The National Life Science Competition for College Students assists fostering life science talents in colleges and universities / 生物工程学报

The National Life Science Competition for College Students has been held for five times, which has become the largest and most influential life science competition in China. The competition is designed to follow principles of "interest-driven, scientific exploration, process evaluation and ability improvement". The holding of the competition has effectively improved the training quality of life science talents in colleges and universities. This paper summarized the development, organization and management of the competition as well as the organizational characteristics of the competition. It may serve as a guidance for colleges and universities to organize students to participate in the competition, and improve the fostering of talents in the field of life sciences in colleges and universities nationwide.

Development of practical liberal courses for students with non-biology majors under the "Double First-class" background / 生物工程学报

Life sciences are the disciplines most closely related with human beings. As experimental disciplines, life sciences develop rapidly and highly intersect in many scientific fields. Under the "double first-class" initiative, the comprehensive development-oriented talent training system has put forward an urgent need for life sciences literacy and comprehensive ability training of college students. Taking the reform of liberal education curriculum system as an opportunity, we developed a series of eight life sciences practical liberal courses for students with non-biology majors. The courses cover all sub-disciplines or directions of life sciences, and aim to foster interdisciplinary talents with life sciences knowledge and literacy, as well as practical and innovative abilities. These courses could serve as references for experimental teaching centers in colleges and universities to set up practical liberal and experimental courses.

Exploration and practice of blended teaching in "Introduction to Life Sciences" for non-biology students / 生物工程学报

In the era of Internet +, teaching models in universities are undergoing changes due to the rapid development of information technology. Blended teaching, combining online with offline teaching, is being implemented and developed in universities. In order to reform teaching mode and improve teaching effect, the curriculum team carried out the exploration of blended teaching reform for the "Introduction to Life Sciences" for non-biology students. The course combined high-level MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), small class teaching, diversified platform and multi-dimensional teaching mode, built a multi-disciplinary collaborative teaching team, formed a multi-dimensional evaluation system focusing on process and ability, practiced the education concept of combining knowledge teaching and value leading, gained valuable practical experience, and achieved the expected teaching results. It can provide reference for the reform and construction of similar courses in other colleges and universities. The development of blended teaching expands the breadth and depth of teaching, stimulates students' interest and potential for learning, opens up students' thinking and perspective, cultivates students' scientific literacy and comprehensive ability, and plays a positive role in the cultivation of innovative and inter-disciplinary talents.