Ice Cream Workshop (07/11/2009)

Blog Post by Rain Lim, Staff

Even 5-year-olds were capable of making ice cream without any machinery! On 7 November 2009, 24 children, aged 5 to 14 years old, from Singapore Children Society, together with the volunteers and staff from Olympia Travel, turned NYP Food Science kitchen into a market place filled with excitement, fun and laughter.

The inquisitive bubbly children could not stop asking questions the moment they stepped into the robbing area.  They were amused by the outer garment they had to put on as the disposable aprons were hanging so loosely on most of their petit figures.

Session started with Ms Gan Heng Hui attempting crowd control with an ice breaker known as “Simon says”… surprisingly it proved effective! The perky children really kept still for split second when Ms Gan shouted “Simon says keep quiet!”… haha…

Ms Gan tried to explain the basic science behind this wonderful dessert but failed terribly as the “energizer bunnies” were too excited to remain still. The moment they were allowed to start the hands-on session, they went wild! Both the children and adults were fascinated by such simple steps in ice cream making. They never thought they could make DIY ice cream at home with basic ingredients such as milk, cream, sugar and lots of crushed ice.

After an hour of hustle and bustle intermingled with chaos, most of the little chefs were able to savour their own creation guiltlessly. Surely those extra calories did not bother them when indulgence was all they were yearning for.

The children left behind a cluttered kitchen, faint buzzing in our ears and spontaneous smiles on all our faces.

Special thanks to Ms Gan Heng Hui to co-ordinate with Olympia Travel for this event, as well as, Mr Richard Khaw, Zhang Wei Sheng and Rain Lim to come back to assist on this workshop.

DrugTrail@NYP

Blog Post by Phoon Chee Wee, Staff

As part of the School Outreach and Promotion Programmes, SCL(LS) organised a Medicinal Chemistry workshop entitled “DrugTrail@NYP” on 21 Oct 09. The aim of this workshop is to showcase the application of thin layer chromatography, an important analytical method in pharmaceutical sciences. A total of 25 students and 3 teachers from 5 secondary schools took part in this workshop. The participants learnt about the concepts and techniques of TLC. They also acquired the hands-on experience of applying TLC to identify the active ingredients in common pain killers such as Panadol, Panadol Extra, Aspirin and Nurofen.

Chemistry-in-Action@NYP

Chemistry is full of fun and actions at NYP. As part of the National Chemistry Week events, SCL(LS) organised a Chemistry exhibit entitled “Chemistry-in-Action@NYP” on 3 Jun 09. The aim of this exhibit is to highlight the importance and applications of Chemistry in the 21st century. A total of 88 participants from 5 schools and public took part in this event. The activities lined up include Chemical Tornado, Nylon Making, Rainbow Column and Chemiluminescence.

DrugTrail@NYP

Have you ever wondered what compounds are in the common pain killers such as Panadol, Panadol Extra, Aspirin and Nurofen? On 10 Jun 09, a total of 34 students and 2 teachers from 9 secondary schools got an opportunity to analyse these medicines at the “DrugTrail@NYP” workshop. This is a Medicinal Chemistry workshop organised by SCL(LS) as part of the National Chemistry Week activities. The aim of this workshop is to showcase the concept and application of thin layer chromatography (TLC) in drug analysis. Through this activity, the participants learnt how to use TLC to identify the active ingredients in these common pain killers.

Teaching Internship Program (March – April ‘09)

Blog Post by Cher Lihui FS0701

During the march holidays, four of my classmates and I were selected to join a Teaching Internship Program (TIP).  This program, which was somewhat like an attachment, aims to give interested students an insight on teaching as a career. Besides us, other food science students from TP and SP were also involved in the TIP.

During the month-long program, we were provided with two days of intensive training first, before we were paired off and sent to our designated secondary schools. My allocated partner was from SP, and we were both really lucky as the school we were attached to is right next to our residence!

During the four weeks of attachment, we observed plenty of home economics lessons, a handful of mathematics and chemistry lessons, and even have the chance to conduct several theory and practical lessons! Not only did we learn how to be a teacher, we even muster plenty of difficult dishes such as the gong bao ji ding (Chicken in the palace or palace chicken??) shown below. It may not look very appetizing there (I blame the lighting!), but it is really yummy!

We also came across this cute little kitten, just a few days old, that was abandoned outside the home economics room. Ok, the fluffy bear and the flower wasn’t there when we found him. Our supervisor promptly adopt him, and gave him that bear, and we gave him that flower as a farewell present.

Well, back to the TIP, it was a very fruitful holiday. Not only do we gain plenty of invaluable experience, we even earn some allowance I will definitely recommend this TIP!

Little Scientist Workshop @ NYP – Learn about Your Body

Blog Post by Daniel Tan and Wilson Wong

In the early morning of 6^th June 2009, all of us were busy with our final preparations for the workshop which will begin in one hour. Many of us were making sure that the items distributed on the tables were sufficient for the experiments that our guest will be doing later.  Some of us were getting ready to meet the kids, interestingly the room they were situated are well decorated with the theme of a childcare centre which is a contrast to the gloomy classroom.

Our guest arrives in waves, slowly parents started turning up with one of their child. Some were quite surprise when, we told them that the parents have to be separated from their child temporary as they will be taking part in a separate activity. The parents will be learning about the interesting background of the DNA and the DNA extraction experiment that they will be teaching to their child in the next half of the workshop. Their child will be learning and playing with the models dedicated to teach them about the organs found in the human body under the guidance of our students.

As the parents listen to us presenting the topic about DNA, some were a bit anxious about understanding the topic, some fear that the science was too complex for them. In the end, all of them were satisfied with their better understanding of the DNA, some even ask interesting questions that brought out important themes such as cancer a disease that is strongly related to DNA damage. They certainly enjoyed the little experiment, that was put up for them, many of them fiddled with the apparatus that they rarely see in their daily lives and they follow our instructions with great enthusiasm. It was enjoyable for them to extract DNA out of kiwi, a fruit that they usually eat at home.

The children too had great fun playing with the models and coloring the organs on paper which can be cut and collected. However, they did not know that the real fun is about start.

After a break, the children were brought back this time with their parents into the rooms again, this time the parents will have to teach their child the DNA extraction experiment that they had just learned. It was a great success, all the parents enjoyed spending time with their kids, playing with the apparatus and working on the strawberry which is the fruit that they will be extracting the DNA from. Some even requested for more strawberries to work on.

After a period of scientific fun between the parents and their child, the workshop come to an end. As  we were clearing up the mess they left, the kids receive goodies that  we have prepared for them as a parting gift. All of the parents and their children left satisfied with the morning that they had spend here with us. Some even left with positive feedbacks, encouraging us to set up more of such programs to enhance the interest of science in children of that age.

As for the group that help to set up the workshop, we all left knowing that there are more people out there who knows the amazing nature of the DNA, hopefully they will be scientists one day.

NYP-Xinmin Science Mentoring Project

Blog Post by Cherine Tan, staff

Four students from Xinmin Secondary school participated in a project entitled ” Detection of Genetically Modified Foods of Plant Origin sold in Singapore ” as part of the NYP-Xinmin’s Science and Mentoring project. NYP is proud to mentor these students for the period of 1 year which culmulated in a poster presentation in Xinmin First Science & Technology Symposium and a Bronze award in the 2009 SSEF competition organized by A*Star.

Xinmin Secondary School Science and Technology Symposium 2009

Blog Post by Guo Xu Ming, staff

The Science & Technology Research Programme was launched on 11 March 2008. The key objective of the programme was to provide Xinmin Secondary School students an opportunity to develop their research skills under the guidance of supervisors from Nanyang Polytechnic.The students were engaged in challenging projects that involved rigorous research work for one year. After the completion of the project, the students presented their outcome of the research at their school’s 1st Science and Technology Symposium on 11 March 09.

The students’ project was on the “Antioxidant Activities of Several Common Tropical Fruits in Singapore”.