Based in Taipei, Taiwan, petrichor is an experimental learning space.

The word petrichor describes the pleasant earthy smell that arises when rain falls on dry soil and plants.

Coming from years of project-based learning that is limited by the context of Taiwan’s existing education system and cram school culture, we wanted to imagine something different. We believe that scientists are artists and artists are scientists, and that the continued separation of the two limits the imagination of what’s possible.

As traditional education continues to cultivate vocational thinking caused by hyper-specialization induced fragmentation, we want to picture a generation of cross-disciplinary thinkers. We believe a recognition of how seemingly divergent disciplines interplay to create is important for the next generation of scientists.

Our first program offering is a research-based biotechnology-centric program that interplays design and art for students in highschool / of highschool age; we hope to gather a group of creative people that have the courage to imagine beyond the traditional classroom, beyond the internet’s “givens”—to not just solve problems predefined for them, but to understand the world more deeply, so as to discover what they really matters to them.

Like AI, biotechnology is undoubtedly going to play a big role in the years to come. It is more important now to imagine, with a creative mind, what it can become.

Students in this program will have the opportunity to participate in two competitions: BDC (Biodesign Challenge) & iGEM (international Genetically Engineered Machine). While competitions and their results are not the destination, if done right, they can catalyze creative thinking and innovation, allowing ideas to manifest.

位於臺北的「petrichor」是一座實驗性的學習空間。

「Petrichor」描述了雨水落在乾燥土壤與植物上時所產生的宜人泥土氣息。

多年來台灣的“專案導向學習”在現行教育體制與補習文化的局限下，我們渴求創造出一些不一樣的可能性。同時懷抱著：科學家即是藝術家，藝術家亦是科學家；往往將兩者去做分隔，也限制了學生/甚至老師對可能性的想像。

隨著傳統教育因高度專業化而變得碎片化與職業的思維固化，我們希望能培育出一代跨領域的思想家。我們相信，認識那些表面上看似分歧的學科如何交融與再創造，對下一代的科學家真的很重要。

我們的首個課程是一個以研究為導向的生物科技課程，將設計與藝術結合，面向高中生或高中年齡段的學生。我們希望匯聚一群具有創造力、敢於想像突破傳統課堂與受網路“被動接收”的人——不僅僅是解決那些被設計好的問題，而是更深刻地理解這個世界，進而發現對自己真正重要的事物。

如同人工智慧，生物科技無疑將在未來扮演重要角色。現在，比以往任何時候都更需要以創意思維來想像它的可能性。

參與該課程的學生將有機會參加兩項競賽： BDC(生物設計挑戰賽) 與 iGEM(國際基因工程機器競賽)。 雖然競賽及其結果並非最終目的，但如果善用它，所的激發創意思維與創新，真能讓果實 “美夢成真”。