Conceptualisation of synthetic biology using a virtual synthetic biology laboratory: An explorative design based research.

Abstract

Students are often unable to experiment with new fields in biology because most developments in the scientific world are not practiced in secondary school laboratories. Likewise synthetic biology is not yet integrated in the curriculum. Synthetic biology is an innovative science in which scientists use elements of genetic information to design and develop whole new biological systems. In this study a virtual lab was developed, for the SYNERGENE project, enable to support upper secondary students’ conceptualisation of synthetic biology. Using a real world context in a problem based setting students get to experiment with this new field of biology. This study aims to get insights what learning activities foster this conceptualisation and to find guidelines on the usability and feasibility of this designed virtual lab. To do so the virtual lab was designed based on guidelines gathered from literature. Furthermore, it was tested in four different classes with secondary school students. Data was collected from student answers of the virtual laboratory questions, surveys and interviews with students. It becomes clear that the learning activities do foster students’ conceptualisation. Furthermore the information and visualisations of this virtual lab is valued positively and clear. Additionally guidelines for usability and feasibility are found. Moreover, the visualisations and text of virtual lab should be quicker and feedback should be more specific. This study was one of the first steps in a design based project, therefore more design cycles have to be done to develop this virtual synthetic biology laboratory.