Materials & cost
Most lessons use cheap, portable supplies you can carry into a classroom in a tote bag. Here's roughly what it runs.
The big picture
~$2
per student
$25‐40
a typical visit
~$85
a full set of all nine
Cost per lesson
Rough estimates for one class of about 30 students.
1. Intro: what is synthetic biology?
$0
2. Build-a-DNA double helix
$10-20
3. Name-in-DNA bracelets
$15-25
4. Strawberry DNA extraction
$15-20
5. Monster genetics
$5-10
6. CRISPR cut-and-paste
$2-5
7. Engineer a glowing microbe
$10-15
8. Clean water: sense it & solve it
$15-25
9. Design-a-synbio-solution
$2-5
↓ Full materials & cost sheet (.xlsx)
Good to know
- Several supplies are buy-once and reusable (printed card decks, glue, a UV light), so a second visit costs less.
- The spreadsheet has some live formulas. You can change the unit costs to match your own suppliers and the totals should update.
- Many lessons have a near-free version: beads instead of candy, recycled bottles for the water filter, printed strips for CRISPR.