We aim to raise awareness about the concepts of biology, synthetic biology, and marine protection, thereby improving public understanding of the study of organisms. Therefore, our team focused our educational events on children aged 6-10 years old, mainly those who had heard of biology but had not had direct contact with it. Our event was held at the Tianlin Street Community Party and Mass Service Center, where we organized a public workshop for children in the Xuhui community who are interested in biology. To engage these young children in our session, we designed various activities that combined knowledge with interactive quizzes to encourage participation, draw attention, and educate children about biology-related expertise while having fun.
Furthermore, we published a series of online articles exploring the importance of medical coatings and synthetic biology. Complemented by engaging short videos, self-designed intriguing cards, online games, and unique souvenirs, we presented the content in an accessible manner to raise public awareness of genetic science and the project.
Before conducting any educational activities, we distributed surveys to gather responses, primarily from adults and teenagers, regarding their knowledge of coatings applied to medical apparatus. According to our survey review, 76.4% (188 people) out of 246 respondents claimed that they had never been informed about medical device coatings. Data from the 23.6% of respondents who have heard of medical coatings reveals a positive correlation: trust in the application of synthetic biology increases with familiarity with the technology. This finding underscores the importance of our educational activities. Through the activities we conduct and the knowledge we share with the public about our product, we aim to increase the trust levels among different groups towards synthetic biology appliances.
Fig 1.1 Proportion of people who have or have not heard of medical device coatings.
Fig1.2 Trust toward synthetical biological appliances based on fig1.1
Moreover, Based on our survey results, most people
tend to acquire knowledge related to biology through offline activities (i.e., school,labs) and video platforms.
Therefore, we decided to design our educational events based accordingly. aiming to bring synthetic biology and the
concept of our product to as many individuals as possible. i
Fig1.3 proportion of how people who had known about medical device coating acquired their knowledge.
For activities, our team organized an 1-hour session about mussels and marine protection at the event held at the Tianlin Street Community Party and Mass Service Center. To captivate our young audience of 6- to 10-year-olds, our events are centered around hands-on biology projects. This "learning by doing" approach ensures children are actively engaged and absorb concepts in a memorable way.
- Build a mussel
We aim to introduce the physiological structure of mussels. Understanding that children at a young age tend to have a short attention span and may struggle to grasp concepts from a brief theoretical lecture, therefore we focused our activity on a practical exercise. To help children understand the structure of a mussel, we prepared a 20-minute activity that provides them with clay to build a mussel themselves, using strings as byssus. Alternatively, they can choose to use non-woven fabric and paste a mussel, allowing children to directly interact with and become familiar with biological concepts while being entertained.
Fig2.1 Byssus conducting lessons at the Tianlin Street Community Party and Mass Service Center
Fig2.2 Models of mussels built by clay from a student
Similarly, we designed a 15-minute follow-up short lecture to teach children about the importance of medical device sanitation and how standard biological medical coatings function. This helps them understand and experience how mussel foot proteins work on medical devices. We prepared colored paper and transparent tape, featuring printed pictures of medical devices and transparent tape representing as medical coatings. We instructed them to use the tape to cover the device and then try drawing on it. They will notice that the color does not stain the tape, which corresponds to how medical coatings work, isolating bacteria from sticking. This approach provides an easy and fun way for them to learn how these coatings operate.
Fig2.3 Byssus helping students “coat” paper devices
Fig2.4 Group photo of the activity at Tianlin Street Community Party and Mass Service Center
Overall, our session was successful, as we concluded with a Q&A to assess the children's understanding, and nearly all students proved to have grasped new concepts related to biology and marine conservation. We also received positive feedback from students and parents, who claimed that our session was “entertaining” and “useful.” However, due to time constraints, next time we would prefer to extend the session duration and target slightly more mature students by trying to conduct activities in schools, for whom we could provide real-life experimental tools such as microscopes and pipettes to guide them into hands-on experimental experiences.
Subsequently, we created a 3D book to showcase the core contents of our project. A 3D book is an effective way to visually depict the theme on mussels and our project. Compared to a picture book, we believe that a 3D book impressively engages its audience and presents our topic in a more easily understood and entertaining way. Moreover, we designed stickers and pendants in the shapes of mussels as souvenirs for our topic, which we could hand out to audiences for advertising and memorial purposes.
Fig3.1 3D book we made for children Fig3.2 stickers and pendants designed as mussels
We created a game using the 2048 game interface on the internet, and created 9 different cards with mussels, from the smallest card of 1 mussel to the biggest card of 9 mussels. Using the arrow keys, you can connect cards with the same number of mussels and make them one larger card. It is a very simple game, with the sole objective of combining the mussel cards and creating the card with the nine mussels before the 25-block game area is filled. This easily accessible game works as an attention-grabbing and fun advertisement for the public to take notice and learn about our project as well as the value and utility of mussels.
Fig4 Sticky Mussel 2048
Card Games
We designed another engaging card game targeted at teenage audiences aged between 10 and 18, aiming to showcase the richness of biodiversity within the Mussel species. By depicting various species, we want to convey the message that marine animals must be protected so that each species can survive and flourish. The card game follows the rules of Cheating Moth, where players try to play all their cards as quickly as possible. Players can enjoy relaxed gameplay and appreciate each other in the simplest feelings. We created a playing manual declaring the rules and the special abilities of each action card.
A few short comics are created by our team member, using informal yet engaging visuals to depict the initial start-up of our project – which is how we discovered the special marine animal mussel. However, we simplified the actual and repetitive process of preliminary research, and captured the ‘essence’ of the entire ‘journey of discovery’, which is that mussel is ‘useful’ because of its adhesive property. This property has allowed it to be used as a biological adhesive for attachments. That’s why we incorporated the mfp-5 gene, which enables the mfp fusion protein coating to firmly bond to the surface of medical devices.
Fig5.1 comic we created to promote the use of mussels
For social media, we published three technical articles to promote scientific education about the use of synthetic biology and the significance of medical device coatings in preventing HAIs. Additionally, short comics have been posted online on our TikTok and Xiaohongshu accounts, along with some amusing videos to attract viewers, as well as a technical video that combines our unique characteristic idea with synthetic biological knowledge to appeal to a broader audience, helping them better understand and develop interest and trust in engaging with our project and synthetic biology.
Fig6.1 Byssus’s social media accounts Fig6.2 technical article we published about MAIs
In conclusion, we lectured core concepts of biology, synthetic biology and marine protection that is related to our project via diversified educational activities to a wide range of audiences, from children to adults and teenagers like us. We want to present our efforts on spreading scientific knowledge in the society for the sake of science education towards people that might lack basic understanding of biology, particularly synthetic biology. Our every interaction with children and people on social medias proves for our attitude towards science education, and hourly reminding us that there is no end in learning, which encourages us to always move forward in education. Education has been a very enjoyable part to us all, where we could always share our ideas on the internet, communicating with people that has similar interest in biology, as well as guiding young children to learn and explore biology. Moreover, we want to teach in places outside of community service centers, for example clubs in schools and classrooms in local schools.