Team:SDSZ China/Public Engagement
Team:SDSZ China
A Visit to Xingzhi Experimental Primary School
In order to expand our project’s influence and raise public awareness of molecular and cellular biology as well as water pollution situation in China, our team members visited Xingzhi Experimental Primary School and taught a biology lesson there.
Due to lack of well-trained teachers and educational facilities, the kids there had little science education. Thus, rather than teaching them knowledge, it’s more important to trigger their curiosity in life science and attention on social and natural environment. We devised experiments including observing onion’s scaly epithelial cells and making cell models out of clay, combined with vivid explanations and analogies to induce the children’s interest and better convey the knowledge.
Walking through a run-down playground, opening a ramshackle wooden door, we stepped into a narrow classroom with pungent smell of moist soil and leftovers of lunch. 40 children stared up at us attentively.
When observing the cells, the kids lined up voluntarily, and operated the microscope carefully under our guidance. We have prepared temporary slides of onion cells beforehand, and thus more time is left during the class for kids to observe and try out our microscope. We asked the children to draw what they see on the blackboard, and most of them were able to identify the structure of hexagon cell wall of onion’s epithelial cells and cell nucleus under the lens and draw the basic structures on the blackboard. During our explanation of the concept of cell and cell structure, some children in the last row even stood up to see the blackboard clearly. As it was time to make the clay models of cell, the kids volunteered ardently to help us distribute the clay, and perfectly incorporated all the knowledge they learned into the models they made：different colors of clay indicated cell membrane, cell nucleus and cytoplasm.
In the end, we briefly introduced the condition of China’s water pollution to the kids and explained our project’s purpose in a simple way that they can understand. When hearing the serious state of water pollution and our team’s goal to contribute some to the detection of fecal polluted water, a girl on the back rows raised her hand and told us that she also wished to help protect the environment. We were deeply touched and listed some basic tips for everyone to follow in daily life to reduce the burden of environment. The children were eager to memorize the tips and their wish to study and become responsible citizens were what we did not imagine.
The children’s maturity and intelligence were quite impressive. We were glad to see the children having fun and enjoying some exploration of science in this short lesson, and hopefully, some of them would continue to explore the field of biology in the future. Before we left, we listed some websites and educational WeChat accounts on the blackboard for the kids to explore science on their own, since we wish their interests induced by our lecture can last and proceed to benefit them in the future——they are the future of China, so are the future of the environment around us.