Team:SJTU-BioX-Shanghai/Public Engagement
Overview of Education
We participated in the University's "Science Carnival" event to popularize synthetic biology knowledge for students and nearby communities. We also cooperated with other organizations in the school to go to Xining City of Qinghai Province, Kunming City of Yunnan Province and Dongfang City of Hainan Province to provide supported educational activities, spreading the knowledge of life sciences for local children and enlightening their scientific dreams.
We also participated in the Mooc video filming of basic biology experiments, helping young people in western China to learn to use microscopes and explore the world of life. We collaborated with the school's student organizations and also hosted a microbiology painting competition. The students used a microbe transformed with a fluorescent plasmid to draw a variety of patterns on the medium, achieving a blend of science and art.
You can find more detailed information about our all kinds of education activities later on this page.
In addition, we designed a flyer to help the public understand igem and synthetic biology as well.
In this year's iGEM team, we specially selected two reserve players. They participated in the group meeting with the official team members to discuss the project and prepare for the future iGEM competition. Thus, we have realized the education and inheritance of iGEM itself.
In this page, we focus to show you our education activities. But actually, the public engagement in our project contains a two-way process. In addition to spreading knowlegde to the public, we have also worked to listen to the public's voice towards science research. You can see more information about our public survey HERE.
Science Carnival
On April 7, a Youth Creative Culture Carnival was held in Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Our iGEM team participated in the "Science and Technology" section. Through interactions such as interesting game, biological knowledge answer and so on, the synthetic biology was popularized and publicized to the SJTUers and the public. And the unique demeanor of the iGEM team was demonstrated.
Considering the age distribution of the people participating in SJTUers' Day, our HP group designed different types of interaction.
For children, we prepared Sporos games and organized DNA model building experience activities.
Sporos is a game with the theme of biological cells. On the spot, this small game attracted a lot of children. We organize them to play at the same time on different devices, similar to the "contest ", but they can help each other，which give them a more exciting game experience as well as feeling of the spirit of collaboration among scientists in the simulation lab.
The participation form of DNA model building is mainly parent-child interaction. While instructing, team members introduced to the children what DNA is, what functions it has, and components such as basic group.
For young students and visiting citizens, we have prepared a prize-winning answer to biological knowledge. We have prepared questions of different difficulty levels for different types of people, such as people not major in biology and biological related professionals. Participants whose accuracy of the answer is above 80% received a small prize and stamped iGEM seal.
In addition, we have specially designed a visionary message book that invites participants from different specialties to actively think about what sparks can appear when their major intersects with synthetic biology. A student from the Department of Chemical Polymers wrote, " We could develop polymer materials with good adaptability for the application of synthetic biology." A student major in foreign language wrote, "I believe competition like iGEM contributes to the exchange and sharing of knowledge and technology with the development of synthetic biology, and improves the efficiency of communication and cooperation." The lively atmosphere of activities was also well received by foreign friends.
As the general director of our team, Academician He Lin, president of the Bio-X Institute, also appeared at the iGEM booth to inspect the scene of the event and cheer for the team. He fully affirmed the creativity and enthusiasm of the team members in the activities, and encouraged us to carry out similar activities, to spread science with pleasure and to understand the world of life.
Support Education in Yunnan
At Guolin Primary School in Kunming City, Yunnan Province, we carried out teaching activities on synthetic biology to introduce the basic knowledge of biology to children.
Considering the age characteristics and cognitive level of students, we combined the phenomenon of life with frontier scientific knowledge, and guided children to gradually understand the basic knowledge of biology with image matching and interesting animated video.
The classroom atmosphere was active and these children really dared to think and say. We guide them to speculate boldly about the principles behind various phenomena or structures. For instance, we instructed them to infer the function of bacterial flagella according to the its shape and location. Children gave several reasonable and well-founded answers according to their daily common sense.
Through seed structure staining observation, clay making bacterial model, idea plane making and other practical activities, we also enhanced the interest of theme day, so that children can enhance the understanding and absorption of classroom content in bold creation.
Finally, we carried out the classroom quiz. Students' correct rate is above 80%, and the course had achieved good results.
Support Education in Hainan
In Dapo Primary School in Dongfang, Hainan Province, we have carried out our teaching activities on the topic of synthetic biology.
Based on the reality that local students lack basic knowledge of biology, we have carefully designed the teaching plan, starting from daily life, and explaining basic principles and applications of synthetic biology to children in a more visual way.
We asked the children to make DNA models and understand the concept of gene. Combined with vivid examples, children felt the power of synthetic biology.
While spreading scientific knowledge, we are also enlightening the children's scientific dreams. Some children told us that she was unfamiliar with these concepts but wanted to know more about the secrets of living things after class. She wants to improve the wood of the trees planted in her home by synthetic biology and protect them from pests.
In addition, after the end of our course, we also designed a science lecture for parents. At the lecture, the parents of the children also came into contact with the concept for the first time, and had a preliminary understanding of synthetic biology.
Support Education in Qinghai
At Changning Town Center School in Datong County, Xining City, Qinghai Province, we taught third-grade children science courses to guide them to think about the nature of life and explore the mysteries of genes together. Starting with the most common natural phenomena, why "you get what you sow", and why "there are no two identical leaves in the world", and the children have opened up molecular biology for them with their curious eyes. The door to learning. The group built a DNA model to further enable children to visually understand the microscopic biological structure, and for the introduction of cutting-edge genetic engineering technology, the children's imagination was developed. It is not only along the footprints of the ancestors, but also the inheritance of their own inheritance. It also enlightens their enthusiasm for scientific research. Perhaps the next important biological discovery will be born among them.
After the course, the children also presented us with handmade origami and expressed their gratitude to us.
Bio-Art
In Bio-Art activity, we collaborated with the school's student organizations and hosted a microbiology painting competition. The students used a microbe transformed with a fluorescent plasmid to draw a variety of patterns on the medium, achieving a blend of science and art.
Mooc making
In addition, we also participated in the Mooc video filming of basic biology experiments, helping young people in western China to learn to use microscopes and explore the world of life.
Public engagement & survey
In this page, we focus to show you our education activities. But actually, the public engagement in our project contains a two-way process. In addition to spreading knowlegde to the public, we have also worked to listen to the public's voice towards science research. You can see more information about our public survey HERE.
SJTU-BioX-Shanghai
Contact us: sjtuigem@gmail.com
Bio-X Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Dongchuan Rd. 800