On July 15th, our team went to a rural school in Shangqiu, Henan Province to carry out teaching support activities. Due to people's prejudice against rural areas, there is a lack of teacher support for education in rural areas, as well as a lack of infrastructure and targeted funding, which makes it difficult for rural children to have access to the same education as urban children.They rarely have access to cutting-edge biological developments, and have little knowledge of the concepts of synthetic biology. Our team is committed to promoting synthetic biology education and our project research to rural areas in China, helping children in remote areas to understand synthetic biology, understand the development of cutting-edge biology, and transmit the concept of green fuel development to remote areas.
Our team is committed to promoting synthetic biology education and our project research to rural areas in China, helping children in remote areas to understand synthetic biology, understand the development of cutting-edge biology, and transmit the concept of green fuel development to remote areas.
In order to explore the impact of rural environment on children's learning, we have decided to integrate into local life and face these challenges together with the children. July is during the busy farming season, and children's transportation, meals, and accommodation are a major issue. Therefore, we discussed with local schools to borrow dormitory buildings and kitchens to provide food for the children and accommodation for some children living far away. The school manager agreed to our request and arranged for the teacher in charge of staying on campus to assist us in the safety of our children and the procurement of materials.
We eat and live together with the children for 21 days, and even if we feel fresh about this rural life, we still find it difficult to adapt to it in the end. Moreover, we know that this experience is not equivalent to the real situation of rural children, and even so, it still allows us to understand the difficulties faced by rural children.
In order to transition from macro biology to micro biology, we use analogical reasoning to compare cells to buildings, cell membranes to walls, and ribosomes to machines in factories. At the same time, we combining the capture observation and experimental exploration, provide children with some simple samples to personally observe the structure and function of cells, and showcase the basic structure and functional characteristics of microscopic organisms in front of them. We help children establish a multidisciplinary integration concept, apply interdisciplinary knowledge, improve their understanding and memory of synthetic biology, and plant the seeds of science in their hearts.
We showed our locomotive model to the children, and before starting the experiment, we introduced the basic characteristics and advantages of green, environmentally friendly, and efficient combustion of isobutanol to the children through a brief explanation. At the same time, we provided the children with paper and pens to record the speed performance of each model under different fuels.
During the experiment, we sequentially added different fuels to each locomotive model and observed the speed performance of each model under different fuels. Children can record the distance and time traveled by each model under each fuel.
Finally, we will discuss the experimental results with the children to help them understand the advantages of isobutanol as a green biofuel and guide them to think about why isobutanol can burn more efficiently and demonstrate better performance.
Rural areas have unique natural resources and planting projects. After consulting with local residents, we combined theory and practice to plan our route in advance and lead students to field exploration and practical courses.
We educate children on the characteristics of crops and the development trends of agriculture, introducing the scientific principles contained in agricultural crops, including knowledge of photosynthesis, soil microorganisms, etc., To enhance their understanding and understanding of agriculture.At the same time, we explain the characteristics of wild animals and plants adapting to the environment in practice, inspiring students to think about biological evolution and succession, and thereby improving their innovative problem-solving abilities.
Apart from class hours, on weekends, our team will visit and conduct research in local villages, mainly at the students' homes. We will give away some learning materials and further understand the local educational situation. At the same time, we will promote green fuel development and popularize science.
During the visit, we learned that there is a huge information gap between rural areas and the outside world, so we recommended many websites and official account for learning about the outside world, introduced some APP for learning, and hoped they could learn more through mobile phones and other electronic devices.
During our time in Shangqiu, our team shared food and accommodation with local children, establishing a deep relationship with them. We also deeply felt the children's thirst for knowledge and strong curiosity about biological science, and deeply realized that what we did was actually insignificant.
Before the end of the voluntary teaching activity, we held a special class on "How Synthetic Biology Changes the World". All children carefully wrote down on paper what they wanted to do with synthetic biology for the world. Some children wrote about using synthetic biology to make drugs to treat diseases, while others hoped to use synthetic biology to make fun toys.
We hope that more talents and teams can travel to rural areas in the future to bring scientific education to rural children. Our team will also continue to pay attention to the development of rural children in the areas where the teaching support is located.