Infinite Reflector, Invisible Ink, Popsicle Catapult, Foam Race, Non-Newtonian Fluids, Butterfly Bean Blossom Milk Tea ...... You can tell from the wide variety of names that the STEM camp was MAXIMUM fun!
This summer, students completed nearly 30 challenges in five areas: artificial intelligence, digital design, video business, flight simulation, and water quality testing. Not only did they learn about traditional science, technology, engineering and maths, but they were also exposed to interesting and diverse fields such as environmental science and food science through field studies on projects with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and its affiliates. As STEM education advocates, it is the process that counts, not the answer. We believe that the children are happy to come and enjoy themselves.
We believe that this journey will not only stimulate their interest in learning, but also develop their practical problem-solving skills and innovative thinking, which will play an important role in their future lives.
Getting in touch with experiments they don't usually have the chance to do cultivating and laying the doundation of interest in physical and chemical biology
For children, science is not just a rich theoretical knowledge unilaterally outputted from popular science books and teaching videos, but a process that allows them to touch, observe, feel, experience and explore with their little hands.
They may not be able to fully understand the‘cause’ of the phenomenon, but these‘feelings’ will remain in the child's memory, and in the future, after learning related knowledge can be immediately connected to the brain's scientific memory and scientific feeling, and quickly integrated.
Science can be found everywhere in life, and with a little guidance, you can plant the seeds of a love of research and innovation in your child's mind.
Fun Experiments / Excerpts
Food Business System
Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream
While enjoying the delicious liquid nitrogen ice cream, the shocking white vapour scene when liquid nitrogen is poured out must have lingered in the minds of the students. As a result, they will remember the powerful and rapid freezing power of liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees Celsius.
Culinary Mastery
In Food and Nutrition, the fourth module of the Design&Technology programme in the UK, students will have fun with hands-on cookery skills and study the nutritional aspects of food and the ingredients of various food additives. Chocolate mousse, chocolate chip biscuits, banana dumplings and bread, mango cheesecake and cheese were transformed under the guidance of the teachers.
Flight Simulation
System
Water Rocket Launch
A water rocket, also known as a pneumatic water jet rocket, is a flying machine made from discarded beverage bottles. Its power module, arrow body, arrowhead, tail and parachute all deeply apply the mechanical knowledge in physics. Students can intuitively understand the launching, lifting and recovery process of missiles and launch vehicles, and understand the principles of missile and aircraft flight and their differences.
Paper Airplane Competition
Some paper aeroplanes can be folded in a few steps, while others take dozens of steps to complete, some have wide wings, while others have a slender body. The children fold all kinds of paper aeroplanes and compete to see whose aeroplane can fly the longest and the furthest in the air.
While this is a common childhood game, there are many STEM disciplines embedded in it. Students learnt the importance of precision and how different characteristics affect flight.
Water Quality
Testing System
Taihu Lake Water Quality Testing
At the Taihu Lake Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China's premier academic institution for natural sciences, students were introduced to a niche area of environmental science. There, they received expert guidance from scientists, explored the field, visited the biological specimens in the institution's collection, and unveiled the biodiversity hidden in the depths of the lake.
Water Quality Filtration
Students learnt and practised a variety of chemical and physical water purification techniques in the labs, including boiling, using natural ingredients and filtration, amongst other field survival skills.
Participate in high-impact research projects
Cultivate the spirit of innovation and help with future university applications
Breakthrough innovations in quantum computing, 5G, AR/VR, big language modelling and artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, 3D printing and more have dramatically changed the technological landscape in the past two years. We wanted to give the children as many opportunities as possible to explore and understand the future of technology.
Students have been working independently or in teams to meet these challenges and have grown in their hands-on skills, creativity, scientific literacy and problem-solving abilities. We hope that these exciting challenges will give our students a spark of creativity that will help them in their future endeavours.
Project Challenges / Excerpts
AI System
Micro:bit Programming
The micro:bit is an important gateway to the vast world of programming and electronics. The barrier to entry is low and very novice friendly, but the depth of what can be learnt is never-ending.
Whether it's making a traffic light signal sensor light or building a quadcopter ...... Learn micro:bit, think like an engineer and all things are possible.
AI
By designing and playing AI-related games, pupils learnt to understand the main AI technology areas: image, sound, language, text and pose confirmation. They also applied what they learnt about AI practically by using simple AI programming applets.
Digital Design System
3D Printing
This technology, like the magical brush of Ma Liang, lets students' imagination leap from paper into the air. When two-dimensional pictures are not vivid enough, turn them into three-dimensional objects.
VR Design
Taking a train ride through time and space, in the virtual world of Minecraft, students unleashed their wild imaginations, experiencing the strong interactivity and expressiveness of VR technology, while honing their aesthetic design skills.
The brilliance of the STEM Laboratory is hard to sum up in words, but we hope students learn and grow while having fun. We hope these two weeks of contact with the magical world of science will light a beacon for their future. We look forward to meeting again next year at the STEM Laboratory!
