The essence of education is to shake one tree with another, push one cloud with another, summon one soul with another. We hope to pass on the scientific and humanistic knowledge we have acquired and the values of respecting nature to more adults and children. We set the focus to conduct science popularization activities for students in primary school, high school, and university who are in critical stages of growth and to collect feedback. We hope to inspire their enthusiasm for synthetic biology, even join academia at the appropriate time in the future, further promoting the development of synthetic biology. We also actively collaborate with other iGEM teams to carry out large-scale popular science activities targeting society.
To achieve our goal of planting seeds of future germination in the hearts of both adults and children, we have designed various souvenirs this year, such as badges and mugs with “2023 iGEM SCU-China” printed on them, as well as a variety of stickers and ornaments closely related to synthetic biology.
To extend primary school students' understanding of life sciences and give them an impression of synthetic biology. Enhance their awareness of environmental protection.
"Pre-class games." --Focus students' attention on the subsequent parts.
"What is synthetic biology?" -- We learned about the students' basic knowledge of biology first. Then, we provided pictures to inspire students to intuitively understand biological concepts. Finally, we introduce the iGEM competition and the achievements of our team.
"What do you know about sewer gas?" --Introduce the importance of the sewer system and the problems it faces.
"Passing the flower to drum."—Ask questions for feedback by a random game!
Through teaching and questioning before and after the class, we can feel that primary school students have a deeper understanding of biology, synthetic biology, and sewer gas after classroom learning.
Before class, we asked: When you hear the term "biology," what keywords come to mind? The students answered that they think of humans, small animals, plants, unseen organisms, viruses, bacteria, fungi, molds, oxygen, alkaloids, chromosomes, and vitamins. Since the students in the class were in sixth grade, it was surprising that many of them answered with microscopic things, mainly when one student answered "alkaloids," which amazed us. Regarding sewer gas, we asked: How do you think sewer gas should be dealt with and the sewer system maintained? The students answered that sewer workers regularly clean and maintain the sewers, cesspit empties, transfer waste to septic tanks, disinfect, reconstruct sewer construction materials, and use nanobots to help with cleaning, which was quite comprehensive.
Since the students were in sixth grade and had a particular understanding of biology, we wondered to queries not purely about the content discussed in class, hoping to stimulate their divergent thinking. We asked, "Do you think Escherichia coli in our project harms humans?" A girl answered, "I think it might have been harmful originally, but since you designed it to help humans, maybe its genes have changed, and it is no longer harmful to humans." Finally, we asked the students what they learned from today's class. They answered they learned about synthetic biology, the harmful substances in sewer gas, the need to remove harmful microorganisms, and the importance of sewer management to our health.
Popularize knowledge about SDGs among high school students, introduce synthetic biology and the iGEM competition, and evaluate whether team projects meet the requirements of the SDGs through communication with high school students.
"Introduction to genetic engineering, synthetic biology, and iGEM competition." ——We provided science popularization education on genetic engineering and synthetic biology concepts and applications from their familiar biological perspective. We also introduced them to the iGEM competition, hoping they would actively participate.
"SDGs embodied in this year's SCU-China project." ——We introduce SDGs from three aspects: an overview, objectives, and current situation. Then, three examples of SDG achievements in Sichuan Province and SCU-China's project were shared to inspire the students to implement SDGs in the real world.
Interactive session based on different SDGs. —— We guide the students to draw lots and form groups for discussions. After the talks, students present their findings in the order of the lots removed.
We found that students were concerned about global environmental issues during offline communication. Many students already had some understanding of SDGs before our science communication activity. In the interactive session, students shared their thoughts on scientific matters, such as why bananas have astringency and why range hoods cannot remove all the grease. The main conclusions drawn by students were the implementation of SDGs in remote areas is hindered by factors such as terrain, environment, and culture; there is a contradiction between urban development and environmental protection; water resource protection issues; and the release of harmful gases. Overall, our high school education brought rich knowledge and information to high school students while gaining a lot ourselves.
We had a session themed "Synthetic Biology and Environment" for undergraduate students from the School of Life Sciences, Sichuan University Class of 2023, expecting to raise their awareness of biosecurity and environmental knowledge. It will likely increase their sense of responsibility in future research.
The history of synthetic biology.
The cutting-edge development of synthetic biology through five articles published in Nature and Science.
Discussed the social significance of synthetic biology, mainly including its ability to address global food crises, contribute to developing new drugs, help environmental protection, and create new business opportunities.
Asked students to summarize the content of this famous science lecture. We also set questions about synthetic biology to deepen students' understanding. For example, "In which industries can synthetic biology be applied? What impact can it have on these industries? If you need to apply synthetic biology to environmental protection, how would you do it? What goals would you achieve?"
Before the lecture, we surveyed and found that students recognized synthetic biology as a branch of biology, but 43.75% of students needed a higher understanding of synthetic biology. Students who had some knowledge of synthetic biology generally believed that it involves fields such as cellular engineering and molecular biology. After the lecture, we found that students had a deeper understanding of synthetic biology, such as recognizing that insulin production and biofuel production involve synthetic biology and that synthetic biology applies engineering principles and methods to genetic and cellular engineering in biotechnology. Synthetic, computational, and chemical biology together form the method foundation of synthetic biology. Our session for undergraduate students from the School of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Class of 2023, was practical.
To expand students' academic horizons and cultivate their independent scientific research abilities.
The 2023 Sichuan University Applied Cellular and Molecular Activities Competition (ACMA) is an academic competition organized by the Sichuan University iGEM Association. In the competition, members from each participating team introduced their synbio project. We invited judges from School of Life Science, SCU to evaluate the participant's topics through various perspectives, such as feasibility, innovation, completeness, and application.
Outstanding projects in the final competition included "Model Construction of Targeted Implantation of Bacteria for the Treatment of Intestinal Inflammation based on Magnetic Field" and "A New Oral Tuberculosis Live Vaccine Construction Method: Targeted Display Technology of SpoVM Peptide on the Surface of Probiotics in the Intestine."
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The final defense attracted many first-year students to watch. One participating student said, "Through watching the defense, I feel the charm of synthetic biology, which has sparked my professional interest and created an academic atmosphere and campus culture in our school..." It is a great chance to cultivate students' innovation ability, critical thinking, and other essential research qualities.
On Sept. 30th, SCU-China participated in the science exhibition themed "Synthetic Biology & Sustainable Development," jointly organized by team SCUT-China and SCAU-China. The show was held at the Guangdong Science Center, aiming to promote how synthetic biology contributes to Sustainable Development Goals to the public.
This science popularization exhibition showcases the power of "Synthetic Biology" from multiple perspectives. The organizers prepared exhibition boards, KT board photography, and a fairground to allow people to approach "Synthetic Biology" directly. During the exhibition, visitors can learn about the rich applications of synthetic biology in achieving SDGs, follow the fairground route to get to know excellent iGEM teams, and learn about different exciting projects. Through various practical examples related to synthetic biology and SDGs, the exhibition aims to inspire enthusiasm and creativity.
During the exhibition, our team, SCU-China, introduced ourselves and our project SRBioQuencher. We want to popularize contributions to the construction of safe, green, and sustainable urban drainage systems. We also participated in the design of panels for the public exhibits, including SDG6: Clean Water and Sanitation and the humanity-related goals.
Many visitors showed strong interest and recognition towards our project during the sharing process. Visitors of all ages stopped by our booth to discuss our topic with the team. Most visitors recognized our idea of using engineered bacteria to solve the drain gas problem. In contrast, a few visitors reviewed every detail and raised questions about effectiveness and safety. Many children got our team souvenirs by playing jigsaw puzzle games.
Regional exhibitions at museums are an ideal way to publicize science related to synthetic biology. We are very grateful to SCUT-China and SCAU-China for the opportunity. Meanwhile, we also had a relaxing exchange with other participating teams.
The iGEM Association is a synthetic biology society organized by SCU-China at Sichuan University. Through the organization, we promoted students in different backgrounds to understand and experience the research process of synthetic biology. We regularly share their discussions of previous iGEM projects and recent synbio articles with the whole team and publish the report on SCU-China's official WeChat account.
Our school has highly recognized our academic knowledge-sharing activity, and we have been awarded the "Outstanding Student Club." Many students from non-biological science fields have also learned about synthetic biology and its applications through our official WeChat account, broadening their perspectives on life.
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