By Isobel Magrath, on behalf of the University of Sydney iGEM team
Photos: Merrie Caruana
Science in the City, the annual Australian Museum Science Week event for school children, is definitely not an event to miss. This year, JAMS joined in the fun with a booth at the Science Expo – an immersive space where students can get hands on with all sorts of science. The expo was packed with plenty of things to fascinate a young audience, from live frogs and starfish to strawberry DNA extractions and mysterious materials that seemed to be both liquid and solid at the same time.
The JAMS booth was well equipped to hold its own amongst all of these attractions. There were samples of pond water which, under the microscope, revealed small creatures zipping about living their busy lives. Plates of bacteria and fungi sat on the table, accompanied by their stuffed-toy microbe counterparts that adorned the booth. Of particular interest to the children was the hand-held microscope that revealed the minute structures of skin, hair, fabric, and even nostrils, scabs and bellybuttons. A selection of children’s books telling stories of microbial life appealed to the avid readers, while behind the tables large posters described the various ways in which microbes could be helpful or dangerous, and how they can be genetically engineered to suit our needs.
While the stuffed toys certainly caught the eye of many of the children and brought them over to the booth, the microscopes and culture plates were enough to hold their interest once there. Some of the most rewarding moments occurred while explaining to the students how the penicillium sample growing on the agar plate is where the antibiotic penicillin comes from, and watching their eyes widen in astonishment. It was also satisfying to explain that the fluorescence gene in the GFP E. coli originally comes from jellyfish, because hearing them exclaim ‘that’s so cool!’ reminds us of how we felt when we first learned about GFP. There’s nothing quite like teaching kids to bring back the feelings of excitement and passion that come with learning new things. In addition to teaching the students about the diversity of microbes and how they can be genetically engineered, we also improved the knowledge of the teachers and parents that came by the booth. In particular, many of the adults immediately identified E. coli as a ‘bad’ microbe. However, by explaining the beneficial role that E. coli plays in both our gut microbiomes and in lab work, we were able to shift the adult’s perceptions of E. coli and microbes in general.
This is the beauty of events like Science in the City – not only are we encouraging the next generation of scientists, we’re also educating other non-scientists on topics close to our hearts, and having fun while doing it! One thing is for sure – we’ll be back next year.
