This week, the topic of our presentation was on bacteria. When we arrived, the elderly
were already gathered in the lobby, looking forward to learning something new about nature. I was happy to recognize some familiar faces I saw last time on my visit. Moreover, they also remembered me which kicked off to a great start.
We began by introducing the definition of bacteria. Then, we moved on to cover the brief history of how scientists discovered them. We also discussed yeast, gut microbiome and E.coli that are relatable to our everyday life. With nearly half of our group consisting of biomed students, we were happy to employ the knowledge we learned from class and share them in a relaxed setting. To better engage our audience, we also quizzed them on fun trivia questions. They were all surprised that 5 million trillion trillion bacteria are estimated to exist on Earth. One elderly inquisitively asked how people calculated this number. Frankly, we don’t know because such a big number is beyond our imagination. However, this point raised by him definitely got the group thinking and coming up with ideas. During the part where we described other interesting bacteria, such as those that can survive in extreme weather, we were pleased to hear another senior’s insights regarding research his cousin, who studied biology at Oxford University, conducted. He himself graduated from NYU in the 70s, earning a bachelor’s degree in mathematics to become a CPA (accountant). Hence, it could be seen how each time, we find our presentations intersecting with pathways our audience once undertook in their youths which is pretty cool! Finally, we looked at pictures of bacteria cultivated in petri dishes as art. The colorful patterns immediately intrigued our audience. Soon, they were eagerly pointing out their favorite artworks and sharing the reasons why they came to their decisions. It’s always wonderful to see them reacting to our content and putting forth their opinions. Personally, I’d say this is my favorite part about the visits, because it is a rewarding feeling when your audience genuinely appreciates something you are passionate about. They teach us that you can be a life-long learner, and always stay open-minded to new concepts. We see it from how intently they pay attention to our slides, and how thought-provoking their questions are. We hope we can bring more meaningful information to the table on our future visits and continue to be a fun part of their weekly routine!
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