Science for all

19 July 2024

Participants engage in a week-long interactive programme where they acquire more in-depth knowledge of the subject and get a taste of university life. Activities include hands-on laboratory sessions, laboratory tours, ‘Meet the Expert’ sessions, and discussions on biomedical sciences-related topics.

Ahead of this summer’s Academy, which starts on 5 August 2024, Croucher News caught up with Professor Stephanie Ma, the initiator and organiser of the event. We also spoke to Dr Masayo Kotaka, one of the organisers, and Daniel Chung Tsz-Chung, a secondary school student who participated in last year’s event. 

We began with Daniel Chung. “This is the first time I worked till late night on a final presentation with my groupmates, and I genuinely enjoyed it,” he told us. “I used to find it tedious to do experiments. However, the experiments at the summer camp were so much fun.”

We then asked Ma what drove her to organise the Summer Academy every year. “Colleagues in our School of Biomedical Sciences want to reach out and do some science communication to help these school students find their way. For one week, we let them really explore what biomedical science is about and how it relates to our everyday lives. Part of our work is to provide experiential learning for the students, to let them do hands-on experiments and play with the latest technologies used in biomedical sciences.”

The programme included a career roundtable talk. This, Ma explained, was to let the middle school students know that “there’s actually an array of job opportunities in science besides teaching or being a professor. You can continue your education with a law degree to become a patent lawyer or an MBA to work in healthcare business investment, for example. You can be a scientific communicator or journalist.”

Ma is grateful to colleagues who are willing to help her out with the Academy. “We all share the same values. We focus on underprivileged schools and hope to provide these students the opportunity to learn and interact with professors at HKU.”

It’s a rewarding experience for the teachers, too. “I think the most gratifying thing is that you feel you have made a difference to those students,” Kotaka told us. “At the start, they’d say they have no aims and don’t even think they can get into a university. And then, after a few days, they would be like, oh, this is really quite interesting. Maybe I’ll try and work harder to see what will happen.”

She also noticed how more active and confident the students became. They would be very shy and quiet in the beginning. “Then, as they got to know everyone better, you would see a transformation in them.”

Ma described the programme as planting a seed in students and was delighted with what Daniel did in that respect. “He set up an event to share his learning from the Academy with his classmates at his own school.”

“I wanted to share the joy of discovering new ways to learn science, the excitement of getting to perform hands-on experiments,” Daniel told us. He also brought back what he learned from the Academy by asking his classmates a follow-up question after each experiment. “This teaching method has inspired me to think more, which is why I did the same at my school.” He also encouraged his classmates to attend the Summer Academy or other similar science events. “If they can be exposed to exciting science earlier, they might have a more definite direction to go for and prepare for.”

We asked Ma and Kotaka for some suggestions on how students can explore science outside the classroom environment. “I think curiosity and also the willingness to look for answers are crucial,” Kotaka said. “For example, while cooking, you can ask: Why does the egg white coagulate and turn white when you put it into boiling water?”

Ma suggested students may start by finding resources on YouTube or online about inspiring scientists. Also, she encouraged students to look for opportunities to get involved. “I have received a lot of requests from middle school students to come to our laboratory to do a lab attachment during summer or winter break,” she said. “Even if it’s just during a two-week learning attachment, students will be able to gain a good perspective of what biomedical research and life as a scientist are like.”

We then invited the organisers to give a few words of encouragement to the students who have an interest in science but lack confidence. Kotaka’s advice was, “Be curious, be observant, and you will gradually grow a more scientific mind. And even though you might not pursue a scientific career, that would actually help you in your future.” She then added: “I think they also need a little bit more encouragement to break out of that ‘I need to be spoon-fed knowledge’ mentality.”

Ma emphasised the need for students to try things out. “Find out whether you really like it or not. For example, you might think you like biology. But after you try it, you might not enjoy it. Or maybe it would reassure you that you really like biomedical science. You could then explore further and find out which aspect of biomedical science you like most.”

And finally, we asked Daniel about his thoughts on the future after attending the Academy. “It was super exciting to see the technology around gene editing and the clinical trials for real-world use,” he told us. “So, I’d like to be a medical doctor who does research.”