“There were definitely laughs and some squeamish reactions,” said George Washington University freshman Sonse Ransibrahmanakul, describing the moment he brought squids into a high school classroom as part of a dissection workshop series he spearheaded.
He began the project in December through the Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service’s Public Service Grant Commission, which funds student-led social innovation projects.
Ransibrahmanakul wanted to help students engage with science in a way that would spark an interest in the subject. The idea was inspired by how his own love for the field grew from experiential learning opportunities.
“I always liked to make little games as a child and work with my hands,” Ransibrahmanakul said. “I was really interested in robotics and if you're working with robots, you have the physical thing in front of you. And especially for a child, just to have that direct interaction made it feel all the more rewarding.”
Doing dissections in class offers that same excitement of getting to learn through doing, he said.
“Those dissections in middle school and high school were some of the things I was most excited for, and a lot of students were, because you get a real specimen to work with. And you’re able to see it with your own eyes,” Ransibrahmanakul said. “And I feel like that really helps to get the understanding and the engagement going.”
As more schools move away from offering dissections, he wanted to ensure students could still have a chance at the experience because he believes it helps bring classroom lessons to life.
“The sciences are very important. And science is a field that, a lot of people, sometimes might be taken aback by and might not want to pursue because it can be hard,” Ransibrahmanakul said. “But if they get a better understanding, they might be more enthused.”
After developing the idea, he reached out to schools across D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland, to gauge interest, and many teachers welcomed his workshop into their classrooms.
He worked to align his workshops with the students’ classroom lessons so they could directly apply what they were learning.
“Many classes were learning tissue types and organ systems. So, here's a lot to go over with a real specimen, like a squid,” he
said. “Biology was a subject I kind of struggled with myself. So, I hope that it helped them get a better understanding.”
After the workshops, Ransibrahmanakul handed out short, ungraded quizzes. He was happy to see from the results that students seemed to retain much of the information he went over. Teachers later told him students were more engaged in lessons following the workshops.
That was his main goal. He wanted to take what can be a complex topic and make it fun and approachable.
Ransibrahmanakul said he worked to engage every student, encouraging quieter participants to be more involved in the discussions and trying to channel the high energy of some students into enthusiasm for the lesson.
There were plenty of jokes and a lot of playful energy in the classrooms, but overall, the students really embraced the lesson. And Ransibrahmanakul was grateful for the chance to bring that experience into classrooms because expanding access to learning opportunities is something that has always been important to him.
“I just think that hands-on learning opportunities make school so much more enjoyable and the learning process more engaging,” he said.
He also feels like this experience helped him, too.
"We hope to serve people when we graduate. But sometimes we forget that because we don't see the faces of the people we hope to serve. It's good to be reminded of that,”Ransibrahmanakul said.
This summer, he is continuing his service work after receiving a Projects for Peace grant that placed him with Island Dolphin Care in the Florida Keys. The organization supports therapy programs for veterans and children with disabilities while contributing to conservation and peacebuilding efforts.
He said he believes strongly in Island Dolphin Care’s mission to promote mental well-being, and healing.
“Animal therapy really helps make a difference,” Ransibrahmanakul said. “It's good to have these opportunities for those who need it. It really adds a light to their life.”
He will modernize the organization’s paper-based data logging systems, develop virtual reality tools to expand accessibility and create videos to bring attention to their mission.
Ransibrahmanakul is excited to take what he is learning at GW and apply it beyond the classroom to help support important, community-centered work.
