introduction

ZJU-China's educational efforts aim to deepen and expand science education, ensuring that more people have access to scientific literacy. We are working toward a more inclusive and better world where everyone has the opportunity to receive education, hoping to inspire more individuals to shape, promote, and participate in the development of synthetic biology.

Our educational activities are diverse, tailored to different audiences with content suited to their needs, while also striving to cover as many groups as possible, ensuring that everyone, regardless of gender or economic status, can receive equal education. Through educational exchanges, we help others improve and, in turn, contribute to society by fostering a better understanding of science and synthetic biology. This is by no means a one-way promotion or advocacy of synthetic biology. We, too, have felt ourselves improving through the feedback we receive. Education is never one-directional; as an old Chinese saying goes, “Teaching benefits both teachers and students.” We listen, we grow, and we are not here to persuade.

Synthetic biology Lecture - for high school students

SyntheWe went to Wenyuan School of Hangzhou Xuejun Middle School Education Group, a member of the high school, and made a presentation. At the beginning, we introduced iGEM and our project this year to the sophomore students, and also made a professional sharing for them, introducing different majors and college life of Zhejiang University, so that they could know more about their suitable majors after the college entrance examination. After the end, we handed out souvenirs of Neovio Dye. To our surprise, many students actively asked questions at the end of the lecture, and some even came to discuss with us about synthetic biology after the meeting. Although two hours is a short time, we are honored to be able to plant a biological seed in their hearts

Picture books for children - for primary school and below

We collaborated with five iGEM teams from Fudan, Shanghaitech-China, NUDT-CHINA, SJTU-Software, and Nanjing to create a picture book aimed at children in primary school and below. In the early stages, we conducted human practice research to ensure that we were creating a picture book that children would genuinely like, rather than just what we assumed they would enjoy. We conducted offline surveys and interviews to understand children's opinions and preferences regarding popular science picture books. We also investigated the sales of different popular science books through offline bookstore research and online information gathering. Additionally, we consulted a book expert, who gave us valuable advice on our topic, publishing costs, and illustration style.

We conducted an offline survey of children aged 7-13 and found that they prefer interesting and creative storylines, along with realistic and detailed illustration styles. They are particularly interested in science fiction and adventure stories, and they prefer gradually uncovering scientific knowledge throughout the reading process, rather than being presented with direct educational content. In terms of character design, brave children and anthropomorphized animals or objects were the most popular. The kids also showed great interest in novel biological concepts such as gene editing and bioluminescence. Although the sample size was limited and the results are not highly conclusive, we have tried to meet some common preferences, such as book length and engaging storylines.

Volunteer Teaching——for junior school student

Globally, educational inequality persists, primarily reflected in the urban-rural divide, regional disparities, and economic imbalances. In a vast country like China, the distribution of educational resources between urban and rural areas and across different regions is uneven. Every year, countless university students travel to underdeveloped rural areas to support education and teaching management in primary and secondary schools. This summer, we collaborated with Tsinghua University for a teaching support program in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province. We taught botany and microbiology courses to a group of middle school students. Our Tsinghua peers joined us, and we even made it into the local newspaper.Thanks to Today's Longyou for covering our story.

The time is short, and every young teacher who leaves the volunteer teaching place will miss those children, wondering whether they can walk out of the mountains and villages in the future and take systematic botany courses and microbiology courses in the university. The tired complaints in the university are the future they strive to pursue. We wish them a bright future.

Our Goal

We drew inspiration from previous iGEM teams and recognized the importance of multidisciplinary participation and communication. Thus, we organized an exploration of art and science with a Chinese cultural focus. Initially, we perceived that as history has progressed, science has played an increasingly important role, while the influence of art has diminished. However, we later realized that this understanding was superficial.

China, with its rich history spanning over five thousand years, provides a broader perspective on this evolution. We first outlined the relationship between art and science in Chinese history in chronological order—from the Pre-Qin period, through the Qin and Han dynasties, the Tang and Song dynasties, the Ming and Qing dynasties, to modern times. We then interviewed several experts and practitioners in the field of art to deepen our understanding.

Based on this exploration, we believe that studying the evolution of science and history in China can stimulate interdisciplinary thinking and enhance the integration of science and art. It can also help us understand how the development of science is influenced by social changes, thereby allowing us to better grasp the impact of scientific and technological advancements on contemporary society and promote scientifically valuable research with social significance.

Finally, the reason for our focus on Chinese culture is to enhance our cultural identity during scientific research, which can inspire more creative ideas for Neovio Dye that incorporate Chinese elements. This is also crucial for education in synthetic biology. A thriving culture leads to a thriving nation. We sincerely hope that all researchers in synthetic biology can cultivate a sense of belonging and identity with their culture while engaging in scientific research.

Preliminary carding

Starting from the pre-Qin period (16th century BC - 221 BC), art was closely related to religion, primarily centered around religious rituals and sacrifices, with bronze and jade artifacts becoming important components of these ceremonies. Simultaneously, the seeds of science began to sprout in agriculture, astronomy, and medicine. Entering the Qin and Han periods (221 BC - 220 AD), centralization of power prompted the standardization of art forms such as sculpture and architecture, reflecting the strong will of the state. Significant progress was made in science, particularly in astronomy and medicine.The Tang and Song periods (618 - 1279) marked a flourishing era for art, with poetry, painting, and music thriving, while Buddhism and Daoism held significant places in artistic expression. During this time, the Four Great Inventions—printing, gunpowder, the compass, and papermaking—emerged, greatly propelling social development and enhancing the role of science in historical progression.In the Ming and Qing periods (1368 - 1912), with the rise of the commodity economy, art gradually became secularized, leading to the emergence of folk crafts and theatrical forms. Additionally, cultural exchanges between China and the West intensified, bringing Western scientific and technological advancements into China.In modern times (1912 - present), science and technology have become the primary forces driving social progress, particularly evident in the New Culture Movement and the May Fourth Movement, which advocated for science and democracy. Meanwhile, the functions of art have gradually shifted to reflect social realities and cultural heritage, resulting in an increasingly close integration of art with scientific and technological advancements. This includes the fusion of synthetic biology with art, which promotes the development of innovation and creative industries.

Through the analysis of these periods, it is evident that as history has progressed, science has evolved from a supportive role to become a core driving force of historical development, while art has shifted from traditional domains like religion to a combination with science and technology. This provides historical context and logical clues for exploring the educational practices of the Neovio Dye project.

Communications with specialist

We first browsed the literature on the relationship between science and art in CNKI and found that authors before us have already contemplated this issue. In terms of integrated applications, some have proposed that the current dual empowerment of artificial intelligence and film needs to break the barriers between science and art. Currently, AI in the film or entertainment field mostly remains in the stage of inspiring ideas and lacks the capability to be applied to actual production processes. Regarding the impact of technology on art, some have pointed out that the art field is undergoing an 'art revolution' driven by technology. This revolution in thinking is reflected in artists using digital technology to accelerate the creative process, broaden the boundaries of creativity, and explore new modes of human-machine collaboration through technological thinking. Additionally, some authors have proposed an exploratory integration of innovation, indicating that the era of Industry 4.0 has blurred the boundaries between art, science, and technology. The physicalization of data has become a catalyst for new scientific and professional perspectives, opening pathways for future collaboration among artists, scientists, and technologists. We are pleased to see so many people researching the integration of science and art, which deepens our understanding. However, it is unfortunate that we did not discover explorations from a historical perspective in China. Therefore, we decided to contact teachers in museum studies and art history to seek their opinions.

We first engaged in discussions with a teacher in classical literature.we introduced our project to her, and mentioned that the education part wanted to explore the development relationship between science & technology and art. She suggested us focus on a certain point of research. Doing this research is like writing a proposal report, where to go should be considered clearly. Then we had a further discussion with Ms.Yang from public ministry of Zhejiang University Museum of Art and Archaeology on the relationship between art and science and technology development. She also mentioned the problem of too broad definition. There are many kinds of art, poetry, calligraphy, Chinese painting are all considered art, and technology is defined differently in different dynasties. She suggests that we focus on the textile fabric or dyeing pattern related to the project. Many bronzes and pottery decorations in China have many patterns with unique national art styles handed down from generations, and it will be easier to explore the development relationship between them. The development process of phoenix pattern runs through thousands of years of Chinese art history, and gradually evolved into a totem integrating culture, power and aesthetics. In modern times, with the progress of science and technology, phoenix pattern has been restored to life and applied to modern textile, architecture, digital art and other fields, which provides an innovative form for the design and display of phoenix pattern, showing the deep integration of traditional art and modern science and technology. We thought about whether phoenix pattern could be used as a pattern dyed by Neovio Dye, which means a good fusion of art and synthetic biology.

For public

We also realized that interacting with different iGEMers is extremely important. Conversations with them broadened our perspectives and revealed various possibilities for synthetic biology projects. When speaking with newly formed iGEM teams, we shared advice on team building and management. For more experienced iGEM teams, we humbly sought guidance and discovered many small details about the competition that we had previously overlooked. Over the past six months, we have exchanged ideas with HainanU-China, iZJU, Westlake and Bioplus-China. We participated in CCIC (The 11th Conference of China iGEMer Community), where we won the Best Project Presentation Award. Additionally, we took part in the Hangzhou Exchange Meeting hosted by Bioplus and SynBio Challenges which are major events in synthetic biology in China.

Shanghai roadshow presentation

On June 14th, we traveled to Shanghai to participate in THE 10th CHINA (SHANGHAI) INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY FAIR. At a United Nations-themed booth, we presented our pitch and distributed Neovio Dye posters to the attendees. After listening to our explanation of the project’s principles and its contribution to the SDGs, many visitors came to talk with us, eager to learn more about Neovio Dye. “I can’t wait to wear clothes dyed by bacteria, it’ll be so cool to compete in Paris!” one senior student said to us. It was a grand event, and we were thrilled to introduce synthetic biology to so many people.

Social medias

In addition to activities and publicity, we have also conducted publicity and popularization on social media. We have released promotion vedio on major social networking sites to let more people know about our project. Through different social media, we can reach people from all over the world and popularize scientific knowledge more widely.

Conclusion

We found that after stepping out of university and leaving our comfort zone, many people are still unfamiliar with synthetic biology. Therefore, we planned various educational approaches to increase public awareness of synthetic biology and make it easier for new scientific technologies to be accepted. Every educational activity was carefully designed to avoid spreading misinformation. Throughout this process, we achieved many accomplishments and received plenty of feedback, for which we are grateful to all participants. For future iGEM teams, we have summarized several key points from our educational activities to serve as references for other teams, with the hope that we can truly usher in an era of "science for all" in the future: