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Puxi G3: Science Lectures — Explore the Mysteries of Migration

April 7, 2023

On April 4, 2023, Dr. Yu Danyang, Professor of Practice of Biology at New York University Shanghai, entered the campus to present a seminar for the third-grade students in SHSID Puxi Campus in the auditorium of the elementary school section.

The lecture started with a question, what kind of animals would migrate? The students actively raised their hands to answer. Subsequently, Professor Yu further clarified the definition of "migration" through some daily human activities, such as picking up delivery packages, going to work, or going on a vacation. As Dr. Yu mentioned, the most amazing thing is that the students have recently studied the ancient poem "Evening View of the Spring River in Huichong", in which the line "the Artemisia sativa is all over the ground and the reed buds are short, just when the puffer fish is about to go up" referred to the puffer fish. The puffer fish is exactly a kind of migratory fish that swim upstream along the Yangtze River to lay eggs in the spring! This example made the students suddenly realize that science is everywhere in life.

Behind the phenomenon of migration, there are still many questions waiting to be unraveled: Why animals migrate? When do they migrate? Where do animals migrate to? How do animals migrate? Excavating the reasons often requires in-depth thinking. Professor Yu encouraged the students to change their perspectives and imagine themselves as a young wildebeest about to travel far. Facing the habitat resources depletion, they had to migrate with the herd. The entire route was almost 300 kilometers long, and the herd was constantly shadowed by predators. In the flying dust, hundreds of thousands of wildebeests crossed the Mara River. Many lives were lost to the crushing current and the ever-ferocious crocodiles. Through imagination, the students deeply felt the migration of animals in nature is really an unknown and thrilling journey of life!

On the other hand, what is the relationship between animal migration and humans? Following Professor Yu, the students explored the largest migration in the world — the Sardine Run, and found that it can provide us with food, tourist attractions and job opportunities for specific groups of people. In turn, human behavior is also affecting animal migration, such as habitat destruction, food shortages, and climate warming. Birds gave up migration and died from ingesting highly polluted food in garbage; aquatic animals collided with cargo ships during migration and lost their lives; baby sea turtles were born on the beach but died from oil pollution... Each and every living example is shocking. Professor Yu also introduced that in addition to animals, humans also migrate. Two million years ago, our ancestors set off from the Africa continent and gradually spread across the world. Humans have and will continue the journey of migration.

In the final interactive session, the on-site questions pushed the lecture to a climax again. Questions from our "little journalists" came one after another: Did dinosaurs migrate on the earth? How do animals reach their destinations exactly? Why did humans leave Africa? How did humans migrate across seas? How did humans communicate when migrating? Professor Yu answered all of them patiently one by one, and the students returned with full notes and rich knowledge.

In this lecture, Professor Yu Danyang used intuitive pictures and easy-to-understand language to guide students step by step, in order to make them understand the greatest life process on this earth — animal migration. Careful observation, bold conjecture, careful thinking and self-connection, the students' scientific awareness and dialectical thinking have been further improved. Taking a long view, maintaining the ecology, caring for the earth, and thinking about problems with a global perspective are also important lessons learned by the students in this lecture.

Written by Everly He

Pictures by Carol Li

Edited by Serene Yang, Niall Keenan