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A grain of soybean penetrates STEAM education, CUHK professor hopes to change the world, the seed sprouts in the hearts of students

2022-12-09T00:10:31.860Z


In recent years, the government has vigorously advocated STEAM education (that is, the combination of "Science", "Technology", "Engineering", "Art" and "Mathematics")


In recent years, the government has vigorously promoted STEAM education (that is, the combination of "Science", "Technology", "Engineering", "Art" and "Mathematics"). It is inseparable from new technologies such as AI and robots. Lin Hanming, a professor of life sciences at CUHK Choh-Ming, went against the "tradition" and returned to simplicity, and decided to use a soybean to teach STEAM. From the construction of CUHK scientific research laboratories relying on "handling garbage", and then Visit the mainland to seek development direction, and then step into the "soybean world".


"What is the meaning behind science? In addition to nature and the world of life, it actually improves the life (quality) of human beings." Lin Hanming said that he hopes to use soybeans to "make a difference (make a change)" in the world.

This year, Lin established the social enterprise "Cai Shu Society" to carry out soybean STEAM education in middle schools, spreading and planting the seeds of hope in the hearts of students.


Lin Hon-ming, Professor of Life Sciences from CUHK Choh-Ming, uses soybeans to teach STEAM.

(Photo by Huang Xuzhi)

Returned from the United States before reunification

Lam Hon-ming grew up in a mediocre family. After completing his bachelor's and master's degrees in Hong Kong, he went to the United States to study for a Ph.D. and focused on bacteria research because "there is no one else who will give me a scholarship."

He recalled that during his Ph.D. study, his supervisor told him that if he wanted to stay in the United States, he should continue the research on medical bacteria. .

Lam Hon-ming, on the other hand, said frankly that it was just before the return of Hong Kong, and he began to think about how to contribute to Hong Kong and the country in the future.

Later, Lin thought about the issue of agriculture, "everyone thinks that agriculture is poverty, but in fact American agriculture is profitable. Is there a technological gap that makes farmers suffer all the way?" In order to try to use his own strength to make the world "make a difference", he chose to study plant molecular biology as a postdoctoral fellow, laying a solid foundation for future crop research.

The laboratory holds the garbage years and builds the future with a whiteboard

When he returned to Hong Kong in 1997, Lam Hon-ming established his research laboratory at CUHK, but at that time he had no start-up funds.

His student team even had to go to the garbage room to "clean up the garbage" to build a laboratory.

He said with a smile that at that time, "I would go to the garbage room to see what is useful. This wooden board and old iron are very beautiful. They can be used to build things and grow things." He also pointed out that they once picked up a lamp holder, " I went to Apliu Street to buy some threads to wear there, and bought some timers to make my first planting frame.

Lin Hon Ming said that every time he recalled that memory, he was still very moved.

Hold onto a whiteboard and draw there all day: what to do, what to do, as if we build our future from a whiteboard.

Professor Lin Hon-ming, School of Life Sciences, CUHK

During this period, Lin Hanming has been looking for opportunities to think about "what crops have a greater impact on the world" in order to plan his scientific research direction.

He once visited the mainland to look for crops for laboratory research, and met a soybean expert. Through him, he explored and met other soybean experts. He described it as "opening the door than me", and stepped into the world of soybeans.

At that time, Lin Hon-ming, who "didn't know how to make soybeans at first," invited the soybean expert to teach his student team, and promised to help him decipher the salt-tolerant gene of soybeans that had been worrying him.

In 2014, Lin successfully identified and copied the salt-tolerant gene from wild soybeans, and successfully bred three kinds of salt-tolerant and rare soybeans.

Soybeans become STEAM teaching tools, hoping that a single bean can change the world

For soybean research, Lin Hanming believes that in addition to scientific research, it also has a humanistic color, which is related to issues such as poverty alleviation, eradication of hunger, and global food security.

"In the past, when we talked about science, we often ignored it. What is the meaning behind science? In addition to nature and the world of life, it actually improves the life (quality) of human beings."

So he began to transform soybeans into a STEAM teaching tool for middle school students more than four years ago. Unlike traditional STEAM, which focuses on science and new technologies, soybean STEAM teaching emphasizes the value behind teaching.

Lam Hon-ming expects to use interdisciplinary, life science, geography, economics and other knowledge to enable middle school students to understand world issues through practical activities, and integrate scientific and humanistic literacy, so that students' horizons will expand from focusing on Hong Kong to China and the world.

The world is so big and Hong Kong is so small, but our knowledge can radiate far away.

Professor Lin Hon-ming, School of Life Sciences, CUHK

Lam Hon-ming even applied for sponsorship from the CUHK Sustainable Knowledge Transfer Project Fund, and established the social enterprise "Cai Shu Society" this year to provide soybean STEAM courses for middle schools.

The course consists of three units: soybeans and nutrition, sustainable agriculture and the environment, and the genetic era.

Students can engage in different experiential activities, including trying to use coagulants and various beans to make tofu, as well as making bean sprouts, fermented food, and vegetable meat. Students can also learn to extract soybeans and similar soybean genes for analysis, etc.

The unit also includes a keynote lecture with Lin Hon-ming as the speaker, sharing the soybean project promoted by the team to transform agricultural experience and bring it to developing countries.

Lin pointed out that the team worked with small farmers in South Africa to turn wasteland into farmland by planting soybeans, change the employment development of young people and increase rural income.

In Pakistan, the team also hopes to teach women agricultural knowledge and turn soybean planting into a source of income for women, thereby helping to improve their social status in Muslim countries.

Lim hopes that the related activities and sharing can be planted in the hearts of students like seeds, so that students can understand the possibility that someone from Hong Kong can go out of the world and make contributions in different aspects.

He also hopes that when students encounter opportunities in the future, "they can make choices like this, and use their power to make other people's lives better."

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Source: hk1

All news articles on 2022-12-09

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