| BioBotz |
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The project is a joint venture, teaming local students, educators, scientists and animators. In the fall of 2009, Atkins Academic and Technology High School in Winston-Salem will partner with Wake Forest University’s department of physics, the Center for Biomolecular Imaging of Wake Forest University Health Sciences, the Center for Design Innovation, and faculty and students from 3-D animation programs at Winston-Salem State University, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and Forsyth Tech. The project will produce animated educational videos that will teach high school students about biotechnology. The goal of the animated videos is to teach high school students how biotechnology harnesses cellular machinery to cure diseases, detect biohazards, and manufacture new materials. About 15-20 Atkins High School seniors are expected to enroll in the course for the fall semester. Project director Macosko believes that the project will not only serve as an educational model for other North Carolina high schools and colleges, but could be a force for changing how biotechnology is viewed by young students across the country. The involvement of high school students in the production of the animations also directly taps into the project’s target audience—other high school students. Macosko developed the project idea through his work advising a group of Wake Forest student entrepreneurs. After taking Macosko’s freshman seminar, Harnessing Life’s Molecular Machines: From AIDS Tests to Hydrogen Cars, seven WFU students formed a company called BioBotz. The goal of BioBotz is to build awareness and educate students about cellular mechanisms and biotechnology in an exciting and stimulating way through educational games, cartoons, toys and storybooks. BioBotz will incorporate the Atkins High School project into its ongoing work, and the animations will be produced under the BioBotz name. For more information on the Atkins High School project, visit http://www.wfu.edu/news/release/2009.03.24.b.php. To read more about BioBotz and the story of how the company was founded, visit http://entrepreneurship.wfu.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=167&Itemid=88. |