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The idea
of a special programme to encourage young students
to try their hand at becoming scientists and innovators
was conceived about a decade ago by Dr Alwis when
he was a member of the Engineering Faculty, National
University of Singapore. It was a collaborative
project with MOE’s Gifted Education Branch
and the pioneer batch of secondary school participants
was
small. Since then, many more schools took part
in the programme as they realized that their students
benefited much from the programme.
The objectives of the programme are entirely in
line with our nation’s educational aspirations
to nurture creative and innovative students who
think out of the box and are able to work closely
with their fellow team members. In addition, the
programme unleashes the imaginative energies of
young minds and fosters in them a strong confidence
in what they can do for themselves and others as
well. To Republic Polytechnic, these two were strong
reasons to contribute to the enrichment of Singapore’s
educational landscape by offering its facilitators’ experience
and expertise in conducting the Scientific Thinking
and Innovation programme.
When Republic Polytechnic sent out the invitation
letter to secondary schools to participate in the
five-month programme, 15 schools responded and
about 150 students took part, with 70 opting for
the Scientific Thinking Programme (STP) and 80
for the Innovation Programme (IP). The final event
was the first Scientific Thinking and Innovation
Show cum Award Presentation at the Civil Service
College Auditorium on 30 July, where over 300 students,
teachers, principals and parents saw the participants’ explain
what their projects meant to them.
Summing up the thoughts of Republic Polytechnic’s
staff and those of the secondary school teachers
involved in the programme, the Guest-of-Honour,
Principal and CEO Prof Low Teck Seng, made the
following points about first, the Scientific Thinking
Programme and next, the Innovation Programme. From
the series of STP workshops for teachers, talks
for students and project clinics for the students
to meet with their advisors from Republic Polytechnic,
it was apparent that the students had grown a great
deal with their advisors. They were enthusiastic,
responsive, brimming with ideas and diligent in
their execution. They demonstrated teamwork and
receptivity to advice from their mentors. The result
was the wide array of projects such as how sugar
affected the freezing rate of the ever popular
dessert, ice-cream; how the local attraction, Sembawang
Hotsprings, might have certain therapeutic benefits
for the human body, and how the various explanations
of why the night sky was blue were not quite satisfactory.
These projects proved very convincingly that the
participants possessed the distinguishing traits
of young scientists – inquisitive, disciplined
and driven by a strong sense of the wonder of Nature.
With regard to the Innovation Programme, Prof
Low made the following observations. By focusing
on what intrigued them in their ordinary, daily
routine, the student participants were able to
single out what in fact was an extraordinarily
interesting problem to work their analytical and
imaginative powers. For instance, a simple observation
about the tedium of setting a Chinese dinner table
led to a new use of a fast food restaurant’s
straw-dispenser. Another interesting innovative
idea was a special handbag strap to frustrate the
snatch thief because a strong tug detaches the
strap from the bag straightaway, leaving the contents
of the bag safe in the owner’s hands. There
was no doubt that the students had learnt a lot
about the innovative process which demanded a great
deal of re-visioning about what was apparent to
the eye, a reformulation of the root of the problem,
meticulous research on where solutions might be
found and careful testing to see if the proposed
solution actually worked. The process of self and
team-led discovery was long but very beneficial.
First of all, there is a very close collaboration
with team members which instilled a strong team
spirit in everyone. Furthermore, months of meeting,
brainstorming, research, prototyping enabled many
friendships to be forged. Here Prof Low expressed
his wish that these friendships would one day mature
into business partnerships that would enrich the
nation. Finally, the students acquired a stronger
appreciation of what it means to be creative -
a sharp eye for unusual details, a sense of what
one can do to make a difference and courage to
try new things.
The evening ended on a very happy note. All the
participating students agreed that they would participate
when Republic Polytechnic next invites them for
Scientific Thinking and Innovation Programme 2005.
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