Science comes alive
A biology workshop by NUS Science Demonstration Laboratory allowed 43 secondary school students who are beneficiaries of the Chinese Development Assistance Council to conduct experiments which explored the characteristics of living organisms. Appropriately themed “What is Life?”, the practical session featured five stations, each facilitated by undergraduates from the NUS Young Educators in Science (YES) programme.
Planning of this workshop, the fourth of such, began as early as a year ago. Many of the experiments were independently designed by YES members, with guidance from their adviser, Dr Seow Teck Keong, Senior Lecturer from NUS Biological Sciences. Year 3 Life Sciences student Nicholas Lim, who led the lab session, shared, “We translated some of the learning outcomes from the syllabus into the workshops, where different experiments let them relate to their textbook answers.”
To demonstrate the concept of feeding and digestion, the participants examined how a hydra hunted its prey, and what made a sea firefly glow. Another station focused on growth and regeneration, where the participants observed the regeneration of a flatworm after it was cut in two, and the different developmental stages of a zebrafish. A station centred on human physiology saw students monitoring human respiratory, taste and touch. Here, they determined the difference in the amount of carbon dioxide produced at rest and after exercise, the link between smell and taste, and the sensitivity in different parts of their skin. Two other stations investigated fermentation and respiration.
Speaking of what he hoped the participants would gain, Year 2 Mathematics student Joshua Kwan said, “In science, scientists always ask questions and observe what’s going on. Questions must keep coming, and that was the message I was trying to bring across to the students.”
Science students Kwok Pei Shan (2nd from left) and Nur Arina Bte Mohd Adom (2nd from right), both YES members, explaining how an indicator can help monitor the amount of carbon dioxide exhaled during rest and after exercise
The value of the workshop was two-fold, Dr Seow said. Students without the opportunity to conduct such experiments would be able to benefit from the experience. The NUS undergraduates who facilitated in the laboratory gained first-hand exposure of being a teacher, as well as a wider perspective about education.
Dr Seow believes that the workshop could change the participants’ perceptions of science. “Yes, we still have to memorise and study, but science is more than just that.”
Professor Sow Chorng Haur, Head of NUS Physics, started the Science Demonstration Laboratory 15 years ago to excite students about science. Targeting participants from primary school to junior college, the Laboratory conducts workshops covering a wide range of topics such as mechanics, electricity, magnetism, biological systems, chemical processes and material science.
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