Enjoying 20.020!

My original motivation for signing up for 20.020 was to learn whether or not I am interested in declaring Course 20. While I haven’t made up my mind yet, 20.020 is definitely my favorite class this semester, and not just because of the tea and cookies. The labs are fun, and it’s really cool to see what people have been able to do with synthetic biology. I’m also really looking forward to working with the seniors and designing my own project.

So far, I like 20.020 because instead of showing us the problems, or the solutions, it focuses on the process. Let me explain: In math and physics, for example, we learn some really solid skills that help us solve foundational problems in those subjects. Even though I love math and physics, it’s sometimes hard to see the point of what we’re learning because the class focuses mainly on those specific solutions. On the other hand, the project-based classes I’ve taken seem to be more about problems that need solving: build a robot that can traverse this obstacle course, design a bridge that can hold a certain amount of weight, develop a 50-year global plan for clean energy (which I did in Terrascope). Many of these classes show us what real-world problems look like but don’t give any direction on how to go about fixing them. However, 20.020 so far seems to be about the techniques people use to solve bioengineering problems: how to program DNA to make it do what you want, which I think is super cool. It's amazing to see all the different directions you can go with these techniques.

I like 20.020 more than any of the other project-based classes I’ve taken so far, but I am doubting my capabilities a little bit. It seems like any idea I could come up with, somebody has probably already tried. What project can I take on that will be novel and challenging enough to hold my interest, but easy enough that I could design it? I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.