Molecular Origami : A Practical Approach to Engineering Education

人们对用于生物医学、工业、环境应用，当然还有众多消费产品的工程微纳米设备非常感兴趣。将为小学生开发一系列综合资源，强调控制分子结构如何影响其功能和最终应用。它将强调核心科学（生物学、化学和物理学）之间相互作用的必要性，并展示它们如何为（生物）分子工程做出贡献。提出了一种基于活动的学习和欣赏过程，其中折纸建模的复杂性与生物和超分子化学的例子直接相关。完成每个模型的成就感以及尝试下一个模型的挑战（甚至是竞争）将激发他们对活动的兴趣，并提供一个机会，通过这种机会，可以以有趣和吸引人的方式介绍基础科学。无论科学基础设施如何，这些活动都不贵，而且很容易为学校所用。拥有一个最终在家里的奖品（模型）提供了一个强大的可能性，激发进一步的兴趣和讨论基于网络的折纸科学混合内容，允许进一步探索。

There is great interest in engineering micro and nano scale devices for biomedical, industrial, environmental applications and, of course, a multitude of consumer products. A series of integrated resources would be developed for primary school children that highlight how controlling the structure of molecules can impact on their function and eventual application. It would emphasize the need for interaction between the core sciences (biology, chemistry and physics) and demonstrate how they contribute to (bio)molecular engineering. An activity based learning and appreciation process is proposed in which the intricacies of origami based modelling are directly related to examples from biological and supramolecular chemistry. The sense of achievement in completing each model and the challenge (or even competition) of attempting the next one will stimulate their interest in the activity and, offers an opportunity through which the underlying science can be introduced in a fun and engaging way. The activities are inexpensive and readily accessible to schools irrespective of scientific infrastructure. The possession of a prize (the models) that end up in the home offer a strong possibility of stimulating further interest and debate with the web based origami-science hybrid content allowing further exploration.