Originally published on Addgene's BlogThis post was contributed by Mary Tamer from BioBuilder, an innovative nonprofit bringing the study of synthetic biology into the hands of students and teachers in the U.S. and beyond.“I want to learn more about Synthetic Biology. Can you tell me where to start?” is a question more and more students are asking. Teachers are also asking, “How do I engage my students in real-world lab activities? I’m trying to inspire them and also keep up with all the new biotechnology.”These are the types of inquiries that routinely hit the inbox at the BioBuilder Educational Foundation. With a goal of “bringing tomorrow’s science into today’s classrooms,” BioBuilder answers the call by offering a variety of educational programs all focused on current questions and experiments in the field of synthetic biology.Founded as a nonprofit in 2011, BioBuilder is the brainchild of Dr. Natalie Kuldell from MIT’s Department of Biological Engineering. Built primarily from her 20 years of college teaching experience, Kuldell sought to create a program that would capitalize on the excitement found through experiential learning. “Students may forget the technical details they hear in their classes,” she said, “but they remember the moments when they discover something new for themselves and when they effectively contribute as part of a team.” As a seasoned educator, Kuldell also knew that the best days in the classroom are characterized by intense student engagement and joy, rather than a perfect lesson plan or outstanding test scores.As a result, Kuldell launched the BioBuilder Educational Foundation in partnership with high school teachers to boost interest and understanding around the engineering of biology. Participating schools are provided with synthetic biology lab kits and lesson plans adapted from her own MIT curriculum. Drawing on current questions being asked in MIT’s research labs, BioBuilder inspires students and teachers to apply engineering principles to biological systems.Today, what started in Cambridge with a handful of local high school teachers receiving training modules in synthetic biology has grown into a recognized name in the field of STEM education worldwide. The BioBuilder curriculum is now taught in almost every state in the U.S. and in more than 30 countries around the world.
With its intentionally malleable curriculum, BioBuilder takes cutting-edge research projects in synthetic biology and transforms them into modules that students and teachers can investigate together. Teachers decide which BioBuilder lessons to teach, and how — some choose to run full semester-long classes, some pick and choose a few lessons to include each year; others use BioBuilder as an afterschool program or as a final project.BioBuilder’s open-access curriculum begins with students reading comic strips and watching animations that present a specific research problem and experiment to tackle. Next it’s off to the lab, where student groups can work with one of five BioBuilder kits — which include lab materials and reagents such as droppers, centrifuge tubes, circuit parts, and lab-strains of bacteria to study — to conduct their hands-on experiments.As a project-based curriculum, BioBuilder expands learning outcomes by emphasizing the importance of critical thinking, persistence, teamwork, and communication. And as a program focused on an emerging scientific field, BioBuilder embraces new opportunities for scientific exploration, discovery, and collaboration. One module currently under development comes from the Caltech lab of Professor Richard Murray. Murray’s lab uses cellular extracts to perform transcription and translation in vitro, and the new BioBuilder module allows students to explore how engineering fields rely on rapid prototyping to develop and test hypotheses. Students then use cellular extracts as a means to rapidly prototype DNA circuits and logic gates. This BioBuilder-Caltech collaboration has resulted in a new BioBuilder book chapter and an illustrated, downloadable classroom poster — with both of these resources road tested over the summer with dozens of teachers around the country.
Details for joining BioBuilder’s programs can be found on its website (biobuilder.org) or by emailing info@biobuilder.org. Of particular interest this fall:
Further offerings for both STEM teachers and STEM-loving students include:
Many thanks to our guest blogger, Mary Tamer from BioBuilder!Mary Tamer is a Boston-based writer, editor, and consultant whose work is focused on education and education policy.
Originally published on Addgene's BlogThis post was contributed by Mary Tamer from BioBuilder, an innovative nonprofit bringing the study of synthetic biology into the hands of students and teachers in the U.S. and beyond.“I want to learn more about Synthetic Biology. Can you tell me where to start?” is a question more and more students are asking. Teachers are also asking, “How do I engage my students in real-world lab activities? I’m trying to inspire them and also keep up with all the new biotechnology.”These are the types of inquiries that routinely hit the inbox at the BioBuilder Educational Foundation. With a goal of “bringing tomorrow’s science into today’s classrooms,” BioBuilder answers the call by offering a variety of educational programs all focused on current questions and experiments in the field of synthetic biology.Founded as a nonprofit in 2011, BioBuilder is the brainchild of Dr. Natalie Kuldell from MIT’s Department of Biological Engineering. Built primarily from her 20 years of college teaching experience, Kuldell sought to create a program that would capitalize on the excitement found through experiential learning. “Students may forget the technical details they hear in their classes,” she said, “but they remember the moments when they discover something new for themselves and when they effectively contribute as part of a team.” As a seasoned educator, Kuldell also knew that the best days in the classroom are characterized by intense student engagement and joy, rather than a perfect lesson plan or outstanding test scores.As a result, Kuldell launched the BioBuilder Educational Foundation in partnership with high school teachers to boost interest and understanding around the engineering of biology. Participating schools are provided with synthetic biology lab kits and lesson plans adapted from her own MIT curriculum. Drawing on current questions being asked in MIT’s research labs, BioBuilder inspires students and teachers to apply engineering principles to biological systems.Today, what started in Cambridge with a handful of local high school teachers receiving training modules in synthetic biology has grown into a recognized name in the field of STEM education worldwide. The BioBuilder curriculum is now taught in almost every state in the U.S. and in more than 30 countries around the world.
With its intentionally malleable curriculum, BioBuilder takes cutting-edge research projects in synthetic biology and transforms them into modules that students and teachers can investigate together. Teachers decide which BioBuilder lessons to teach, and how — some choose to run full semester-long classes, some pick and choose a few lessons to include each year; others use BioBuilder as an afterschool program or as a final project.BioBuilder’s open-access curriculum begins with students reading comic strips and watching animations that present a specific research problem and experiment to tackle. Next it’s off to the lab, where student groups can work with one of five BioBuilder kits — which include lab materials and reagents such as droppers, centrifuge tubes, circuit parts, and lab-strains of bacteria to study — to conduct their hands-on experiments.As a project-based curriculum, BioBuilder expands learning outcomes by emphasizing the importance of critical thinking, persistence, teamwork, and communication. And as a program focused on an emerging scientific field, BioBuilder embraces new opportunities for scientific exploration, discovery, and collaboration. One module currently under development comes from the Caltech lab of Professor Richard Murray. Murray’s lab uses cellular extracts to perform transcription and translation in vitro, and the new BioBuilder module allows students to explore how engineering fields rely on rapid prototyping to develop and test hypotheses. Students then use cellular extracts as a means to rapidly prototype DNA circuits and logic gates. This BioBuilder-Caltech collaboration has resulted in a new BioBuilder book chapter and an illustrated, downloadable classroom poster — with both of these resources road tested over the summer with dozens of teachers around the country.
Details for joining BioBuilder’s programs can be found on its website (biobuilder.org) or by emailing info@biobuilder.org. Of particular interest this fall:
Further offerings for both STEM teachers and STEM-loving students include:
Many thanks to our guest blogger, Mary Tamer from BioBuilder!Mary Tamer is a Boston-based writer, editor, and consultant whose work is focused on education and education policy.