One of the main goals of our project was to engage younger students and the greater community with scientific topics. Since plastic pollution is an extremely pressing issue, we also aimed to engage the community in efforts to avoid plastic use and increase recycling.Taking inspiration from these goals, we executed multiple community education projects intended to target multiple demographics.
One of our main goals was to generate students’ interest in science from a young age. This year, we hoped to extend our outreach to elementary schoolers. Typically, these students are only taught science in very basic terms, focusing primarily on the life and earth sciences. According to the Science Content Standards for California public schools, chemical reactions are typically only introduced in 5th grade, in a simplified form: “Students know differences in chemical and physical properties of substances are used to separate mixtures and identify compounds.”
Thus, our team held two sessions of a free three-day forensics-themed summer camp for 1st through 5th graders. Through the camp, we hoped to deepen students’ knowledge of science through engaging, hands-on activities. We introduced the idea of physical versus chemical reactions and the concept of conservation of matter. We also introduced the students to properties they might not have been exposed to before, such as solubility and pH. We paired this with hands-on testing of various unknown powders and liquids. By performing guided tests on the powders, including their pH, solubility in water, reaction to HCl and iodine, and observations through a magnifying glass, students were able to identify the mystery powders (salt, sugar, cornstarch, gelatin, baking soda, Alka seltzer, and vitamin C) and liquids (water, lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, and vinegar). Other forensics-related activities we conducted included fingerprinting and identifying the different types of fingerprints, as well as paper chromatography.
Especially when working with young students, it is crucial to discuss lab safety. Throughout the camp, we emphasized the importance of not ingesting any of the substances. We made sure students were wearing their safety goggles at all times. We also taught the students how to waft a sample, rather than directly smelling it. Overall, our camp was a success; though we initially only planned for one session, around 40 parents expressed interest, leading us to conduct another session in order to reach as many interested students as possible.
In addition to providing direct instruction to students, we also created an archive of our engaging and educational slides on forensic related biology topics. Other science educators and iGEM teams can use these resources as inspiration for their own education ventures. The slideshows provide a full five day summer camp plan for 1st-5th graders with hands-on lab activities included.
In addition to educating the younger generation, we wanted to make a bigger impact in our community as a whole. Our team conducted a concise survey across various age groups to identify common misconceptions regarding recycling, plastic pollution, and PET. We distributed this survey across our school, library, and various public spaces within our community. We displayed posters containing QR codes in classrooms, particularly science classrooms, and promoted the survey across multiple social media platforms. Please view our survey page to see full details on our survey.
After we closed the survey, we made informational infographics (see Survey and One Pagers) identifying the correct answers to our survey questions, which we posted on our Instagram (@dnhsigem) in order to educate survey participants and our followers. Our survey also included a “Personal Questions” section, where we invited participants to answer questions regarding their own recycling habits and plastic use. Notably, out of those who selected “neutral”, “disagree”, or “strongly disagree” to the statement “I make a conscious effort to recycle.”, 71% cited confusion over which products can and cannot be recycled. This was the most common reason, out of other options including lack of incentive, inconvenience, lack of access to recycling bins, and the idea that one person’s recycling habits are not enough to make a difference.
To corroborate our online survey results and to expand our impact beyond our social media circle, we also interviewed people at our local beach. Being part of a coastal city, San Diegans have a unique responsibility to avoid plastic pollution and preserve our delicate marine environments. When asked, “On a scale of 1-5, how concerned are you about the increase in plastic pollution in our communities?” most participants answered with 4s and 5s. In addition, we asked 14 yes-or-no questions about whether or not the products named were recyclable; these included: 1. paper scraps, 2. paper napkins, 3. plastic utensils, 4. aluminum bottles, 5. styrofoam to-go containers, 6. plastic candy wrappers, 7. glass jars, 8. plastic bags, 9. cereal boxes, 10. drinking glasses, 11. empty aerosol cans, 12. lightbulbs, 13. magazines, and 14. plastic bottles. Out of the 15 beachgoers interviewed, participants averaged 8.6 questions out of 14 correct, which is only slightly better than guessing. In addition to interviewing beachgoers, we were also able to educate them on the most effective ways to recycle and avoid plastic pollution.
From our survey results, we concluded that, while there is a genuine desire to recycle, many individuals struggle to stick to these recycling guidelines and lack a clear understanding of effective recycling practices. Without this knowledge, ecosystems, particularly San Diego’s marine environments, lie at risk of destruction due to plastic pollution. To enhance our community’s recycling efforts, we developed an informative guidebook that educates people on recycling rules, regulations, and best practices.
This guidebook addresses common misconceptions, the significance of recycling, recycling methods, and provides tips and strategies to reduce plastic consumption as a whole in society. Once completed, we distributed our easy-to-use, printable recycling guide (included within the guidebook) to both students and teachers within our school. In order to achieve our goal of making the recycling guide as accessible as possible, we translated our guide into Hindi and Spanish, languages that are commonly spoken among people in our county. Additionally, we made copies of the guidebook available for borrowing at our school library, providing students with easy access to the resource. We also made it available at our local public library to share with the community beyond our school.
Based on the feedback that we have received, the recycling guide was helpful in clearing up misunderstandings that many people had about recycling. In addition to an English version of our printable guide, we created a Spanish version and Hindi version in order to reach and educate as many people as possible.
In order to further engage younger students, we wrote and illustrated a fun and educational children’s picture book designed to spark curiosity and introduce young readers to the exciting field of synthetic biology. We introduced the relationship between bacteriophages, bacteria, and plasmids through storytelling and accessible illustrations. Told through the perspective of Perry the Plasmid, it emphasizes the importance of resilience and problem-solving, making it an essential read for budding scientists and inquisitive minds. We wanted to help educate the next generation of scientists to explore and contribute to synthetic biology in their future.
Several copies of this book were donated to our local library to increase its accessibility and reach in the community. We also publicized the book across multiple social media platforms, our school, and several public places. Additionally, we read the book aloud to groups of children to spread the word and educate them about the field. We hope to play a role in nurturing the young minds today that will shape the future of synthetic biology and contribute to the innovations in science.
In order to reach a wider range of community members, like working professionals and other researchers, our team hosted a symposium in which we presented our project idea and our recycling guide. Our goal was to educate them on the importance of our project, as well as recycling. We recognize that most recycling guides are often difficult to comprehend, so we wanted to use this as an opportunity to simplify it!
We received this feedback from an attendee: “This session helped me learn the important details of recycling. It surprised me that plastic bags do not go in recycling! Though I initially only knew a few basics, I was able to improve my knowledge.”
In addition to our offline outreach, we also used social media to reach a wider audience beyond our immediate community. As mentioned above, we used social media (Instagram: @dnhsigem) to spread our survey and educate users on basic PET pollution facts. We also posted information about recycling and how to avoid plastic pollution. These activities were important to us as we were able to present our project to a global audience and engage with other scientists in a casual way.
Through our multitude of diverse activities and projects, we were able to effectively engage multiple subsets of our community. Our children’s book and summer camp engaged younger students while our various surveys, recycling guides, and project symposium focused on people our age and the general public. Our social media outreach expanded our project to a global space and helped us interact with people beyond our immediate community. Our work on education throughout the season helped us reach our goal of effectively communicating with the community on plastic pollution and increasing interest in science and synthetic biology.