Education

Distributing Theanine Containing Beverages to School Students

Aimed to raise awareness about anxiety disorders among students through a fun and educational promotional activity in the school cafeteria. By distributing beverages with theanine, providing informative posters, and offering self-assessment questionnaires, the event seeks to help students recognize anxiety symptoms, reduce prejudices about mental health, and encourage healthy coping strategies.

Purpose：Introduction to Theanine Solutions, and Raising Awareness of Anxiety

Our school student peers are at a critical period of physical and mental development, facing multiple challenges such as academic pressure, interpersonal relationships, and self-identity issues, all of which can lead to anxiety. By promoting knowledge about anxiety disorders, we aim to:

* Raise Awareness: Help students recognize the symptoms and dangers of anxiety disorders so they can identify and seek help in time.
* Reduce Prejudices: Break the misunderstandings and prejudices about mental illnesses and encourage students to face anxiety with a more open and understanding attitude.
* Provide Coping Strategies: Educate students on how to manage anxiety in healthy ways, such as seeking medical attention promptly, communicating with friends, and engaging in relaxation exercises.

Preparations for This Activity:
1. Posters: We designed two posters, one for promoting knowledge about anxiety disorders, including symptoms, causes, and coping strategies; the other for introducing the role and benefits of theanine.
2. Questionnaires: Provided self-assessment anxiety questionnaires to help students evaluate their anxiety levels. We also compiled relevant mental health resources, including information on psychological counseling services and self-help guides.
3. Beverages: We prepared beverages containing theanine that can be purchased on the market. The theanine content in these drinks is low (less than 3mg/L), and our research indicates that such a concentration is not enough to have a remarkable anxiety-relieving effect. We chose the particular product because the beverage is a popular brand, and also it contains natural theanine from natural tea leaves. It is a good choice for safety considerations.

The school cafeteria is one of the places where students gather frequently for lunch and dinner. Most of our school students come to the cafeteria, thus ensuring that our promotional activity can reach more students. Compared to other promotion activity venue, such as classrooms and libraries, the cafeteria has a more relaxed atmosphere, so students are expected to be more receptive to new information. Getting beverages in the cafeteria is a daily habit for most students, and introducing our promotional messages through this activity feels more natural.

Therefore, giving away free beverages containing theanine, would allow students to understand the potential benefits of theanine in alleviating anxiety through actual experience.

Through this activity, we hope to raise students' interest and attention to knowledge about anxiety disorders through the fun way. We also hope to encourage students to choose healthier beverages.

For every student who came to our booth, we distributed a cup of the theanine beverage, and did poster promotion. Our team members introduced knowledge about anxiety disorders and the benefits of theanine to students through posters. We used questionnaires to learn about students' anxiety status to understand their self-perception and coping methods for anxiety. For students showing higher interests in anxiety, we offered further resources and suggestions, encouraging them to seek professional help.

Through this activity, we hope to raise students' awareness of anxiety disorders and promote a healthy lifestyle, safeguarding the mental health of students.

WeChat Official Account post

Launched a WeChat Official Account to share synthetic biology knowledge and our project on L-theanine for anxiety treatment.Garnered widely appreciation and likes by using engaging explanations and illustrations. Readers shared it with their teachers, friends, and parents, encouraging meaningful discussions. We continue to publish weekly, fostering growing interest and engagement.

Wechat which has over a billion monthly active users is one of the most popular and powerful social media platform in China. Since Wechat Official Accounts enable influencers and organizations to post content, we decided to publish passage about synthetic biology knowledge and our project——Theanine for anxiety treatment.

On July 26th, we posed our first passage——What is synthetic biology. Since we were very concerned about whether the audience could understand the article rather than being overwhelmed by a large number of technical forms, our team members tried every possible way to explain complex knowledge in an engaging way. To be more specific, we started with everyday phenomena, such as lab-grown meat and synthetic spider silk to catch the audience’s eye. Then, we began to discuss synthetic biology’s historical development, its interdisciplinary advancements, the differences between synthetic biology and biosynthesis, and two approaches to synthetic biology in the following paragraphs. Winnie Xiong even used metaphor. For instance, she compared the appearance of plasma necklace which made readers to imagine, and be more interested to read. To test whether our article could be clearly understood by those who were unfamiliar with synthetic biology, we let six people from different ages to read our content before publishing it. After reading our passage, some gave us suggestions, like adding some illustrations. Thus, Winnie Xiong drew some pictures which could support our content. Within 24 hours of publishing the first article, we gained 60 subscribers from various regions in China, and the view count reached 328. The subsequent two articles also resulted in a net increase of 39 followers.

Finally, "What is Synthetic Biology" garnered 998 views and over 90 likes. As the number of articles published increased, approximately three individuals commented in the discussion section, sharing their suggestions and improvement methods for the content of the Official Account. They also expressed their viewpoints and understanding of the article's content. Ultimately, they brought our articles to their teachers for discussion, which made us very happy. Now, we continue to post one passage each week.

Giving a speech in our community

Presented anxiety disorder knowledge to a community audience, primarily young people and parents. we discussed anxiety symptoms, prevention methods, and self-assessment tools, using clear language and avoiding technical jargon, and emphasized the importance of professional diagnosis over self-assessment for those with severe symptoms.

To promote knowledge and preventive measures related to anxiety disorders, our team set the target audience within the community. This is because there was a large number of community residents, with a predominance of young people aged 6 to 22, most of whom have not previously learned about anxiety-related topics. Therefore, this was very beneficial for our presentation. During the presentation, there were almost 50 residents attended. We discussed the symptoms of anxiety disorders, the difference between anxiety and anxious feelings, prevention methods, self-diagnosis, and relevant scales. At the beginning, Wanchen Kai defined anxiety disorders using clear language. Considering that the audience consists of community members who may not have much understanding of biology and related terms. Therefore, we avoided using overly technical jargon during the introduction and while creating the PowerPoint presentation.

Then, Wanchen Kai compared normal anxiety, anxious states, and anxiety disorders to help the audience understand the differences among the three. Besides, we used comparison of causes and comparison of symptoms to make it easier for to understand the reasons. Our adopted a multi-faceted analysis, examining the causes from psychological, physiological, and environmental perspectives to comprehensively showcase the complexity of anxiety disorders. Given the intricate nature of anxiety disorder causes, a multi-faceted analysis helped the audience gain a thorough understanding. Also, we briefly introduced several commonly used self-assessment scales for anxiety disorders to provide reference. Emphasizing the limitations of self-assessment scales and recommending that individuals with severe symptoms seek medical attention, highlighting the importance of professional healthcare. For those who suspected they had an anxiety disorder, self-assessment was the first step, but a professional medical diagnosis was crucial for accurate diagnosis. Additionally, we specified that a medical diagnosis was preferable to avoid misleading the audience.

Besides, we also did a pre-test and a post-test among our audiences, to test whether they understood our speech and satisfied with our performance, helping us to improve and do better in the future. Here are some parts of our tests, as well as our PowerPoint content:

Fig.1 Assessing the understanding of anxiety disorders before the presentation.
Fig.2 Assessing the understanding of anxiety disorders after the presentation.
Fig.3&4 Satisfaction test
Fig.5 Part of our PowerPoint content

Giving speeches in our school and organize seminars among teacher

Educated G10 and G11 students and teachers about the causes of anxiety. Seminars were also held to guide teachers on identifying symptoms and supporting students in seeking help, emphasizing the need for collaboration among students, parents, and educators to address anxiety effectively.

In addition to community outreach, we organized a science outreach at our school to raise awareness among students and teachers about the causes of anxiety and how to identify early symptoms. We gave lectures to more G10 and G11 students and several teachers, as well as orgnized seminars among teachers towards the issue. We emphasized that the primary cause of psychological issues is parent-child conflict, especially academic-related conflicts. The second cause is excessive screen exposure, such as prolonged phone use and being surrounded by negative information. The third cause is academic pressure, including too much homework. On the other hand, one way to reduce stress is to have more friends. Research shows that if a child has more than four friends, the likelihood of developing psychological problems is greatly reduced, as positive peer interactions help release emotions. Outdoor activities also play a beneficial role by increasing dopamine and promoting a positive mental state, especially when done with friends. Exercise encourages a cycle of positivity and internal motivation, helping people overcome challenges. We also discussed how to help children recognize symptoms in themselves and seek help when needed. We believe this information is important for parents, teachers, and students.

Promote our project on social media

Chose Weibo to promote our experiments and educational content due to its inclusive community and large young user base, and provided. This platform allows us to reach a broader audience and collaborate with other iGEM teams.Beyond sharing information, we encourage open discussions, offering a supportive space for users to express emotions, relieve stress, and connect with others.

With the fast-developing technology today, we are presenting our experiments on online platforms. Also, we posted educational blogs.Firstly, we selected Weibo because of its high inclusivity and significant presence of young people, making it likely that many users would be interested in our project and the popular science content we create. Additionally, our promotional efforts can reach and influence even more individuals. Another reason is that we've discovered many iGEM teams from other regions on Weibo, which greatly facilitates communication and collaboration between our teams. Finally,Ruoxi Li has been actively managing my Weibo account, so she was quite familiar with the platform and has built a decent following.Current Progress: We've gained 144 followers, received 49 likes, and achieved 609 views!

Besides these, our account is not just a platform for sharing information; it's a space where we listen to your thoughts and feelings. You are always welcome to reach out to us through DM—whether you want to vent, share your stories, or simply express yourself. We will anonymously share these messages with our community for open discussion, allowing more people to join in. Here, you can freely release your emotions, relieve stress and anxiety, and find connection and support.

Anxiety Awareness Campaign at the School Sports Event: Generalized Anxiety Disorder Education, L-Theanine Beverage Distribution, and Self-Assessment Questionnaire

During our school sports event, we organized a comprehensive educational campaign on anxiety, featuring posters, L-theanine beverage distribution for athletes, and GAD-7 self-assessment questionnaires. This campaign successfully raised awareness about anxiety symptoms, offered practical coping strategies, and provided tools for students to evaluate their own anxiety levels, receiving positive feedback from participants.

The school sports event is one of the most important activities in our school that everyone in the school, including teachers and staffs are all involved in the event. During the school sports event, we organized an educational campaign on anxiety, aiming to raise awareness among students about the symptoms of anxiety and offer coping strategies. The campaign followed this structure:

Poster Creation and Display: Prior to the start of the event, we carefully designed an educational poster with guidance from Chief Physician Wang Chuyuan. The poster covered the development of anxiety and its generalized effects, detailing the symptoms at different stages. On the other side of the poster, we provided tips on how to manage anxiety, helping students recognize negative thoughts and adjust them effectively.

L-Theanine Beverages Distribution for Athletes: After researching various L-theanine beverages, we selected an electrolyte drink that was suitable for athletes. At the event, these beverages were placed at the entrance for athletes to pick up. Considering that many athletes experience nervousness and anxiety before their competitions, the L-theanine in the drink offered a calming effect. The feedback from the athletes was overwhelmingly positive.

Awareness Campaign and Questionnaire Distribution: After the athletes had entered the event, we moved our campaign to the spectator stands to reach more students. We also handed out self-assessment questionnaires recommended by Dr. Wang—specifically the GAD-7 questionnaire—to help students evaluate their anxiety levels. The GAD-7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale) is a widely used tool for assessing generalized anxiety disorder. It consists of seven items designed to measure the frequency and severity of anxiety symptoms over the past two weeks. Due to its simplicity and effectiveness, the GAD-7 is commonly used in both clinical and research settings.

Through this well-organized campaign, we successfully raised awareness of anxiety symptoms, provided practical self-assessment tools, and effectively educated students on anxiety and coping mechanisms.

iGEM Team Exchange and Collaborative Learning

Participated in an online iGEM team exchange with iGEM_BIT and BJWZ-China, presenting project, discussed the project's background, experimental results, and educational outreach. Engaging with other teams, they exchanged insights on event organization, survey participation, and iGEM competition preparation, fostering collaboration and shared learning.

We participated in an online iGEM team exchange seminar. We first attentively listened to the first team's project presentation. Then, Xiwen Xiong introduced the overall concept of using theanine to treat anxiety, covering the project background, traditional treatment methods, and theanine's function and purpose. During the presentation, Leyi Li actively explained the experimental process and shared results and insights from promoting theanine's anxiety-relieving effects during a sports event. Finally, Wanchen Kai gave a lecture on what anxiety is and how to alleviate it. After all the teams had presented, our group asked several engaging questions, mainly focusing on educational aspects. For example, we asked how the other team contacted university students to successfully host their lectures, whether the number of participants in their surveys was sufficient, and if they used a combination of online and offline methods for promotion. Since the host had previously participated in an iGEM competition, we also inquired about the defense process, preparation strategies, and received satisfying responses.