Overview
For iGEM 2024, our team has developed teaching and lessons plans for learners of different ages. The aim is for these lesson plans to be easily replicable for educators. These ready-made materials are meant to be adopted for students ranging from age 9 to 14. We hope to prove that science education is simpler than it looks. And as a high school team, who better than us to take on this challenge?
Our school has introduced a school-based biotechnology curriculum for Year 7 – 9 students since 2004. Many of our members see this as a spark that led to us joining iGEM this year. As such, we wish to give back, in hopes that other learners could benefit from a similar curriculum as well.
The curriculum is differentiated for Year 7, 8 & 9. Each Year will receive no less than 3 lessons, each lasting 60 minutes, covering the basics of scientific investigation, Biology and more. Beside PowerPoint Slides for lectures, we have also designed printable handouts and worksheets. Beyond that, our curriculum also follows the Learning-Teaching-Assessment Cycle. First lesson is for input of new knowledge and more basic concepts. Another lesson conducted in the consecutive week would invite learners combine their own preexisting knowledge while incorporating real-life examples to better illustrate more complex ideas. The last lesson would be for explaining actual hands-on laboratory procedures while also allowing learners to showcase posters that they have designed based on a given lesson-related topic.
Genetic Day Camp
Organised annually at our school, the Genetic Day Camp aims to teach primary school students knowledge about biotechnology and science, utilising games and exciting experiments to cultivate young students’ interests in biotechnology. With this year’s topic circulating around prostate cancer, our team has designed a program named “Supporting Warriors : Fight Against Cancer”. On that day, around 120 young primary school students participated in this year’s edition of Genetic Day Camp.
Upon the arrival of the primary school students, the students were separated into 12 groups of 10, and a brief introduction was given to them with basic concepts about prostate cancer, such as its causes and symptoms.
Then, the 10 students in each group were separated into teams of 5. The students were required to find the letters of certain vocabulary items, such as cancer, treatment and surgery, in a ball pit. After they have found all the letters of the word and correctly shown it to us, a sticky ball was given to them. Then, they were guided to the shooting range in which they could throw the sticky ball at the cancer cell, which is a member from our team dressed in a cell costume. If they have successfully hit the cancer cells with the ball, 1 point will be awarded to the team. At the end of the game , the team with the most points wins.
This game simulates the action of our immune cells fighting the cancer cells, with the sticky ball acting as the antibody needed to kill the cancer cell. Through this game, not only can the students enjoy the fun of teamwork and ball games, but they can also learn about how immune cells fight cancer cells, and basic knowledge about biotechnology, such as vocabulary items, in a stress-free manner.
Following the game, a debriefing session was held to recall their memories of what we have taught. A piece of homework was also distributed to them, requiring them to use the words they’ve learnt to fill in the blanks of numerous sentences, in order to strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the biotechnological world.
Overall, this year’s Genetic Day Camp has been a resounding success, filled with joy, laughter, and at the same time, a pleasant educational atmosphere. With many young students expressing their newfound enthusiasm about this scientific field, our aim this year of raising awareness and educating the youth about prostate cancer has been definitely achieved.
In the future, our team will continue educating the youth and building up their interests in biotechnology, while also pursuing our project in detecting and treating prostate cancer, taking another step in building a future of rapid scientific advancement and a cancer-free world.
Curriculum design
Our educational framework is specified for students in Years 3 to 9 (aged 9-15), focusing on fundamental genetic concepts and cancer awareness. The overarching objective of this educational framework is to enhance scientific literacy among students and to raise awareness of prostate cancer.
By fostering discussions about prostate cancer within families and communities, the curriculum aims to encourage proactive health measures, including regular screenings for middle-aged men. To achieve our goals, we have designed an education program that can progressively build knowledge in genetics and oncology, foster scientific literacy, and promote health discussions related to prostate cancer.Since we aim to maximize the knowledge the students can acquire under a relaxing atmosphere,the majority of the lessons will be spent on performing experiments and games.
Year 3-6
For students in Years 3 to 6, the objectives center around foundational genetic knowledge. Key components include an introduction to genes and the molecular structure of DNA, as well as familiarity with the four nucleotide bases ATCG. We aim to pique their interest in genetic-related topics, as well as lay a solid foundation for their future studies in biotechnology.
Year 7
For Year 7 students, the curriculum advances to cover the principles of cancer biology, emphasizing the role of genetic mutations in oncogenesis. To reach the aim, students will get first-hand experiences on performing experiments. Our self-designed online game—Immunity Clash, will also be played during lessons to deliver the concept of body defense towards cancer. Students will explore various cancer treatments, alongside a debate of treatment methods and their mechanisms of action at the end of the lesson. We hope to maximize the knowledge that students can acquire through experiments and games other than verbal delivery.
Year 8
For Year 8 students, concepts about plasmid and drug-life cycle are introduced on top of knowledge delivered to Year 7 students. Similar activities with the same general aims will be carried out. Year 8 students will be able to access a more extensive degree and in-depth knowledge of related topics.
Year 9
For Year 9 students, the focus shifts to advanced concepts in cancer therapeutics, including an in-depth examination of plasmids and their utilization in targeted cancer therapies. Students are also expected to understand the drug life cycle, and how experiments are designed by scientists. Discussion of prostate cancer will be carried out in order to raise awareness towards the topic. We aim to enhance student’s understanding on how research and experiments are carried out, so as to lay a solid base for their future research, and cultivate their talents in this field.
Resources
Game
Objectives
- Introduce cancer cell behavior in a fun and simple way
- Raise student’s awareness in cancer
- Cultivate teens’ interest in cell system and introduce them to the world of biology
Play record and Coverage
Play the Game!
If you want to host the game on your own server, download here(alternate source). If you want to further develop the game, download here(alternate source) for the open source file.
Students’ work
The students have formed groups and submitted their posters to us. Here are some of the posters submitted by the students:
Promoting Mutual Learning
After the lesson, we gathered student feedback through evaluation forms. Most appreciated the lesson design and felt they could keep up, but the average confidence score for learning the topic was around 3.5-3.7 out of 5. Some students expressed a lack of confidence and showed limited improvement in knowledge-based assessments, indicating that a minority struggled with the topic.
We emphasized iGEM values, particularly Responsibility. We prepared comprehensive lesson materials, using graphics and metaphors to clarify complex concepts, and encouraged student questions. Pre- and post-assessments helped gauge understanding. Students also created posters to consolidate their knowledge, as well as promoting students’ deep and self-directed learning on the topic of genes. These all demonstrate our commitment to promoting synthetic biology and raising awareness about cancer.
Quality Assurance was also a priority. We researched extensively to ensure accurate information in our materials.
Through teaching, we learned to better engage students with challenging topics. For instance, we used the game Immunity Crash to explain cancer defense mechanisms and the puzzle analogy to illustrate genes and DNA. This approach kept students focused and facilitated understanding. We also recognized the significance of active learning; after their poster presentations, we noted students shared knowledge beyond what was taught, enhancing their comprehension and assessment scores.
In summary, while students gained new knowledge, we also learned valuable lessons from them that will aid our future communications with various stakeholders.
For the results of the knowledge-based assessment, please refer to the education report
Reflection on our Education
A research paper that documents and analyzes our findings on our iGEM 2024 project has been submitted to the Education University of Hong Kong’s Global Chinese Academy for Science 2025 Conference by our teachers. It will hopefully be published and presented in the near future.
Titled “Engaging Students in Troubleshooting in STEM Project Based Learning”, below is an abstract of the study:
Project-based Learning (PBL), an educational approach widely applicable in different fields of study, most notably STEM. PBL involves students working together on an authentic, and usually challenging problem or project, developing knowledge and skills in the process with minimal interference from teachers.
PBL requires students to work together and analyze complex information, brainstorm plans and evaluate potential solutions for various situations. Students’ cognitive and collaborative abilities can be enhanced, while providing experiences in information collection and developing alternative solutions.
A group of highschoolers’ project is to develop a test kit to detect and kill prostate cancer cells, competing in an international competition. With minimal guidance from teachers, this ambitious and demanding task poses challenging obstacles and setbacks. Using the engineering cycle to come up with a solution, it involves identifying the problem, conducting background research and using previous experiment data and notes. A prototype solution is then developed and tested.
The students keep a detailed notebook on all aspects of the project encountered difficulties. With this sophisticated logbook system, they were able to quickly identify problems and adjust accordingly to get desired results. Each experiment the team performed had at least one additional team member acting as an observer, taking notes and ensuring that everything goes according to plan. The principles of PBL and engineering cycle, perform specialization and collaboration between team members to the highest degree possible. The learning journey of the students are recorded and students have to write self-reflections after the task is completed.
University Education
In the future, we will exchange the idea of gene construction and cell culture with university students. The idea of using high concentration chemicals in plasma can be used to detect any type of cancerous cells. We hope to exchange ideas with universities and collaborate with them to work on cancer screening in the near future.
Public Education
By holding public talk, giving out posters and launching campaigns on social media, we wish to borden our reach to people locally and globally and expect to attract the public's attention on prostate cancer and encourage early diagnosis of prostate cancer, further promoting scientific literacy among the society.
Leaflet
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