1 Overview
1.1 New Access To Synbio
This year, the Fudan team included children from remote areas and children with disabilities in the synthetic biology learning community building a bridge for them to access synthetic biology.
To understand the situation of children’s education and science popularization, we conducted a research on 27 undergraduate-children education projects in China. We participated in a Tibetan aid project to popularize synthetic biology science and conduct scientific inquiry instruction for children on the Tibetan plateau. We categorized and organized the audiobooks produced by the iGEM team, restarted the project to complete the recording and uploading of new audiobooks, and participated in the audiobooks for blind children and the companionship program for blind children. We also organized a forum on children’s education for university public interest societies, inviting backbones of public interest societies, heads of social interest organizations and sociology professors to discuss the exploration, dilemmas, and development of university public interest issues in the field of children’s education, to promote children’s participation in the synthetic biology community.
Our efforts expose more people to synthetic biology and contribute to the inclusion of more new groups in the synthetic biology community.
1.2 Introduction
Inclusivity is ingrained in our programs, from program design to more holistic human practices and education to promote skincare without gender or age.
So, we decided to shift our attention from our project to the broader field of synthetic biology and try to help minority groups get more exposure to science and synthetic biology.
We divided each theme module we conducted into four parts: Who are they, Why did we do, What did we do, and What did we learn. “Who are they” introduces the main target audience or collaborators of the theme module. “Why did we do” introduces the background and reasons for the theme activities. “What did we do” introduces what we did in the theme how to carry out each activity. “What did we learn” introduces what we learned and how the theme shaped the overall inclusiveness.
Through the “4W” model of “Who+Why+What+What”, we can tell the story of our efforts for inclusion very well.
2 Children’s Education Background Survey
2.1 Who are they?
The sustainable development of university public welfare clubs is not only an important part of universities, but also an important platform for quality education and practical ability education of college students, which not only makes up for the unfairness of government and market in the distribution of public products, but also effectively meets the material and spiritual needs of the residents, and drives the residents to actively participate in community construction and promotes social civilization. It also promotes the comprehensive quality of college students. However, at present, the social recognition of the services of public welfare associations of college students is not high, and the mechanical construction is not perfect.
2.2 Why did we do?
Educational programs for children’s groups led by university student public service associations are one of the components of children’s education. But there are many problems at present. We conducted research on children’s education programs in an attempt to understand the current state of children’s education from the perspective of university student public interest societies. This will provide us with the necessary theoretical foundation for the inclusion of children in the synthetic biology community.
2.3 What did we do?
Children’s Education Project Research
Due to the limitations of the epidemic, the information of this research was mainly obtained by contacting various university associations online to obtain detailed information on children’s education programs, online connection to in-depth interviews, data search, and reading related literature. We obtained project profiles and analyses of 27 children’s education projects of university students. We discussed the main contents, characteristics, and shortcomings of the children’s education projects conducted by university students, gained a comprehensive understanding of the current situation of the children’s education projects conducted by university students, and established a database of excellent projects related to children’s education in universities across China, to provide experience and suggestions for the subsequent improvement of each project, stimulating discussion and innovation, seeking The aim is to provide experience and suggestions for the improvement of each project, stimulate discussion and innovation, seek changes, and continuously improve the efficiency and results of public welfare projects.
The following is the complete research report of the Children’s Education Project: report.pdf
2.4 What did we learn?
This research mainly analyzes the situation of children’s education public welfare projects carried out by college students by studying the relevant project details submitted by the associations participating in this research. Most of these projects are located offline, targeting disadvantaged groups and students in less developed areas of education, and the service contents can be roughly divided into three categories: curriculum counseling, quality development, and accompanying care. The common problems are difficulties in recruiting volunteers, insufficient professionalism of volunteers, homogenization of activity contents, short feedback period and few ways, low audience attention, and insufficient collaborative participation of multiple subjects.
Through the research, it is clear that there is a wide scope for development and a rich form of education for children today. For us, we were inspired to use the available resources to connect children with science more broadly, while focusing on special groups of children and catering to their characteristics. This provides us with the necessary theoretical foundation for the inclusion of children in the synthetic biology community and an outline for our next inclusive and relevant work.
3 Bridge for Remote Area Children
3.1 Who are they?
Zhong Yang was a professor in the School of Life Sciences at Fudan University. He contributed to the development of scientific research and education in remote areas such as Tibet throughout his life and died on duty in 2017. He was honored as “Model of the Times”, “National Outstanding Communist Party Member”, “Moving China 2018 Person of the Year”, “Most Beautiful Striver”, etc.
Shanghai Le Yang Mangrove Charity Center, referred to as Le Yang Public Welfare, is a charitable organization registered by the civil affairs department and recognized as an AAAA high-grade social organization. Le Yang Public Welfare originated from Professor Zhong Yang, dedicated to child development public welfare, creating a good ecology of positive child development, facing the whole country, and providing professional public welfare services for the positive development of children and families.
Figure 1. Le Yang Public Welfare
3.2 Why did we do?
Due to geographical location, educational resource allocation, and other factors, children in remote areas have little access to synthetic biology and systematic science education, which was previously neglected.
Figure 2. Children in remote areas are thirsty for knowledge
3.3 What did we do?
3.3.1 Seed Science Camp in Shanghai
Our team member Zihan Wang, served as a teaching assistant for the Seed Science Camp program, where she taught synthetic biology to middle school students from Tibet and guided them in their science and technology creation. We assisted professors from Fudan University and Tongji University to help Tibetan high school students with their science experiments.
Figure 3. Our team member Zihan Wang attending the Seed Science Camp
Figure 4. Experiments designed by children in Tibet
Moreover, we have achieved promising success. Yadong Middle School - Zhong Yang Seed Laboratory submitted four projects: “A preliminary investigation on the antioxidant health effects of Tibetan Rikaze purple barley seeds”, “Development of microscopic structure and bionic hooks of the stem and leaf prickly hairs of pig seedlings”, "A preliminary investigation on the food habits of Tibetan Yadong Xishan The four projects of “A Preliminary Exploration on the Eating Nature of Tibetan Long-tailed Leaf Monkey” and “Investigation on Classroom Sound and Light Environment and Class Seating Arrangement Strategy of Yadong Middle School” were shortlisted for the 36th National Youth Science and Technology Innovation Competition, which is also the only four youth science and technology innovation works recommended by Tibet Autonomous Region to represent Tibet Autonomous Region in the national competition. This is also the only four projects recommended by the Tibet Autonomous Region to compete in the national finals.
Figure 5. The Publicity of Competition Recommendation
3.3.2 Popularization of science in Yadong Primary School, Tibet
Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the planned trip to Tibet for offline science interaction was not realized. We used the combination of an online web platform and offline multimedia classroom to conduct online science popularization lectures and to promote synthetic biology science to elementary school students in the Tibetan plateau.
Figure 6. Tibetan children watching online science education videos
3.4 What did we learn?
This year, the Fudan iGEM team focused on children in the Tibetan Plateau region and cooperated with Rayon Public Welfare to participate in the “Seed Science and Innovation Camp” for children in the Tibetan region as a university volunteer leader. Through the combination of online science popularization and offline teaching, the team explored a new education model and broke the limitation of time and space. We provide better science enlightenment for children in remote areas and plant the seeds of science and synthetic biology on the Tibetan plateau. By communicating with children in Tibetan areas, we learned that children in remote areas are eager for science education, and that children in remote areas should receive wider attention as a minority group with needs.
4 Light For Visually Impaired Children
4.1 Who are they?
“Although we can’t see the light, we want to read books, fairy tale books, and poetry, but there are few Braille books, and the books we want to read we can’t see.” Visually impaired children are closed by God to the curtain in front of their eyes, but their desire for knowledge and their perception of the world of the mind are strong and sensitive.
4.2 Why did we do?
Children with visual impairment are a minority group that can easily be overlooked in children’s education. Due to their visual impairment, it is difficult for visually impaired children to have their desire for knowledge satisfied. They are also limited by their limited social circle, so it is difficult for them to express their true inner feelings. At the same time, scientific studies show that visually impaired children perform poorly in emotional control and mental toughness (below), and are in greater need of special care.
(1) In terms of mental toughness, children with visual impairment had significantly lower emotional control, interpersonal assistance, and mental toughness than children with normal vision;
(2) In terms of emotional-behavioral problems, children with visual impairment had significantly higher emotional symptoms, affected by problem behaviors and emotional-behavioral problems than children with visual impairment, and significantly lower pro-social behaviors than children with visual impairment;
(3) Mental toughness was significantly and negatively related to all dimensions of emotional-behavioral problems;
(4) Mental toughness is predictive of emotional-behavioral problems in children with visual impairment.
4.3 What did we do?
4.3.1 “The Voice of Biology” audiobooks for popular science
“The Voice of Biology” is a free online audio course on basic biology knowledge. Previously, the Fudan iGEM2020 team released several audiobooks. Based on this, we have inherited and added to it, and continue to record audio science books. We are a gender-inclusive team, consisting of undergraduate students from the School of Life Sciences and the School of Medicine. To ensure the high quality of the recordings, we asked members of the Speech and Oratorical Association of Fudan University to learn how to record in high quality by using mobile phones.
The following are tips on mobile phone recording.
① Do not use headphones to record.
② Recording environment: quiet and no echo. (It is recommended to record in a quiet room.) It won’t affect the whole if birdcall is recorded at the same time; but if the reading is recorded at the same time into the sound of car whistles, construction sounds, thunder, and rain, the corresponding part will need to be re-recorded.
③ Recording must leave background noise (bottom noise): keep the phone in the starting position; do not speak; do not immediately end the recording after reading, and should keep recording 3-5s more.
④ Make sure there is enough material. For example, if you misread a word, you have to reread the sentence in the same context.
⑤ When rereading, try to be consistent in terms of the distance of the phone from your mouth, your own intonation, and your emotion. It is best to listen to the original audio before rereading it to get a good feel for it before reading. Listen to the original audio and the new audio again after rereading to ensure that the reread material can be edited into the original material as perfectly as possible.
⑥ to avoid spraying wheat: the phone’s microphone flush with the chin, placed directly below the mouth, but not to the mouth phone as much as possible placed in front of the person to ensure a balanced left and right channel.
⑦ During the recitation, you have to keep your mouth and the microphone in the same relative position, so you have to control your body movements.
⑧ Before the submission of audio must listen to themselves once, it is best to wear headphones to listen to the following points: whether the left and right channels are balanced (whether a side of the sound is too loud or too small), whether too much spraying wheat, read at the same time whether the background noise is recorded into, listen to yourself roughly no problem before submission.
After several modifications and adjustments, we have released a set of audiobook of popular science books on the WeChat community,one of the largest communication communities in China introducing the cell membrane respectively, which received good comments from everyone. We also provided the text version of the audiobooks to promote them on WeChat.
The following are our text versions:
The Voice of Biology - Cell Membrane.PDF
4.3.2 "LINB"Audiobook recording project for blind children
Our team entered into a partnership with Fudan University Top Tech Education Association’s program for blind children to make up for the shortcomings of relatively homogeneous sharing content. Before this, the LINB program focused on reading classic masterpieces and sharing poetry.
Figure 7. The logo of LINB
Our addition brings an element of science popularization to them. It is very difficult for children in blind schools to have the opportunity to receive systematic and professional science knowledge. Our team fills this gap by providing them with direct and systematic science education. We recorded science audiobooks, including synthetic biology and gene editing technology science. We have contacted Wuhan, Shanghai, and Qingdao blind schools to record audiobooks for blind children. With the foundation of the “The Voice of Biology” series of audiobooks, our team has more experience in this activity.
Figure 8. Our team member Weiyi Li recording for LINB
4.3.3 Companionship Program for Blind Children
In addition to recording science-based audiobooks for blind children, we also run a daily companionship program for blind children. Each semester, we have four weekends of online multi-to-multi chats with blind children. We listen to their voices and relieve their worries. To take better care of the blind children’s psychological state and provide more suitable services for them, we read literature and communicate with the teachers of the blind school in advance, to take better care of the blind children’s psychological state and provide them with as much help as possible in addition to their studies.
4.4 What did we learn?
Through preliminary research and discussion at the symposium, we learned that children’s education is divided into three main parts: curriculum tutoring, quality development, and companionship care. In the course of our practice, we found that audiobooks provide quality development education and the Blind Children’s Companion Program provides companionship care education. This coincided with the results of the preliminary research. We used the research results of the problems faced by other college student associations to prepare solutions in advance.
5 Further seeking
5.1 Who are they?
The Expedition Society is one of the largest public welfare associations of Fudan University, established in 2006, with nearly 300 members. Every year, the society sends out prefabricated right-angle practice teams to carry out activities all over the country and develops into a public welfare incubator with a foot in Fudan and a national perspective.
5.2 Why did we do?
Guided by the results of the undergraduate-children education research, we have started a series of children’s educational activities for children in remote areas and visually impaired children, using synthetic biology as a starting point. Our efforts to bring special children into the synthetic biology community have yielded some results. Further, we want to expand our reach and bring more children into the synthetic biology community to experience the fun of synthetic biology and scientific knowledge. Therefore, we collaborated with Expedition Society and invited several university students in charge of children’s education, social welfare organizations and sociology professors to discuss with us how university students can play a bigger role in children’s education.
5.3 What did we do?
Children’s Education Forum
We invited many clubs and public welfare organizations from inside and outside the university to share issues and experiences of children’s public welfare projects.
Figure 9. Our team member Weiyi Li hosting the forum
As one of the organizers, we first conducted a research presentation report on children’s education projects, showing the results of the out-of-school community’s participation in online discussions. We analyzed the current problems in children’s public welfare projects, such as difficulty in stabilizing the classroom order; volunteer recruitment dilemma; misalignment of content monolithic services and needs; short feedback period, few ways and false indicators; insufficient collaborative participation of multiple subjects; equipment, distance and funding, and further explained some existing solutions.
The participants had a 40-minute limited group discussion with the guests based on the grouping of pre-topic interests, from three aspects: quality development program, homework tutoring program, and companionship care program, and then summarized the report on the spot.
Figure 10. Participants of the forum communicating
①The quality development discussion group suggested that we should not only focus on knowledge, but also use quality development to bring problem-solving skills to help others to improve their own value and gain perceptual-cognitive skills. In the process, there were problems such as the loss of volunteers and children; volunteers did not understand the knowledge structure of children, communication problems in the teaching process, the online format greatly reduced children’s motivation, and the scene was not easy to control. After discussion, it was proposed to obtain more information from the children’s parents and teachers in the form of research reports; to let the children communicate more with each other, not limited to the one-on-one format, and play the role of peers; to take advantage of the fact that college students come from different majors and have different interests to improve the fun of online interaction, to teach multiple times in a short period of time, and to coordinate with teachers for better offline control of the scene.
②The problems that emerged in the homework tutoring group were largely similar, highlighting the volunteer perspective and suggesting that we should also think about what we have grown in the course of our activities, discover our character flaws, see what we are good at and what we are not good at, and promote personal development.
③The accompanying project team suggested that some of the activities in the homes were not safe for volunteers, the degree of emotional communication during the accompanying process was not easy to grasp, and it was still doubtful whether the volunteers themselves could provide the right guidance for the children, so they suggested that volunteers should find their own position, not to replace parents or teachers, but to plant seeds of hope for them.
Finally, we invite the following guests to share their experiences and conclude their speeches.
①Founder of Multi-Read Charity, Yang Zhou
College students act as peers rather than teachers. We do not give knowledge; we light up his motivation and give him confidence. In elementary school, the core thing is to let them know the rituals, that is, sweeping and coping with the advancement and retreat, and in secondary school, let the children set up the will, set up the great will of the world, and in university, the most important thing is to take up the responsibility, so volunteering is a very good opportunity for college students to establish the public welfare personality, and the biggest beneficiary of volunteer activities is actually every college student volunteer here. Finally, we have to return to the fundamental of Chinese education, what is the fundamental of Chinese education, that is, the university in the four books, the way of the university, in the brightness of virtue, in the pro-people, in stopping at the most good. Therefore, when discussing how to serve children better and how to give good feedback, we should also look at the heart of our college volunteers. What is the Chinese education we expect? What is the future of our Chinese nation? Let’s go back to our original intention and see how we want to serve.
Figure 11. Mr. Zhou speaking on the forum
②Project Director of the Supreme Beauty Foundation, Lee Yang
We have repeatedly told our students that as a third-party organization, we are building a peripheral collaborative body, and the main body of the real project center is still the volunteers and service recipients, and we always put the volunteers and service recipients in the middle. The main body. In this case, volunteers are in the center, we need to understand what each other needs, what we can provide for each other, and why we should do such a thing. The first one is why you joined, the second one is what kind of identity you have in this project, and the third one is what you can do in this capacity. Some students mentioned that there is a problem that volunteers don’t have time. Some only have three chances to volunteer. What can you do in these three times? It’s very good that we can do things in a limited way. We not only want to think about completing the task, but also want to do it well. We are willing to build a platform for everyone in various universities, so that everyone can do more meaningful things with limited time.
Figure 12. Mr. Yang speaking on the forum
③ Professor of Sociology, Fudan University, Hai Yu
- The focus of our children’s education is on children’s development, intending to light up their confidence in their future.
- Student volunteers have their own IDENTITY and POSITION and do not need to replace teachers or parents.
- In this process, we also gain experience and growth. To make a flawed analogy, comparing our children to a stone and us to a carving knife, we take this attitude, get through the texture, discover the texture of the stone, discover our faults and refine ourselves.
- It is worthwhile to be a “free and useless” person. The useful ones will eventually become tools, and what Fudan cultivates is a modern gentleman, who is not a tool. not make a lot of money. I always encourage young people not to let the flame of their ideals go out, teachers and students need to grow, discover their strengths and give themselves confidence in the interaction. But to reflect on yourself and admit your mistakes, that’s what makes a beautiful personality.
- We are certainly qualified and have to raise a high bar for Fudan students and not be perfunctory in everything we do. “I’m not sure what I can change, but I’m loyal to my beliefs.” We do volunteer work as a responsibility to ourselves, to others, and to a larger population in the future.
Figure 13. Professor Yu speaking on the forum
5.4 What did we learn?
We have reasons to believe that with the continuous thinking and practice of college students’ public welfare, the attention and support of professional public welfare workers, and the communication and mutual assistance of different public welfare organizations, college students’ public welfare and children’s education will go further and further, linking up more social groups and forming a virtuous cycle of social welfare, so that endless distant places and countless people will be related to us.
6 Outlook
Children’s education is a social issue that requires the shared responsibility of the entire society and can never be solved easily. However, despite all the obstacles, we firmly believe that with a strong intention to help minorities keep up with development, we will be able to bridge their digital and information gap day after day and pass on scientific knowledge to a wider audience for the benefit of their lives. As for the iGEM community, we hope we provide inspiration and reference for future iGEM teams to focus on and care for children’s education especially special children groups in their projects. Since we uploaded as many editable resources as possible, we hope our experience can help more people notice and help these marginalized groups and future teams to build on our foundation.
References
[1] Zhao Yu. Cultivation and Management of College Students’ public Welfare Associations – A Case study of Zhejiang University City College. Zhejiang University, 2015.
[2] Jiang Shuoyuan. The Relationship Between visual-Impaired Children’s Resilience and Emotional-Behavioral Problems. Special Education in China. 2015,(02), 22-26.