To popularize synthetic biology and spark public interest in life sciences, Team BSDFZ-CHINA designed a comprehensive and inclusive education program.
Our educational philosophy is guided by two core principles:
- Inclusiveness: We aim to reach audiences of all ages and backgrounds, expanding the public’s understanding of synthetic biology and Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
- Interactivity: Education is not a one-way output but a two-way dialogue. We collect feedback from participants and continuously improve our future activities.
Children's Group
Children are the hope and future of science. We introduced biology-themed coloring games and interactive activities to spark children’s curiosity about life and nature.
Through playful learning, they expanded their scientific horizons and developed respect and curiosity toward living systems.
Figure: Biology-themed coloring games
After the event, we received valuable feedback — children found our activities fun and fascinating, while teachers suggested that our next materials be better tailored to children’s cognitive levels. This feedback guided us to improve the age-appropriateness and educational effectiveness of our outreach content.
Youth Group:
As high school students ourselves, we recognize the importance of inspiring our peers. On September 21, World Alzheimer’s Day, we organized a multi-school educational campaign to raise awareness of AD and synthetic biology.
- We created and distributed event posters across campuses to encourage participation.
Figure: Poster for joint school activity (Due to school scheduling arrangements, our event was held on September 19th）
- School principals recorded videos to wish success to our campaign.
Figure: School principals recorded videos
- We hosted a popular science lecture introducing early diagnosis and prevention of AD.
- We organized a quiz competition on AD and synthetic biology, awarding certificates to top participants.
Figure: Awarding certificates to top participants
- Students made handmade photo frames for charity sales, and all proceeds were donated to Alzheimer’s foundations.
Figure: Handmade photo frames
Elderly Group:
We visited local community centers where elderly residents gather, providing public lectures on Alzheimer’s awareness and self-screening methods.
The sessions helped participants recognize early symptoms and understand the biological causes of AD in accessible language. The attendees found the sessions valuable and requested more regular events. Some even volunteered to help organize future activities, showing strong community engagement.
Online Popularization:
To extend our educational reach, we used our official social media account (Xiaohongshu) to share concise science posts and infographics about synthetic biology and Alzheimer’s disease.This online engagement created an interactive channel for public feedback and greatly expanded our audience.
Figure: Our social media
Our education program reached children, teenagers, and elderly citizens, forming a multi-layered and sustainable public science education framework.
By continuously incorporating feedback, we evolved from simply teaching science to learning together through science.
