THE Bruneian delegation to the 6th Asean Plus Three Junior Science Odyssey (APTJSO) comprising students won four medals in multiple categories at the contest held in Vietnam.
Brunei Team ‘A’ snatched the silver medals in the Physics lab skills assessment and Team ‘B’ brought back the bronze medals in the Chemistry Lab skills assessments, while Muhammad Hafiz Muizzuddin bin Haji Hishamuddin @ Abu Bakar Al-‘Ali and Abu Yazid bin Mohammed Fadzillah bagged the silver and bronze medals in the group project category.
The APTJSO is an annual competition for students aged 13 to 15 from the Asean Plus Three (APT) region to demonstrate Biology, Chemistry and Physics laboratory skills; collaborate with other students from other member countries in a mixed-nation group project presentation; and compete in a country-based group poster presentation based on this year’s theme ‘Renewable Energy For Life’.
APTJSO provided opportunities for students to share ideas and gain experiences through group work activities, while developing their ability to conduct research and cultivate creativity in the field of science and technology.
The five-day programme with more than 120 participants from the APT region, and Sweden as the guest country, challenged students in the field of science and technology, as well as to stimulate students’ intellectual curiosity through various experiences and experiments.
Muhammad Hafiz, who won the silver medal in the group project category, said, “It was challenging at times, especially during group pitching, as language was a barrier for some, but we managed to get our task done on time. I’m glad we won silver in the group pitching category.”
Brunei Team ‘A’ was represented by Abu Yazid bin Mohammed Fadzillah of Lambak Kiri Secondary School, Ummi Salmah binti Haji Mohammad Firdaus of Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan Science College, and Syarifah Yura Mona Mas Rahayu binti Abdullah Yura Ulmateen of St Margaret’s School.
Brunei Team ‘B’ was represented by Muhammad Hafiz Muizzuddin bin Haji Hishamuddin @ Abu Bakar Al-‘Ali of St Andrew’s School, Soo Jun Shan of Pengiran Jaya Negara Pengiran Haji Abu Bakar Secondary School, and Siti Aisyah binti Haji Abdul Jalal of Jerudong International School.
The delegate was led by two teachers, Is’sardi bin Nasar of Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha Secondary School and Nurul Faizah binti Ya’akub of Berakas Secondary School.
In the poster presentation competition, Brunei Team ‘A’ presented a poster titled ‘Conversion of Residual Heat into Electricity Using Thermoelectric Generators (TEG)’, while Brunei Team ‘B’ presented one titled ‘The Harvesting of Carbon Dioxide into Energy’. Both received positive feedback from the panel of judges.
With the topic ‘Harvesting, Converting and Using Solar Energy’, participants worked independently during the lab skills assessment without teachers’ supervision in the science experiments to extract dyes from different plants; measure the plants’ ability to photosynthesise; and compare their results with rate of light absorption of a solar panel.
The students’ lab skills training were conducted in collaboration with staff of the Faculty of Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, weeks prior to departure. Parents of the participants and officers from the Special Education Unit also helped in the mock viva for the poster presentation during the team’s preparation.
In the lab skills assessment category, Brunei Team ‘A’ won the silver medal in the Physics lab skills, and Brunei Team ‘B’ won the bronze medal in the Chemistry lab skills assessment.
Nurul Faizah, one of the teachers, said the programme gave her a good professional platform, where teachers shared their best practices in the teaching of the science and technology curriculum.
“It was good to see the progress the other teachers had implemented in their country and I managed to get some ideas I could use in my lessons. I also think this programme was a good chance for our students to discover their own abilities and talents, while gaining exposure working with gifted students from the APT regions. It was nice to see them grow independently in that short period of time,” she said.
The participants of the 6th APTJSO also had the opportunity to visit some of the places of interest in Hanoi, such as the Vietnam Cultural Village and the water puppet theatre.
Brunei’s youngest parti-cipant, Soo Jun Shan said, “I love my APTJSO experience, as it not only gave me the opportunity to work closely and share ideas with other students from APT regions, we also had the opportunities to appreciate Vietnamese culture and hospitality during our stay. We also shared some part of Bruneian culture during the Cultural Night performance.”
The delegates demonstrated different ways of wearing the Sinjang and folding of the Dastar as part of their cultural performance.
The post Brunei students bag 4 medals at APTJSO appeared first on Borneo Bulletin Online.