Sichuan is also part of the second tier of China. While the art and craft team traveled to Rongjiang County in Guizhou, the Sichuan Teaching Team led by Chen Liyu, a member of the experimental team, also traveled to her hometown, Muchuan County in Leshan City, Sichuan Province, to carry out investigations on left-behind children. Chen Liyu said, "That is a beautiful place, but with its tall mountains and vast waters, most young and middle-aged people choose to work outside. The local children face issues such as emotional loneliness, lack of educational resources, and mental health problems. As a girl from the mountains, I can well understand the closed information in the mountains and the sensitive psychology of the left-behind children."
In Sichuan, the educational focus of our team started from the psychological education of left-behind children and the social practice service model of "social enterprise-village industry" linkage, trying to provide more care and support for left-behind children through the synergy of social enterprises and village industries.
Our team carried out volunteer teaching activities in Huayuan Village, Muchuan County. The main focus of our educational work is on psychological education, popularization of biological sciences, and social research.
Psychological Education
We organized psychological care and education courses, including emotional communication, psychological guidance, self-knowledge cultivation, etc., in order to help left-behind children establish a positive mental health attitude. With multimedia courseware, we built up correct concepts and attitudes towards heterosexual relationships for rural children, and advocated gender equality; at the same time, we taught girls self-protection skills and knowledge of physiological hygiene and health care. In addition, We conducted a survey and analysis on the psychological problems during adolescence of rural children, such as interpersonal communication and family concepts, by using psychological health questionnaires.
In addition to the curriculum, we conducted a series of educational activities, including introducing the mental and physical health education section through microfilms and setting up a "Heart-to-Heart Whispering Station" at the school so that children have a place to go for help when they have problems. Every day, we guided the children to come and talk to us individually.We also organized and carried out group counseling activities for the graduation class, such as "Time Drift Bottle" and "Cheer Yourself Up", to instill confidence in the graduation class of the village school and relieve the pressure of preparing for the exams.
Biology Popularization
The Sichuan region is characterized by a vertical zonal distribution of abundant resources, we took children to recognize common wild plants and animals to expand(broaden) their horizons, enrich their extracurricular knowledge, and increase their interest in traditional biology subjects.
We conducted popular science lectures on biology to provide scientific explanations about various plant-related topics, including plant root, stem, leaf structures, as well as the classification of plants in the field of botany. We popularized the knowledge of common wildlife, explained the identification and classification of common insects, and led the students to catch and identify insects in the campus. During the activity, the students showed strong interest, active atmosphere, positive actions, and were full of curiosity about the activity. During the explanation of botanical classification, the students were able to answer positively with the crops they knew in the mountain villages in their daily life, and the atmosphere in the classroom was good.
Seeing the high enthusiasm of the children, we took them for a botanical specimen collection activity along the originally surveyed road to collect plants while ensuring their safety. After we collect plant specimens, we proceed with pressing and making herbarium sheets. Many students were very interested in the specimens and classification of plants, and asked the teacher about them curiously. Students gathered around the courtyard in groups, carefully organized their specimens and newspapers, and waited in line for the teacher to teach them how to press their own specimens. The students listened carefully to the teacher's explanation of the precautions for pressing specimens and treasured their specimens very much. Even the younger students actively participated in the class by asking questions about the classification of plants based on their knowledge of plants.
Social Research
During the last week of the mission, we traveled to various primary and secondary schools, village governments, and business communities in Muchuan County to conduct educational development research activities. In order to ensure the reliability and validity of the research, proposed by the members of the experimental team, our team used four survey methods to cross-validate the data. Our sample range will include left-behind children of different ages, parents, community members, enterprise workers, government service providers, etc. to ensure the comprehensiveness and representativeness of the research results.
Questionnaires: Questionnaires will be designed(designed) for primary and secondary school students (including left-behind children), primary and secondary school teachers in mountainous villages and counties to understand their views on educational resources in mountainous areas, the care needs of left-behind children, reading in primary and secondary schools, as well as social participation.
Interviews: Conduct in-depth interviews on the educational development of left-behind children, and communicate with villagers in the villages concerned, representatives of educational institutions, and political workers to obtain richer information and perspectives.
Field observation: Visiting the county town of Muchuan County and Dibao Township and its industrial bases to learn about the development of local leading industries and bio-related industries, as well as going to local schools and villages to observe the living environment and educational facilities of left-behind children to obtain intuitive data and understanding.
The teaching support activities in Muchuan County, Sichuan, also allow us to experience the pure and wonderful hearts of left-behind children in rural areas. When we parted, they bid us farewell with reluctance. The joyful moments we spent together and their longing for the outside world make us more courageous and determined to move forward. It seems that our aspirations are not solely our own, but also carry a strength and hope for them. All these encounters resulting from the iGEM competition have contributed to the improvement of Hubu-China.