Difference between revisions of "Team:UESTC-China/Public Engagement"

In the process of analyzing the questionnaire, we found that the elderly is the largest group of expired drug use, and their medication habits have greatly affected the store and treatment of expired drugs in the family. (Supplemental data analysis) Therefore, it is very important to popularize expired drug knowledge for the elderly. After clarifying that the elderly are the main audience of the project, We started frome the most extensive entertainment activities for the elderly in China – the square dance, and adapted a square dance lyric to promote the danger of expired drugs.

In order to better grasp the music preferences of the elderly, we went to the square near the school to conduct research, dance with the old people, chat with the old people during the break, understand the requirements of the old people for the square dance soundtrack and the view for our project. After a while, we learned that the old people generally like the square dance soundtrack with rhythm and melody. The old people told us that the dance movements are arranged according to the rhythm of the soundtrack. For a new song, it is afraid that the movement cannot be remembered. Therefore, we decided to use the old people's original soundtrack, combined with the knowledge of expired drugs to re-fill the words, reduce the burden on the old people, and improve the acceptance of the new song by the old people.

We decided to first select the "Envy, jealousy and hate" to adapt, and then combined with the old people's suggestions to adapt other songs. In order to make the lyrics catchy and meet the preferences of the old people, our new lyrics have been rhyming. The adapted song was sung by our team member Xingyu Liao .

The old people welcomed our adapted songs, and after dancing the new songs, they said that they did not violate the square dance. After the break, many old people came to ask us about the meaning of the lyrics and understand the details of the classification and recycling of expired drugs. At the same time, some elderly people have put forward their own suggestions for the design of our devices. For example, the warning signs of the devices can be larger, and the old people are also looking forward to more knowledge about garbage classification and drug classification.

With the rapid development of modern society, there is still a lot of knowledge that needs to be popularized by the old people. We believe that the popularization of knowledge by using the square dance song lyrics as a carrier can make the old people more deeply impressed, more understandable. We plan to continue to adapt other lyrics to promote anti-fraud, anti-theft, and appliance usage specifications for the elderly.

Together with UESTC-Software and students from the University of Hong Kong, we bring a big children's day adventure to children in the Science and Technology Museum of Sichuan Province - Exploring Synthetic Biology. We performed a children's stage play "The Case of the Ciprofloxacin Kingdom" based on our project in the Science Theatre. We did a science lecture on synthetic biology, and also carried out many fun experiments such as pH detection, creatures under the painting brush , leaf bookmarks, leaf stickers. These activities convey the charm of biology to children in an interesting way. The children and parents responded enthusiastically, both of which expressed a new understanding of synthetic biology and genetic engineering.

At the end of the performance, we conducted on-site Q&A on the content of the stage play. The children actively answered and answered the question “Why is the photodegradation method not available?” and “What is the key role in the degradation of ciprofloxacin ?”. Children's answers are the best proof that we have succeeded in promoted synthetic biology and our project.

In the process of participating in the event, many parents were curious about our project. After the explanation, they praised our thoughts, and some parents also asked us about the genetic modification.

In order to let children and parents learn about synthetic biology more quickly, we chose to use the stage show to present our project to parents and children. We set the story as a fictional ciprofloxacin kingdom. This kingdom has close cooperation with humans around the export trade of ciprofloxacin, which is similar to the real usage of antibiotics in the fields of human medicine, aquaculture, etc. There was a rebellion inside the ciprofloxacin kingdom. The Duke led the rebels to flee the sewage kingdom and lived in the microbial estate, which was the metaphor that the untreated wastewater contains ciprofloxacin which is easy to bind to microorganisms, making the microorganisms gradually resistant and the environment and human health pose great risks.

In order to make the main line of the story easy to understand, we extracted and simplified the main line of the project as the story core based on the accurate introduction of the project, and combined the functions and characteristics of E. coli, fluorescent protein, promoter, CrpP enzyme to set the role, and wrote the story stickers. In the real life, every movement of the rebels and the army can find the principle basis in synthetic biology, and it corresponds one-to-one in the experiment. In this way, we are entertaining and entertaining, letting children remember the characteristics and functions of many genes in the subtle way, and let the children understand the practice of our project without knowing it, and can better promote the biology of synthetic biology. Knowledge makes the public more explicit about the abuse of antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin. At the end of the performance, we conducted on-the-spot quiz questions on the content of the stage play. The children actively answered and answered the questions, “Why can't the photodegradation method be used?” and “What is the key role of ciprofloxacin in degrading sewage?” The higher problem is the best proof of our successful promotion of iGEM, introduction of our projects, and popularization of synthetic biology.

We invited Professor Tang Lixia from the School of Life Science and Technology of the University of Electronic Science and Technology to give a lecture on the topic of synthetic biology entitled “Green Water, Green Mountain, We Are In Action”. Professor Tang’s lecture begins with the common tea cups and coke cans around us, exposing the seriousness of the modern social environment and causing the children to think. Later, using comics as a carrier, the concept of synthetic biology and its application in environmental adjustment were introduced to children in easy-to-understand language.The concept of synthetic biology and its application in environmental adjustment. Professor Tang used the in-depth lectures to lead the children to appreciate the charm of synthetic biology, to spread the seeds of synthetic biology in the hearts of the children, and to prove to the children that science is not a distant and sacred field, it is around us. It is easy to understand it.

We also carried out fun experiment activities such as pH detection, creatures under the brush, vein bookmarks, and leaf stickers. These experiments are low in difficulty, operability is high, and the fun is strong. The results of the activities can be taken home for commemoration, which is very suitable for children aged 6-12. Through these fun activities, the children have a basic understanding of the basic steps of pH detection, learned the structure of the unisexual and bisexual flowers, recycled the leaves, and fully utilized their imagination to make a work of art with personal characteristics. To the beauty of nature, I also feel the wonders of biology.

The pH test experiment let the children know the concept and use of the pH value, have a preliminary understanding of the acid and alkali, and have a general understanding of the acidity and alkalinity of the commonly used liquids. At the same time, this gives children the opportunity to experience experiments from an early age, which is conducive to cultivating their research interests.

This activity fully explores the children's imagination. They are bold in color matching, and there is no shortage of whimsy on paper. In addition, this activity starts with the common flowers around us and introduces the children to the biological structure of the flowers. In life, we see a flower and ask others "what is this flower", but often do not remember to ask about the structure and characteristics of this flower. This activity helps to develop a child's inquiry spirit of “why” in the face of ordinary things.

The well-made leaf bookmarks can be taken home, because they are made by yourself, and the bookmarks are especially memorable. The activity allows children to get close to nature and feel the beauty of nature, so that they can cherish and protect nature and say "no" to the pollutants that destroy nature.

The activity shows that combining ordinary things in different ways will have different performances, just like our project uses E. coli as a carrier to combine genes with different functions to work together to solve pollution. problem. This also vividly conveys to the children the meaning of the word "synthesis" in synthetic biology: connecting genes into networks, allowing cells to accomplish the tasks envisioned by the designer.