Viruses have been the main characters of several pivotal episodes in human history, bringing fear and also fascination to humankind. They represent important forces of population control and natural selection for all living organisms. Before the media was taken over by the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic, others were responsible for the deaths of millions of people just in the past century like天花，，，，西班牙流感，，，，and themeasles流行病。

除了减轻病毒疾病的持续负担外，病毒及其环境的知识是改善生物学技术的关键。病毒有助于我们更好地理解人类的进化，并创建替代方法与其他致病性微生物打交道 - 如多耐药细菌及其感染的细胞。这些信息可用于寻找针对其他疾病（例如癌症）的治疗方法。

Like viruses themselves, virology lectures, the numerous biotechnological applications for these organisms, and the gap between all the knowledge that is generated and how to pass it on to the students is continuously evolving.

该差距主要归因于病毒是微观生物，将其可视化限制为示意图，插图和电子显微镜。病毒学教学中发现的其他问题与确保教师本身（尤其是在高中级）的实践阶级，动机和掌握的生物安全相关。

The size limitation, at least, was considered obsolete after the discovery ofgiant DNA viruses。这些病毒通常感染自由活动的变形虫，具有广泛的基因组，较大的粒径和相对转录独立性 - 打破了经典病毒学的几个范式。

However, little has been done to include these new viruses in virology curriculum, which remains outdated and limited mainly to pathogenic organisms, reinforcing the stereotype of病毒es as villains。

Developing an educational toolkit

鉴于有关当前病毒学课程的所有已知性，出现了一个挑战（和机会）：如何利用巨型病毒的迷人潜力来应对病毒学教学中发现的挑战？可以提供哪些工具，以便他们可以扩展涵盖的主题并将其与最新成本的发现联系起来？

Thus, the idea was to develop a slide kit for optical microscopy that explores giant virus particles and some aspects of the interaction of animal viruses with cell lines, aiming at an innovative, safe, and low-cost approach to be used in practical classes in the study of viruses.

使用幻灯片染色材料,我们的病毒,and cell lineages, we created a microscope slide kit, which we called “Virus Goes Viral”. It allows the students to observe giant viruses’ particles, viral factories, and the differences between the lysis plaques of other important viruses that infect animals.

除了实用材料外，补充材料还同时开发出来，以解决病毒学教学中较早发现的问题之一：教师缺乏对学科的掌握。该材料不仅仅是实用课程的脚本。除了建议使用哪些客观镜头，是否有必要使用浸入油，以及在每张幻灯片中应该观察到什么，它还为每个主题提供上下文化和定义，例如：哪些病毒工厂是什么？如何形成裂解斑块？我们还努力使材料引人注目，简单且对用户有趣。

在实践中测试工具包

在我的教学实习计划期间，我有机会在联邦政府De Minas Gerais（巴西）的微生物学系中使用幻灯片，在那里我在那里为本科生的学生教了一个实用课程。

在将发现巨型病毒的发现背景下，我问学生他们是否曾经想象过自己能够在生活中看到病毒。我记得他们为显微镜而战Tupanvirusslide was, which I had pointed out that it is the biggest virus discovered in the world. I observed the smiles and fascination in their eyes. A student said that for her, it looked just like a bacillus (I had to disagree and draw attention to its unique shape).

Questioning and debating are part of learning and that’s just what we ever aimed for these slides to be: a tool to foster an inspiring learning environment about virology.