Team:SJTU-software/Education
Design and develop virtual laboratory
At first, we planned to design a laboratory assistant platform to help researchers carry out experiments more efficiently and conveniently. At the beginning of 2020, the pandemic Covid-19 broke out and quickly spread in many countries. Affected by the Covid-19, many universities and high schools were closed, and students had to study online. All the lab courses had to be suspended, and the experimental plans had been put on hold. Therefore, we hoped to develop a virtual experiment so that students who could not go to schools could also carry out experiments to help them better learn and understand the course content.
We designed a classic synthetic biology experiment for senior high school students. We introduced the experimental principles and methods to them in the courses. We helped them learn and master the experiment skills in the process of playing games. After class, our team members discussed with the students; conducted interviews, and listened to their opinions about the class. We also designed questionnaires to investigate user experiences and their mastery of knowledge.
According to the nearly 300 valid questionnaires collected, we found that 70% of the students had not used the virtual experiment before; more than 80% of the respondents preferred the combination of virtual experiment and traditional teaching, and nearly 90% of the students thought that the effect of virtual experiment teaching was better. Surprisingly, 100% of students were willing to use a virtual experiment in their biology study.
To improve our virtual simulation experiment, we conducted a survey on software. 10% of the students thought that the virtual experiment platform's video was not clear and vivid enough, and 3.45% of the students believed that the virtual experiment's authenticity and restoration degree was not high enough. After receiving the students' feedback, we improved animation on the operation details; optimized the experimental process, and improved users' experience. To increase the richness and operability of virtual simulation experiments, we also cooperated with other teams to embed more software to achieve different functions.
Lectures on synthetic biology
We introduced the iGEM and SJTU-software team to senior high school students. The human practice group took "research and development of new coronavirus mRNA vaccine" as the breakthrough point to help them understand the relatively complex knowledge in synthetic biology. We lectured on molecular biology foundation and the knowledge of synthetic biology. Our team also realized one of the best ways to make senior high school students understood was natural docking and gradual deepening with the knowledge system.
Also, the team introduced the past projects so that students quickly understood the modeling and computing requirements of modern biological experiments and took the Hamilton circuit as an example to introduce DNA computing, which explained the biological application in interdisciplinary. Students could easily understand some complex and profound biological concepts after the visualization, instantiation, and vivid explanation of the team. After class, these students said: "for the first time, we learned that life science research could be so deep into the science, but so close to life.".
Design and complete a variety of interesting biology courses
In the process of supporting the education of less-privileged areas, we designed a series of rich and interesting contents with a wide range of topics for high school students, such as "how we fight with the virus", "the evolution of animals", "plants that travel through ancient and modern times" *etc*. We also put up riddles, held knowledge contests to promote learning. And students responded actively to activities and courses. At the end of the course, we collected their opinions and asked for their suggestions. Our program was highly recommended by local teachers and their parents.
Virtual simulation experiment
We have developed a virtual simulation experiment. In this virtual experiment, the protagonist was a student that was going to transfer a specific gene to *E.coli*, which was a classic synthetic biology experiment. Players first found the equipment they needed and made the right choices. If the players were not familiar with the experiment, there was no need for them to be worried because they could find useful clues during the experiment. The virtual experiment gave a player score in the end according to your performance.
The main purpose was to let students understand synthetic biology and learn how to do a classic biology experiment in the process. Due to the lack of equipment and teachers, many students in underdeveloped areas had never owned the opportunity to complete a biology experiment in person. Through our virtual experiment, they could feel the fun of the experiment as well as learn knowledge.
We have promoted the virtual experiment extensively, and people from all walks of life have tried it. We collected their feedback and opinions. "We have only seen this experiment in textbooks but never did it by ourselves." Shufan Liu, a high school student in Xining, said, "This virtual experiment made me have a better grasp of the knowledge in textbooks, and it felt that doing an experiment was interesting!". "I don't know much about biology, but the virtual experiment is wonderful. If I had felt the virtual experiment before, I might have been very interested in biology." said Ziyang Liu, a student majoring in Chemistry. "During the virtual experiment, students can learn much knowledge. I believe it is an excellent teaching aid, and it can help teachers a lot." said Chen Chen, a Huangchuan Middle School teacher.
In addition to promoting in the university, we put game videos and links on Bilibili and Youtube, hoping to use the network to promote our games and our software. Feedback could also be received in the comments section. In the future, we hope to change the game into a VR game and let more teenagers learn about synthetic biology and our software through this game.
