Education

NIS talks

Layout Competition

NIS Summer Camp

Youtube channel

Delve camp meeting

Kindergarten meeting

NIS talks

On 12th May our team organized and participated in Independent Conference " NIS talks” about Global issues and citizenship. At this event, where students from the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools of Chemistry and Biology, Physics and Mathematics and "Lucky" International School from India participated, speaker Yrysbek Togzhan introduced IGEM as one of the greatest opportunities to make a significant impact on a Global issues solution for young people.

At this conference, 8 speakers were exchanging their ideas about global citizenship and problems. Togzhan participated at the first time. In her speech she described a way in which everyone can solve global problem using science, patience and hard work. She discovered how to use synthetic biology to fight the plastic pollution and reflects her experience about helping the environment.

Layout Competition

In 20 May our team announced a layout competition called “Plastic through the eyes of children”. In this contest students of the 7-8 grades did the architectural layouts connected with the plastic recycling or plastic degradation. Most of the participants have chosen the designing of plastic recycling / degrading fabrics and how they see them . In 30 May we announced the results and gifted the winners with prizes and certificates.

The goals of this competition were :

to stimulate youth for community impacting projects creation
to actualize the plastic pollution problem
to encourage creative and critical skills from the young students

The best layout creator received a prize - art tools collection!
Grand Prix winner - Rasulova Aigerim
1 place - Zharylqasyn Bizhamal
2 place - Azhar Nurzhau & Qalybek Qarashash
3 place - Anarbay Altynai, Zharylqasyn Nurai and Arman Utegenov

NIS Summer Camp

In June, an educational summer camp hosted by our team provided 10th-grade students with a deep dive into the world of synthetic biology and the IGEM competition. Led by passionate and knowledgeable students from the IGEM team, the camp featured several key lessons and activities.

The summer camp provided students with a comprehensive understanding of synthetic biology and the IGEM competition. It showcased the potential of synthetic biology to address various global challenges in ecology, energy, medicine, and more. The interactive and engaging lessons created a fun and enriching atmosphere, leaving participants with valuable knowledge and an unforgettable experience.

Each lesson had a pleasant and enjoyable atmosphere, featuring a variety of games and interactive activities. Judging from the feedback below, it's evident that the students had an unforgettable experience.

Overall very interesting, although I was not previously interested in this field. Akhan Zhuldyz 11 B

igem camp was as interesting as ever. being finishing 10th grade, I learned that ruminants also pose a threat to global warming. The most valuable experience for me was the teamwork with the 8th grade. The younger students were energized, their curiosity about biology was mesmerizing and felt like a breath of fresh air. I am glad that I was able to share my experience and reveal myself as a mentor. Nazym 11L

Summer camp was an opportunity for me to spend time in a fun and useful way. We were not heavily loaded, but the information was more than entertaining. Ryskozha Akmarjan 11B

I enjoyed the camp, funky and the topics were interesting. I also had fun learning and answering questions, I learned how recombinant DNA is created and how DNA duplication occurs. Zhansultan Omirbek 11k

I really enjoyed the iGEM summer school. these classes were the foundation for my knowledge of synthetic biology. i think i learned a lot of things, like teamwork, and i also learned about many bacteria and what they do. The lessons were very interesting and everything was very clear to me. I would like to note that by adding activites to the end of each lesson and holding an invention contest you have shown initiative! I can say that iGEM is a very useful project for all mankind, because high school students can create a bacterium that can change the world, for example your project with a bacterium that eats plastic. iGEM is also useful in medicine, because inserting genes into an unborn child can save it from genetic disease. i hope to participate in this wonderful contest someday !!!! Merey, 8K

The summer camp was a very good project. We were explained the essence of the competition, the ideas, the meaning and impact of the works that were presented there. We also played games that helped us to relax and understand the theme. Thanks to the summer camp I learned about different ideas, about solving different problems and about the teams that contribute to it. Abdimalik Ayaru Talgatkyzy 11 C

The pie chart of students’ interest in synthetic biology

Youtube channel

On 2.07.2023 we created an educational Youtube channel in order to provide free and accessible knowledge base in Kazakh language because now there is insignificant amount of content that will explain these topics for the kazakh audince. Moreover, if someone will write “synthetic biology” in kazakh language on Youtube platform our channel will be first in a list.

Totally we have been uploaded 15+ videos about synthetic biology and IGEM Competition to spread the information for future IGEMers from Central Asia. We used our creative skills and the majority of our videos were done in the drawn or animated format in order to make all content easily understandable.

Delve camp meeting

On July 11 NIS-Kazakhstan iGEM team went to the children's English camp "Delve camp" with an educational program on synthetic biology. For the younger group (10-13 years old) 32 children were conducted several interactive activities.

At the beginning of the event, a question and answer (Q&A) session about the problem of plastic pollution was organized and the team project was presented. Children were told about the importance of fighting plastic pollution and the introduction of the "NIS-Kazakhstan" project
After that children were offered to participate in a game about bacteria. They received handouts about different types of bacteria and participated in a quiz with balls to test their knowledge.

The children were then involved in a creative competition of creating modified organisms on posters. They got creative with the task, creating "superbacteria" that can solve humanity's problems. The event ended with a sweet and exciting workshop where children created DNA from marmalade and marshmallows. This workshop helped to explain what DNA is, as well as to learn about its double structure and nitrogenous bases. For one thing there was an opportunity to eat sweets;)

As a result of the event, the children gained knowledge about synthetic biology, plastic pollution and how scientific concepts can be explained and demonstrated through interactive games and creative tasks.

Kindergarten meeting

Our team had an exciting and educational trips to 3 kindergartens. Our goal was to teach the children about the importance of waste sorting, environmental conservation, and introduce them to the world of bacteria, all in a fun and interactive way. We played games, drawn color books , explained the importance of bacteria in the human life and the plastic pollution problem. It was fun and interesting experience for our team members!