Education

Preface

  Mr. Tao Xingzhi once advocated: "Education and knowledge should be made like air—pervading the universe, purifying the world, reaching all people, and enabling everyone to 'breathe' them in." This ideal of popularizing education also guides our endeavors. We aspire to transform knowledge that was once obscure and unintelligible into common sense: common sense that is as natural and easy to comprehend as air, and that can subtly nurture people's minds. In doing so, we not only make knowledge more accessible and manageable for more people, but also awaken their desire to explore the unknown, thereby helping them enhance their capacity for independent learning.

  Among various groups, we focus our efforts on students—particularly young primary school students. As the "budding flowers of the motherland," they are in a golden stage of life: a stage filled with curiosity about the world, and a period when their cognitive abilities and learning potential develop at a remarkable pace. We aim to sow the seeds of a passion for science in their hearts through appropriate educational approaches. Specifically, we seek to spark their interest in synthetic biology, help them gain a clear understanding of the hazards posed by "phenanthrene (a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon pollutant)," and meanwhile, enable them to deeply grasp the core value and profound significance of our project.

Rainbow Volunteer Promotion

  To raise public awareness of the harms of phenanthrene and further enhance the visibility and influence of our project, we have collaborated with the Rainbow Volunteer Service Team to launch summer volunteer teaching and promotion activities.

  The Rainbow Volunteer Service Team is a volunteer teaching team that goes deep into China's rural areas, measures the land with its steps, and cares for the innocence of children with love. During the summer vacation, we will jointly go to rural areas around cities to conduct volunteer teaching activities, and take this opportunity to promote the project. Of course, to ensure the promotional effect, we have also made thorough preliminary preparation work. For example, we have specially created a brochure introducing our project. Considering that the audience is primary and middle school students, the language of the brochure is designed to be easy to understand, and cartoon characters have been added to make it enjoyable for children to read.

  During the promotional activities, we presented PPTs instead of giving rigid explanations, making the information presentation more intuitive. We distributed carefully prepared brochures to help children easily understand the content. We actively answered questions and interacted with the children, creating a lively atmosphere.As the promotion progressed, the awareness of the project increased significantly among surrounding rural schools.

  This cooperation with the Rainbow Volunteer Service Team not only enhanced the project's visibility and influence but also laid a solid foundation for the implementation of subsequent work.

Science Popularization Market

  We collaborated with another team from our school to take part in the "Popular Science China" event held in Hunan Province. We popularized the genetic model of the lactose operon to the public by distributing souvenirs and organizing the "Genetic Circuit" game. The event drew a large number of participants and achieved a high interaction rate, and we received abundant positive feedback from the attendees. Most of the audience were primary school students, who are full of curiosity about nature and eager to acquire knowledge. Through this event, they felt the importance and charm of genes in the human body, which sparked their interest in synthetic biology.

  This event not only conveys the project value, but also enables us to adjust the project communication strategy based on public feedback. It reflects the two-way adaptation between scientific research and social needs, and improves the social interaction value in the HP dimension.

Promotional Materials

Pamphlet

  Our Pamphlet is intended to build a bridge between "phenanthrene pollution awareness and action" in a way that is easy for the public to understand. It focuses on the basic science popularization of phenanthrene, starting from the hidden characteristics of phenanthrene that are "invisible to the naked eye and has no obvious smell", and then sorts out its sources in combination with daily life scenes - from high-temperature frying of food and coal-fired heating in winter, to transportation exhaust and industrial production emissions, so that the public can clearly perceive that phenanthrene is not a distant professional term, but a real pollutant around them. At the same time, the visual interpretation of the harm of phenanthrene not only covers health effects such as respiratory discomfort in the human body, but also covers environmental problems such as destroying the survival of aquatic organisms and disrupting the ecological balance of soil, so that the public is truly aware of the necessity of prevention and control, and introduces some prevention methods, such as reducing going out when air quality is poor, controlling the intake of fried food, etc. In addition, we promote our project through brochures, so that the public can understand how we use scientific means to deal with phenanthrene pollution, we use popular science as the basis to awaken the public's attention to Phenanthrene pollution, guide everyone from "understanding" to "action", actively participate in the prevention and control work, enhance everyone's environmental awareness, and achieve the goal of protecting the ecological environment and human health.

Poster

  In the meticulous design of this poster, every element is carefully crafted to revolve closely around the core theme of "PAHs Bioremediation" and arranged systematically with the goal of "clearly conveying professional information". The upper section focuses on "What are PAHs?", explaining the hazards of PAH pollution in a straightforward yet in-depth manner; the lower section, by contrast, centers on "Our Technical Solution", elaborating in detail the logic of PAH degradation by engineered bacteria. This torn-edge detail acts like a precise "information organizer": it clearly divides the poster into two key sections—"Problem Recognition" and "Solution Proposal"—effectively preventing information clutter. Meanwhile, it subtly aligns with the project's concept of "breaking through pollution barriers", symbolizing the use of advanced technology to overcome the difficulty of PAH degradation. This allows the audience to intuitively perceive the complete logical loop from "identifying the problem to solving it".

  The earth element is chosen as the central visual of the poster due to the global nature of PAH pollution. PAHs are widely present in petrochemical industrial zones and exert profound impacts on global aquatic ecosystems through media such as water bodies and soil. The earth element can intuitively demonstrate the scope and severity of PAH pollution, helping the audience quickly grasp the environmental value embodied in the project.

  Additionally, the iGEM and Hunan University logos on the poster are designed to clarify the project's affiliation. They enable the audience to quickly associate the project with the strong background of the "Hunan University iGEM Team", thereby achieving a good promotional effect.

  Translate:
  Pollumunch----Pioneer in Phenanthrene Pollution Control
What is phenanthrene?
  Phenanthrene is a petrochemical pollutant. It causes serious environmental problems in some petrochemical industrial areas, especially for fish and other aquatic organisms.
Our Project:
  1.By genetically engineering E. coli, we enable E. coli to degrade phenanthrene:
Phenanthrene is an oily compound and not easy to dissolve. Therefore, rhamnolipid (a soap-like molecule) is needed to wash phenanthrene into water first.
  2.After phenanthrene enters water, it needs to enter bacteria through "molecular channels" to complete subsequent degradation.
  3.Phenanthrene is degraded by degrading enzymes inside cells and metabolized into non-toxic substances.

Seed paper

  We customized seed paper as small gifts for game interaction. We hope that in this way, it can not only stimulate participants' enthusiasm for the game, but also echo the connection between our project and environmental protection through the imagery of seed paper. The calligraphic words on the front of the seed paper, "破菲还沃土"(Dispel phenanthrene, restore fertile land), contain the profound meaning of solving the problem of the pollutant phenanthrene and restoring soil fertility; "播籽见新绿"(Sow seeds, witness fresh greenery) conveys a beautiful vision of sowing seeds and witnessing new green growth. The floral elements in the background add aesthetic appeal and vitality to the picture, further strengthening the theme of ecological recovery and environmental beautification. The back of the seed paper also prints its usage instructions, as well as the logos of our team and the iGEM competition.

  Translate:① Soak the seed paper for 15 minutes. ② Tear the soaked card apart, put it into a flower pot for planting, and then cover it with a thin layer of soil. ③ Cultivate carefully and keep it moist. ④ Water it diligently, and it will sprout in about 7 - 10 days.