For the elderly
Updated on 2020-11-22: we were nominated for the Best Education prize.
Educating the elderly helps the old keep health and protects them from fraud and misinformation. We used a previous unexplored education approach to educate biologic knowledge to the old. Our main strategy is educating the younger generation and instructing them how to educate their grandparents. Compared with traditional education strategies, our approach offers emotional support from the younger generation and is comfortable for the old. In countries like Japan, Korea, Singapore, and China, where the bond between grandparents and grandkids is incredibly tight, our approach is undoubtedly effective.
To educate the youth, we held online summer camps for high school students to pass on aged care, in addition to synthetic biology which we have been teaching in the past several years. We developed an online audio course on basic biology knowledge, which could be listened to by both the youth and the old. In addition, we combined osteoporosis prevention with traditional Chinese art crosstalk and taught it to the old living in a nursing home (we self as the youth). Also, we wrote Xiàng Sheng (a popular traditional art in China) and other outreach materials for people to use. In summary, we made brave and compelling attempts to implement science communication between the younger generation and the long-neglected social communities - the old. We compete for both the Gold Medal criterion #6 and the Best Education prize with this page.
Why did we focus on education for the elderly
With the rapid development of technology and society, the older generation is gradually lagging behind society. Besides, the aging ratio is increasing in China. The old is facing fraud, misinformation, and diseases. Lifelong education has become an urgent need for them. However, senior university is not available for everyone, and thus many older adults from rural areas in China are under the situation that they do not even know that they are sick. We dedicated ourselves to exploring more education approaches, trying to bring high-quality education for the old and help them prevent disease and enjoy their lives.
Trying to find approaches suitable for the old
The voice of biology
With the increasing age, the old suffer gradual sight loss; by comparison, their hearing will maintain at an acceptable level. So we produced a free online audio course on basic biology knowledge. We explained several elementary concepts through clear and straightforward expression, including but not limited to protein, gene, and virus. We emphasized and introduced the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 to inform the old relative knowledge to protect them from the pandemic. Till today, more than 1000 people have listened to our program. For most episodes, 100+ people listen to one episode in 24 hours.
Simultaneously, we wrote a synchronize textbook with an extra-large font size to help those with impaired hearing get familiar with the knowledge. The textbook's content is the same as our online course, and we send it out for free. We are trying our best to bring biology knowledge to the special and important social community.
The audio files of our course.
Figure 1. The number from left to right means separately: the number of new message; the number of new followers of our WeChat public account; the number of followers of our WeChat puublic account
File 1. Our textbook with extra-large font size
File 2. The pdf and the website shows the same episodes. Audio resources are only available through the link.
Brand new education: emotional company and intellectual education
After talking to the old, we discovered that the traditional education approach works low efficiently. Thus, we focus on the emotional need of the old and developed a previously unexplored education method. Our primary strategy is to inform the younger generation and to instruct them on educating their grandparents. The old are more willing to accept these new concepts and are accompanied by their family. Compared with traditional education strategies, our approach offers emotional support from the younger generation and is comfortable for the old. In countries like Japan, Korea, Singapore, and China, where the bond between grandparents and grandkids is incredibly tight, our approach is undoubtedly significant. We wrote a textbook for the young and explained how to impart the older generation knowledge.
File 3. Our textbook instructs the young on educating their grandparents.
At the same time, we went to the nursing house and introduced osteoporosis and its symptom to these local elders. We taught them how to prevent osteoporosis during their daily life and wished them good health. To make the knowledge more acceptable, we combine the basic knowledge with crosstalk, a traditional art favored by many old people. We also taught them an elegant traditional sport-Mu’Lan’Shan which combines Kung Fu and dance. It helps prevent osteoporosis effectively.
Figure 2. Our group member in the nursing house educating the old about osteoperosis
Combining with the tradition
We combined synthetic biology with a traditional Chinese art-Xiangsheng. We introduce the concept of parts and basic synthetic biology concepts to the old.
File 4. The pdf is the draft of our crosstalk.
We also introduced them Mu’Lan’Shan, a traditional Chinese sport that combined Kung Fu and dancing, and taught them how to strengthen their body by practicing Mu’Lan’Shan regularly.
Video 1.One of our member is performing Mu’Lan’Shan for the old.
Preparing for the future
Pass on the aged caring
To cultivate students interested in synthetic biology, we collaborate with Tianjin university to hold a two-day online summer camp. About 30 high school students from all over China took part in our project. We introduced several standard technologies used in synthetic biology and what synthetic biology can do. We also present them with our topic this year and appeal to them to pay attention to the old mental and physical health. All of the students spoke highly of the summer camp, and two of them won our 'The star for future' prize.
Figure 3. The certification achievements of our summer camp
Figure 4. We required the students to grade their feeling for the summer camp from 0 to 11.11 is ‘Very good,’ and 0 is ‘Very bad.’ Most students gave an 11. (Blue represents 0 and black represents 11)
The future education of synthetic biology
We hoped to raise students' interests in synthetic biology and encourage more college students to choose biology as their major. Hence, we collaborate with Zhejiang University and the University of Science and Technology of China and invite three professors to lecture for the freshman and sophomore. Meanwhile, we launched a column which interprets essays in Chinese on our Wechat public account and encourages them to choose biology as their major. We also invited 20+ sophomore to visit the biology lab, and our team advisor invited them to join us and enjoy synthetic biology with us.
Figure 6. Our team advisor (in black) introducing the lab for the sophomores in Fudan University
Highlights of our education
- An influential online audio course for the old
- Brand new education approach to educate the old
- Combining education with traditional Chinese art
- Passing on the aged care
- Cultivating more students interested in synthetic biology
Signature: Yiyang