interactive activities.
1st Station: “Create your microbiome”
With our help and some colourful marbles, you have the opportunity to become the architect of your own microbiome.
2nd station: “Art inspired by microbes”
Microbes, microbes, microbes everywhere! Have you ever heard of it? Have you ever imagined what they look like? Help us draw them and inspire us!
3rd station: “The Hippocrates”
Join the trip of Hippocrates and learn how science and doctors promote our well being!
4rth station: “Bacteria and viruses”
In everyones gut there is an ongoing battle between bacteria and viruses. Who is going to win? If you want to find out, you have to… chase the answer.
5th station: “The Hippocrates’ trip in gut microflora”
The world of gut microflora is full of surprises! Help us learn through a virtual escape room.



Figure 7-12:  Photos from the "Microbiome: Learn and Create" event

Children's book
With the invaluable help of Ms. Katigianni, we created “Hippocrates”, a children’s book about a little boy who faced a gut-related disease. We collaborated with the theatrologists, Antonia Magou and Nadia Angelouli, and under the auspices of the theatrical workshop “Without Omega”, we organised a small event to recreate scenes from the book. Our audience was children of 7-12 years of age with no prior knowledge on the gut microbiome and what its relationship with nutrition is. We talked with them about those topics, introduced them to the Mediterranean diet and helped them understand its benefits. The children were free to express themselves, draw, dance and create a theatrical play in which all of the little actors happily participated.




Figure 13-17:  Photos from our visit to the theatrical workshop “Without Omega”

Booklets for gastroenterologists and patients
Recognising the problem of inadequate knowledge on behalf of doctors about topics related to mental health, we developed a booklet that addressed gastroenterologists, to inform them about the importance of their patients’ mental state when making an evaluation of their health. We presented it to a health psychologist Ms. Angelopoulou, a gastroenterologist Dr. Taloumtzis and a psychiatrist, Dr. Agorastos to get their feedback. They were concerned about both its scientific and its practical aspects. We took their recommendations very seriously and made the following changes:

Based on the gastroenterologist’s feedback:
  • The initial twenty five-pages long booklet for gastroenterologists was reduced to nine-pages long one, because doctors are usually too busy to spend that much time in order to turn all those pages, although the overall amount of information was small and spread.
  • The information needed to be more concentrated in practical advice that a gastroenterologist can implement into their everyday practice, instead of statistics that concern the general population or irrelevant groups of people.
  • The bibliography needed to be revised because revolutionary drugs, like biological factors, used in the treatment of gastroenterology patients in the last years, reduced significantly the necessity of surgery. The prescription of those drugs lead to the shrinking of the group of patients eligible for operation, leading in turn to a different statistical sample. Thus, the current situation disallows the utilization of the data we had previously found, concerning the reduction of the need for surgery in patients with Crohn, after doing psychotherapy.


Based on the psychiatrists’ feedback:
  • The images used in the booklet should be very carefully selected, in order not to enhance, but alleviate the stigma and discrimination against individuals with mental health disorders.
  • The phraseology should also be chosen very carefully. For example, he proposed changing the title: “What is a mental disorder?” into “How to you conceive the concept of mental health?”.
  • He encouraged us to design a booklet for gastroenterology patients, in order to inform them on basic concepts concerning their mental health.

Based on the health psychologist’s feedback:
  • The content should include epidemiological data about the prevalence of different GI disorders to link the rest of the information -which concerned almost exclusively the mental health perspective- with the gastroenterologists’ main subject.
  • We could also prepare a booklet for patients to familiarize them with the extremely high prevalence of comorbidity between enteric and mental health disorders.

After integrating the specialists’ advice in our work, we ended up with two new booklets: one for gastroenterologists and a second one for gastroenterology patients, both based on the suggestions the experts made. Here you can check the old and the new versions and see for yourself the changes on the layout and content.


INSPIRATION FOR THE iGEM COMMUNITY


Microbiocosmos - Foresight report
“How your work affects the world and how the world affects your work?” a famous quote that summarises . our effort to communicate Synthetic Biology to our audience, in a responsible way.

Our event addressed iGEM teams with microbiome-related projects, emphasising both on the importance of manipulating the microbiomes to achieve diagnostic, therapeutic and ecological purposes, and being responsible as young scientists towards nature and society. The event opened with the participants presenting their projects to the other teams. After that, two workshops took place: One of them concerned the implementation of microbiome research in Synthetic Biology, while the other one was about the ethical considerations of genetically manipulating microbial communities. The last part of the event, consisted of two presentations from experts, in order to implement the theoretical background provided from the previous activities into the real world.

The first presentation was delivered by Dr. Vasileiadis, who presented to us his work on the microbial potential of soil, making a point about the toxicity of thiabendazole when used as a fungicide. After Dr. Vasileiadis, Leandros, an iGEM ambassador for Europe and a former member of iGEM Thessaly, made a presentation about the Human Practices’ impact on our projects. He began by reminding us that we, as iGEM teams, are the ambassadors of Synthetic Biology to the outside world and we carry a responsibility to communicate its applications and values in a way that reduces the suspicion and ignorance that is sometimes expressed by the general public. He then moved on to the challenges we face within the community, and the process of separating the important problems from the irrelevant ones. Which solutions to these problems are appropriate and finally, which values do we prioritize? The event closed with Leandros reminding us of the resources that iGEM offers in the areas of Safety, Security, Diversity and inclusion and gave us a glimpse of the After iGEM experience.

The knowledge accumulated from the event, as well as some instructions about the event planning, were gathered in a foresight report that future iGEM teams can utilise, especially if they are interested in organising an event with a very similar topic.


Webinar - New Frontiers in Gut Research
Before we concluded the panel we had a Q&A session where our guests answered questions that were submitted by our viewers. Concluding the event and looking back, we were more than happy to realize that the event was a success, because, firstly at the Q&A session questions came flooding in for the researchers which showed us that there was high engagement and that people were interested in our material and secondly the messages that we got after the event concluded, were of people looking for the recording to either watch it for the first time or rewatch it! We decided to host a panel discussion with Dr Brian Coombes, Professor in Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences and Dr Alexandra Meziti, a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics.

Figure 18:  Screenshot from our panel discussion with Dr. Meziti (top left) and Dr. Coombes (top right)


Dr Coombes provided insights on the gut microbiome’s role in enteropathies and particularly on his field of study, Crohn’s disease. Dr Meziti on the other hand contributed data surrounding engineering microbial communities for health and ecological purposes.

iGEM Ambassadors
First introduced in 2019, the Ambassador Team is a way for fellow university students, curious about Synthetic Biology and iGEM competition, to observe and take part in various of the main team’s events, with the educational activities being the ones in which ambassadors have the opportunity to participate the most. They have the opportunity to learn how an iGEM team works by posing questions and taking on their own small tasks. We also encourage them to be active, brainstorm and work on real iGEM scenarios such as organizing public engagement activities or propose ideas on our experimental design. Overall, our ambassadors team was efficient and always present, expanding the world of Synthetic Biology and slowly forming the next generation of iGEM Thessaly.

Figure 19:  Members of the main team with some of our ambassadors
Figure 20:  Promotional banner for our ambassador program

igem.thessaly@gmail.com