Motivation

Why did we choose children as our targeted audience?

During the developmental stages of our educational framework, we learned that there is hardly any viable content to introduce children to synthetic biology and basic genetic principles in Lithuania. This idea was reinforced after consulting with Rita Makarskaitė-Petkevičienė, an associate professor and pedagogue of preschool and primary education in life sciences. She explained that there is a lack of innovative teaching tools in Lithuania because new education topics are often considered redundant information by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport and are not included in the school curriculum. This is an important issue with potentially serious consequences, as teaching science to young children fosters their love of learning and improves their understanding of scientific concepts later in life [11].

Furthermore, we found out that in Lithuania, digital tools are very rarely used for primary school science lessons. This is due to a lack of teacher competencies and the absence of digital content available to schools [12]. We aimed to fill this gap since digital tools can lead to positive student learning outcomes and may also facilitate the development of communication, creativity, and problem-solving skills [13].

These reasons motivated us to write an interactive children's book that would aid in alleviating the mentioned problems. The story follows a memorable journey of a firefly Chilie that could not glow. With the help of his best friend, bacteria Koli, and the power of synthetic biology, he tries to bring back his ability to shine.

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Goal of the book

Objective 1: The main goal of this book was to encourage children to become interested in life sciences and give them the necessary background to explore the world in more depth. This is why the book encourages pupils to think and ask questions about why and how one or another life process works.

Objective 2: We wanted to provide teachers with an additional free tool to ignite students' interest in new subjects, even if they are not mandatory in the curriculum.

Execution

Content of the book

Following the story of Chili, pupils progressively delve deeper into the structural organization of an organism. First, readers get to understand the definitions of organisms, microorganisms, and cells. Afterwards, they start learning what lies inside the cells—DNA and genes. Finally, they are introduced to the principles of genetic engineering and synthetic biology, after which pupils help our hero Chilie regain the ability to glow. This way of presenting information gives it context and makes it easier for children to remember.

Learning about microorganisms shows children that life also exists on microscopic levels, far beyond what can be seen with the naked eye. Early exposure to topics like DNA, genes, and gene editing introduces them to key concepts of modern science. By learning about these topics, children can become aware of how science affects their environment, enabling them to make responsible decisions later in life as adults.

Design of the book

To make learning more interactive, every other page has questions related to the text that readers can answer by pressing buttons. After a question is answered correctly, a green light appears, giving children immediate positive reinforcement and a sense of accomplishment, making them feel good about their efforts. Research has shown that interactive books motivate students to follow the course and improve their ability to understand and remember educational material [14].

Availability

During the writing of the initial version of the book, we consulted with young pedagogues Kornelija Buivydaite and Laura Lapinskaite who helped to identify several essential aspects to make our book more accessible. First of all, they pointed out the need to use a type font that is friendly for pupils with special educational needs, such as Comic Sans. The font improves the experience for readers with dyslexia and other disabilities.

Secondly, they advised using an animal as the main character and giving it a memorable name since children tend to connect with them better and it helps to make the story enjoyable.

Next, they suggested we should aim to simplify learning new concepts so each new term is described with practical examples that are easy to understand.

Furthermore, we asked Monika Jasnauskaitė, a Junior scientist at VU LSC and an expert scientific illustrator, to help us with visualizing our book and make it easier to capture children's attention and facilitate their understanding and retention of what is being read [15].

Do It Yourself

While creating a book yourself may seem daunting, we wanted to ensure that anyone interested in having a physical copy could easily make one. You can find a concise guide here, where we've made all the hardware building instructions accessible so others can build upon it. The book has also been translated into English to make it accessible worldwide.

Creating a mutual dialogue

We were eager to see how well our book could be implemented into non-formal education and to determine whether children and teachers found it valuable. To do so, we contacted several primary schools and introduced the story of Chilie. We created a mutual learning environment by asking children questions from the book and assessed their engagement and comprehension of the content. This helped us to see what the children understood and where further explanation was needed.

The presentation was followed by an interactive session where students, with our help, extracted DNA from bananas using soap, salt and alcohol. This activity aimed to reiterate the concepts from the book, that every organism is made up of cells, which, when broken down, can then be used to extract DNA. The activity also highlighted the importance of washing hands with soap because it destroys harmful microorganisms on our hands by breaking down the lipid membrane surrounding the cells.

Another important reason for implementing a face-to-face education was to get insights into the impact of our book. To measure it, we asked pupils if they could describe the concepts shown below before and after presentation of the book.

Reach

Alongside the physical book prototype, we also made a free interactive website to help the story reach a wider audience, ensuring that any interested teacher can access it. To make the process even more efficient, we collaborated with "Vilnius yra mokykla" and created a publicly available lesson plan that enables teachers to use the online version of the book to introduce primary school children to life sciences. Our book has reached over 120 teachers in more than 15 different cities. We hope that the spread of this educational tool will only be accelerated by teachers who use it themselves and share it with others, ensuring the continuity of our project

Reflection

Although the book has just started its own "journey," we have already received feedback from teachers and children. The children said they enjoyed the story and the main character - firefly Chilie. Teachers added that even though the book is a bit difficult in some places, the pupils still understood the content. The main suggestions for future improvement were to include more examples to introduce key concepts and to expand the story with content focused less on teaching new ideas and more on developing the narrative, allowing children to better connect with the characters.

Conclusion

Combining storytelling with science, "Firefly Chilie and his Scientific Journey" proved to be a valuable tool in making complex subjects accessible and enjoyable for young learners. We hope this approach empowers children to learn and engage with science in a meaningful way, igniting their curiosity and inspiring the next generation of scientists. Additionally, by providing teachers with a ready-to-use tool, we hope to make a long-lasting impact that aligns with Sustainable Development Goal no 4.

Motivation

Seeing a lack of public interest in STEAM education, particularly among students[16], we felt obligated to promote it. While talking to students outside of STEM studies, we encountered a common stereotype that science exists only within the laboratory's walls. The microorganisms that experiments are conducted on seem like they're from a completely different world.

Our objective was to show young people that life sciences can be observed all around us. Therefore, we decided to create a mobile game that would encourage students to get out there and explore their surroundings to learn more about it.

Execution

To do so, we chose a well-known game model that is attractive to youth and young adults - one akin to Pokémon Go that allows players to explore real-world environments. The game is designed to introduce players to microbiology and gene editing, even those with no prior interest in biology. Evidence shows that learning outdoors leads to a deeper understanding of nature and benefits students' emotional and cognitive development [17].

Learning through games

Incorporating game elements into education can make traditional learning an adaptive and immersive experience [18]. Studies have shown that learning through games also improves content comprehension and motivation to continue learning when compared to conventional teaching methods [19]. This is particularly relevant in the context of life sciences, where complex concepts can be difficult to grasp through traditional teaching methods.

Game design

The game is designed to be fun and beneficial for different age groups.

Young teens can often find the written material non-engaging, so it was essential for us to present the information visually to make it easier for them to remember and understand it [20]."Bacteriomania" builds upon this notion and combines real-world exploration with the ability to scan surfaces like dirt or food to find different bacteria living in these specific environments. By doing so, pupils can understand where bacteria live, how bacteria function and contribute to shaping our ecosystems [21]. The game has over 20 different bacteria, so kids won't get tired of looking at the same bacteria and it will encourage them to find all the hidden species!

To reach young adults, we have added an extra level of interactivity - after scanning the surface, players can then choose to battle bacteria and gain their parts, such as new plasmids, promoters, and genes. By obtaining these parts, players have the opportunity to learn how they work and then use this knowledge to create the best possible plasmid for their own bacteria. This shows how genetic engineering can be used to develop new plasmids and subsequently be implemented for use in synthetic biology.

Generating a mutual dialogue

It was very important for us to hear from the students what they thought about our game, whether it was informative and how it benefited them. To measure the impact of "Bacteriomania", we used the focus group method to get individual perspectives and to hear different opinions on how the game helped them understand the concepts of microbiology and genetic engineering.

Results

The most common comments were that the game helped players realize how many different bacteria there really are in the environment and that each bacteria has unique features. Another important insight was that the game made it much easier to understand how plasmids and operons work and how genes are integrated into them. However, people in our focus group also stated that they missed the possibility to read more about the caught bacteria and learn about their other features. We plan to continue collecting feedback from players and integrating it into the game to make it even better.

Reach

After seeing a great interest in the game, we decided to promote it not only through our social media networks but also on international gaming forums. The game is available in almost every country on the Google Play and Apple Store apps. To make this game grow even more in the future, we decided to make the source code publicly available so that other iGEM teams and enthusiasts can use it and adapt it for their own projects. You can find the code here.

Using augmented reality for exposure therapy

A growing number of scientific papers have recently suggested that augmented reality can be used to treat phobias through exposure therapy [22]. Mysophobia is an extreme fear of germs. This condition often leads to avoidance behaviors that can significantly impact daily life. By scanning surfaces and seeing the bacteria, players can confront their fears in a virtual context and understand that bacteria are a natural part of life and not necessarily harmful. Over time, they can become used to seeing the bacteria without negative consequences, and their anxiety levels may decrease. We hope that "Bacteriomania" will help people deal with this phobia in the future.

Conclusion

Overall, the feedback from people has been extremely positive, and everyone was eager to see what new features would be added to the game in the future. Our main objective to get students interested in the environment and at the same time to get acquainted with genetic engineering and synthetic biology was achieved. We hope that our efforts of incorporating feedback to improve our game and making both the game and its code public will achieve a long-lasting impact.

Our participation in various contact fairs this year aimed to enhance our visibility within the scientific community and foster connections that promote continuous education in life sciences. By showcasing our educational initiatives and engaging with students, professionals, and organizations, we sought to inspire interest in synthetic biology and identify collaborative opportunities to improve educational resources for diverse audiences.

International Conference of Life Sciences The COINS 2024

We had the first opportunity to introduce our new team and project to a broad public during this conference. At the networking event, we exchanged contacts with other participants and learned how to present iGEM and synthetic biology clearly to the audience.

Vilnius University Career Days

Participating in the Business Fair helped us understand how to communicate with other companies and possible stakeholders, expanding our knowledge and professional networking skills. Career days bring together students from different study fields, so hopefully, our participation has influenced some young people to consider a career in the life sciences.

VU Integration Festival Ad Astra

The VU Integration Festival Ad Astra took place at the end of our project, which allowed us to showcase the achievements of our LAB and HP work. It was also another great opportunity to introduce students to iGEM, synthetic biology, and Synhesion to a broad public.

The "Environmental Development 2024" conference at Žemynos Gymnasium

We were invited by Žemynos Gymnasium to participate in the conference "Environmental Development 2024", where people of different ages, from primary school children to university students, presented their scientific activities. After introducing listeners to past iGEM projects and the possibilities of synthetic biology, we received many questions from younger children, which taught us that there is great interest in life sciences among younger people. After the conference, we felt inspired to continue fostering children's interest in synthetic biology. This idea was later explored, which led us to discover a lack of credible and engaging learning material that introduces kids to synthetic biology, eventually leading to the creation of our educational book for children.

Vilnius University Freshmen Camps

This year, we have set the goal of introducing the iGEM competition to a broader range of Vilnius University faculties besides the Life Science Center. We introduced the iGEM competition to four first-year student camps from different faculties. During these visits, we delivered presentations on synthetic biology and its applications in our project "Synhesion".

The National Pupil Academy

The National Pupil Academy is a unique non-formal education institution meant for talented and motivated Lithuanian children from 8th to 12th grade. The sessions are led by professionals, scientists, and students from the world's top universities. Keeping the tradition of Vilnius-Lithuania iGEM and The National Pupil Academy, we were invited to present the iGEM competition to the pupils, introduce them to the field of synthetic biology, and provide them with knowledge in this rapidly developing interdisciplinary field.

The theoretical part was followed by an activity in which students had to design a smaller-scale iGEM project, come up with a problem they wanted to solve, think about their public engagement and hardware. This demonstrated the iGEM project development process and highlighted the vast potential of synthetic biology applications.

The last part of our educational activities aimed to discuss bioethics in the context of synthetic biology because of its potential to create new life forms, risks associated with misuse, and social implications. We created mutual dialogue by inviting a bioethics research specialist, who helped us to explore this nuanced field and answered pupils' questions.