Abstract:

Nowadays, one of the main problems detected in Spanish high school students is the lack of knowledge about the content, applications and utilities of the careers that they can study. In several cases, a wrong selection make the students to become demotivated, since the career does not meet the initial expectations, thus leading to school failure. For this reason, secondary school programs must be designed to help the students in the transition to colleges and universities. Currently, there are several extra-scholar activities in which colleges and universities collaborate for providing information about the syllabus and the scientific activities developed at the university. Under this premise, several projects of scientific and academic approach are developed in different campuses of excellence in Spain. These projects are specially designed and led by university and secondary education teachers in order to provide these young students with a first approach to the University and to present the specific skills and basic knowledge necessary to obtain a career in a relaxed way.
Taking into consideration these aspects, this year in the University of Vigo, several experiences were programed within the frame of the campus of excellence (Campus of Sea Knowledge in depth) in order to get the students of fifteen and sixteen years old, familiarized with Chemical, Biological and Engineering studies. In this program, we have designed several activities for introducing the students in the application of biotechnology and bioengineering subjects. The degree in biotechnology comprises the study of technology based on biology. This is especially pertinent to agriculture, food science and medicine. For example, earning a degree in biotechnology is a great way to start a career in genetic engineering, while bioengineering is designed to introduce the student to the principles of Biochemical Engineering, and its application to some of the most important operations in the Biotechnological Industry. For many students, the thought of pursuing a degree in something related with biology brings back bad memories with animals of high school. Though a biology degree prepares students for the study of living organisms, the field provides a wide variety of options for graduates. Thanks to technological advances, many degrees in biology are available online, completed with virtual simulations of laboratory tasks [1-2].
This paper describes the planning of several activities developed during the summer of 2011 in order to introduce the secondary high school students in the Biotechnology career in the University of Vigo.

References:
[1] Evans C, Gibbons NJ, Shah K, Griffin DK. Virtual learning in the biological sciences: Pitfalls of simply "putting notes on the web". Computers and Education (2004), 43 (1-2):49-61.
[2] Fernández López A, Rodríguez Fórtiz MJ, Bermúdez Edo M, Noguera García M. Improving the cooperative learning of people with special needs: A Sc@ut platform extension. Research, Reflections and Innovations in Integrating ICT in Education. (2009), Vol. 2: 1161-1166.