Overview
Our team is dedicated on modifying luciferin, allowing these novel firefly luciferase substrates to broaden existing bioluminescence imaging tools and alter current monitoring of brain cancer growth. However, gaining public acceptance of a new technology sometimes takes a lot of time.
Given the challenges we face as Chinese high school students in obtaining professional knowledge in our daily education, we undertook both exploration and education of this field at the beginning of this project.
Our education program is beneficial to a significant number of individuals, including kids, high school students, and anyone who are interested in biology. We are able to offer educational resources that are not readily available in everyday life and to spread our experimental discoveries. We hope to broaden their understanding in the field of biology and stimulate their curiosity through the professor's explanations, the group members' presentation and promotion. To convey the advantages of biosynthetic innovation technology in our lives, enabling human experiences that render the data on paper more understandable. Consequently, a wider range of people will gain a more profound comprehension of biogenetic engineering.
Activities
1. Social media
In an effort to acquaint people from a variety of backgrounds with our professional technologies and information, we propose the use of popular scientific videos on the Internet, which is currently the most widely used medium among individuals of all ages.
We presented over ten videos on a variety of social media platforms during the duration of our project, which encompassed the contents of the experiment and the daily research
of a Chinese senior high school student. We demonstrate to the public how young generations manage to coordinate their daily schoolwork with their research activities through using modern techniques and fashion. Our videos consistently demonstrate the progression of our research, including the solutions we employ to overcome a variety of challenges. We develop a perseverant spirit as a result of repeated failures. As a result, we aspire to communicate professional knowledge and such spirit.
2. Animation
We noticed that people always preferred watching entertaining movies over complex educational resources. Our team members created experimental animations to emphasize how accessible the content is. This approach, which combines visual effects with characters, makes it simpler for a wider audience to understand what we're working on.
Here are some of our posts.
3. Establish an iGEM club
At our high school, we started an iGEM group that has drawn in dozens of students of all ages. The community has expressed a tremendous deal of interest in biogenetic engineering. Weekly progress reports from school activities are shared by members of our iGEM team with the public, a move that has sparked many students' curiosity about biological genes. The most well-known biological research program at our school right now is the iGEM project.
Over the summer break, we carried on with our online knowledge-sharing classes using Tencent Meeting. To broaden the scope of the instruction, we displayed more animation and video information online.
4. On-campus education programs for high school students
Since online knowledge distribution is not always the most effective means of instruction, our team organized a series of in-person lectures on high school campuses called "Into Bioluminescence" to introduce students to engaging classroom experiences.
In order to serve as a reference for future scientific popularization and education, we developed a survey report on the eve of the lecture to look into the understanding of high school students regarding bioluminescence principles, terminology, and application.
The survey results indicated that approximately 33.33% of the students were aware of the field of bioluminescence, while the remaining 66.67% were not particularly familiar with it.
We developed an instructional plan in collaboration with the professors in view of this phenomenon.
The team members opted to kick off with fundamental experimental understanding and developed a teaching plan. The instructional approach is mostly delivered by team members and professors, encompassing auditorium lectures and small club presentations, while considering the schedules of all students to ensure abundant learning opportunities.
5. Experimental projects for high school students
6. Volunteer teaching in rural elementary schools
Our team chose to implement this project as a volunteer program at the rural elementary school because even urban high school students find it challenging to understand the field of bioluminescence.
Through the communication with the teachers in the rural school, we discovered that the kids in the rural school have limited knowledge of biology and chemistry, which makes it challenging for them to adjust to the personalized lesson plan for high school students. Therefore, we revised the content of the teaching materials, enhanced the activity plan, and returned to the fundamentals.
Following an examination of several biological processes seen by kids in their daily lives, we have developed the subsequent materials from the standpoint of fundamental chemistry relevant to synthetic biology.
To enhance kids engagement in the classroom, we concentrate on designing interacting sessions. Utilize the design of questions to elucidate the occurrence of bioluminescence and other connections to enhance participation in the science classroom.
Through the classroom painting feedback, we effectively conveyed the concept of
bioluminescence to the kids, enabling them to recognize bioluminescent events in their surroundings and establishing an effective basis for their future learning.
7. Animation for kids
Given that the attention span of unschooled kids is inferior to that of adults or high school students, optimizing knowledge transfer through lectures proves challenging. Therefore, we designed an animated film that is popular among kids. The art team members were responsible for developing the artwork, while the remaining team members prepared the script.
Animations have the ability to rapidly capture the attention of kids and stimulate their curiosity and interest via colorful illustrations. This interest serves as an effective incentive for kids to initiate independent learning.
Concurrently, animations have the capacity to elucidate intricate concepts. Scientific knowledge is frequently abstract and challenging to understand, particularly for kids. The complex scientific concepts are presented in a visual and intuitive way through animation, thereby facilitating the comprehension and retention of these knowledge points by kids and reducing the learning challenge.
8. PUBLICATION OF BIOLUMINESENCE BROCHURE
Paper media continues to hold an indispensable status in contemporary society, as it was an essential medium for information acquisition prior to the appearance of the Internet. Our team developed a BIOLUMINESENCE brochure in order to more effectively inform the audience about the bioluminescence phenomenon during the offline campaign.
The contents of the inside page were finalized after consulting with the professors, and the poster was released for the promotion of the event.
Twenty brochures were sold during the event. Buyers' ages range from twelve to fifty-four. After the well-crafted academic journals transform the profound and difficult professional knowledge into popular science knowledge that is close to daily life, a large range of audiences will still be willing to buy and learn, according to this fact.
This demonstrates that people are not averse to learn complicated concepts, but rather that the way they are disseminated is not appealing enough. This activity offers them the opportunity to learn and develop an improved understanding of the unknown biological world.