Information and communication technology (ICT) has brought a plethora of knowledge to our finger-tips. ICT also allows fast processing of the information to be disseminated to the public in a meaningful manner within no time. The computers today are highly advanced and the internet is available at lightning speed. This makes it possible to develop resources for engaging school students in STEM.
What would be a better idea than using ICT to empower students for solving problems in the areas of health sciences, medicine, ecology, evolution, etc.? Thankfully, a discipline called ‘bioinformatics’ exists which has co-evolved with technology and has allowed us to unravel deep secrets of organisms and their biomolecules. Bioinformatics involves creating tools that use biological data to solve relevant problems.
Curiosity Gym presents to you a course on ‘Introduction to Bioinformatics’ for grades 9th to 12th. The course aims at introducing students to the very basis of biology -that a great diversity of organisms exists on the earth, with each organism containing genes encoding different proteins. Thus, information of each of these organisms at various levels is valuable to understand genes involved in harmful processes like causing deadly infections to useful processes like producing antibiotics, vitamins or clearing oil spills!
Research in science education points out at a huge success of engaging students in activities related to bioinformatics. Activities requiring students to solve biological or socially relevant problems using bioinformatics has been believed to spark their curiosity. Such students are also reported to be likely to pursue STEM subjects for higher education. National science olympiads also present bioinformatics-styled challenges to participating students.
Importantly, working on computational biology and bioinformatics for solving real-world problems could introduce students to a variety of possible career options. E.g., one doesn’t necessarily have to become a doctor to work in the health-care industry. Designing drug-targets, decoding protein structures, forensics, all require bioinformatics. Apart from health-care, ecology, environmental biology, evolutionary biology, involve a lot of bioinformatics. We believe students will make the most of their learning through this course.
For more details on this course, check our website: https://www.curiositygym.com/bioinformatics