Paving the Way for Future Young Innovators

July 23, 2009

Little toy cars were zipping everywhere, scaling walls and defying gravity. It looked like a topsy-turvy world, out of this reality. But it was just physics in action - an example of how future students of the School of Science and Technology (SST) will be learning in a fun and engaging way.

SST held its first Open House on 25 May, and curious visitors (including the Minister for Education, Dr Ng Eng Hen) had the opportunity to see what lessons will be like when the specialised independent school opens in 2010. Visitors were also treated to a glimpse of plans for the school's permanent campus, which will be completed in 2012.

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From DNA to Industrial Design

April 14, 2009

It looked like a scene out of Bizarro CSI: groups of Pri 6 pupils gathered around workbenches in a science lab at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, intently chewing on the insides of their mouths, then spitting the fluid into a small tube which they placed into a machine before adding various chemicals to it.

But there were no crimes to solve here, just a small whitish blob of their own DNA, suspended blithely in the tube. And even though some pupils had previously studied the topic in school and extracted their own DNA, this workshop held by the new School of Science and Technology (SST) introduced them to a new approach to it.

"It's different from what I've done before," says Pri 6 pupil Yeow Yu Xuan from Kong Hwa School. "That's why I like science, when we can do experiments and learn new things."

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Thinking Hard about the Youth Olympics

February 10, 2009

"How is the Youth Olympic Games an event for all Singaporeans?"

"Is it possible for the Olympic values to exist alongside competition, which is fundamentally what the Games are about?"

"Many research studies have proven that such fierce competition for youths aged 14 to 18 may be detrimental to their health as well as future as an athlete because they may burn out too early. What are your views on this?"

These were some of the questions that flew fast and furious on 28 October 2008 at Nanyang Girls' High School. The school had invited Dr Teo-Koh Sock Miang, Principal of the Singapore Olympic Academy and Elected Executive Committee Member of the Singapore National Olympic Council, to speak to Sec 3 and 4 students about Olympism. These students would soon be embarking on overseas trips, and the school wanted to give them a better understanding of how to engage the international community before they left.

After the talk, students had the chance to pose questions to Dr Teo-Koh and think about what Singapore can offer in the international arena. They certainly didn't mince their words when it came to questioning the rationale behind hosting the Games.

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Graduation Glee for Pioneers of NUS High School

January 13, 2009

"My friends and I used to joke in school that if there ever was a mathematics and science school in Singapore, we'd gladly enrol in it," grins 17-year-old Gregory Lau. On 1 December 2008, Gregory and his peers became the first students to graduate from such an institution - the National University of Singapore High School (NUSHS).

The inaugural convocation saw 88 students of the pioneering batch graduate receive their diplomas from Minister of Education Dr Ng Eng Hen. Recognised by all tertiary institutions in Singapore and even foreign universities like Harvard, the diploma recognises their completion of a six-year integrated course specialising in mathematics and science. As Dr Ng remarks during his congratulatory address, "You were all pathfinders, seeking paths that other students and schools haven't gone through."

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Family Bonding on School Fieldtrips

July 11, 2008

When I was a student, I used to look forward to any day when my parents attended school activities with me. So when I received an email from my daughter Hsien Hui’s school, Yew Tee Primary School, calling for parent volunteers to help with Pri 4 education tours, I signed up immediately. I’ve helped out at many school events before - from orientation sessions for Pri 1 pupils, to open houses or Sports Days, to excursions to the zoo. This time, Hsien Hui’s class was scheduled to go on a learning journey to Oh Chin Huat Hydroponic Farms. I had to take leave from work in order to go with them, but it was well worth the while. Hsien Hui was as excited as I was that we would be going on this trip together.

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Solving Real-world Problems with Students’ Mathematical Models

May 29, 2008

Here’s the situation: You’re a port operator who has to get ships unloaded of their container cargo as speedily and efficiently as possible. You’ve got over 60 ships passing through your port in the next five days, and you need to move them into berths, unload them and move them out again, with as few delays as possible. You have to figure out how to do this, using mathematical modelling based on a data set of information about the ship movements. And you have to do all this within 24 hours. Sound like a challenge for port engineers? Maybe - but they weren’t the ones who had the 24-hour deadline looming over them - it was a group of secondary school and JC students who did.

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Wanted! - Innovative, Creative Individuals for School of Science and Technology

March 19, 2008

A secondary school where “students learn by experimenting, tinkering, and by taking a project through all its stages - from concept to design to building the models”. This is the essence of the upcoming School of Science and Technology, Singapore (SST), which will offer “a new option for students who are likely to be university-bound, but who want a solid academic foundation and immersion in real-world applications,” said Minister for Education, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, at this year’s Budget Debate.

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