IET UNITEN sheds light on Solar Energy to Secondary School Students in SMJK Yu Hua

The new semester started with a new hope in “IET UNITEN On Campus”, which was to spark interest in engineering to school students. “STEM education”, which is the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines, namely science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, had been IET UNITEN on Campus’s focus for their iconic events. To kick off our slew of events, we decided to start with the great concept of Solar Power, as it is one of the familiar theories that secondary school students have studied in class. By introducing the Solar Kit Workshop to the school and give students a practical hands-on experience, this, in theory, boosts the students’ interest of pursuing their further education to the Engineering field. Considering that modern technology has taken over the world drastically, STEM education is really important for nowadays generation to learn and to gain much information and knowledge about the modern future.

IET UNITEN on Campus had organized a Solar Kit Workshop on the 25th October 2018 from 8.00am to 1.00pm in Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan Yu Hua which had catered a total number of 180 form 3 students. In this workshop, the students are given hands-on experience to construct a variety of designs of product which are powered by solar energy with the guidance of IET UNITEN on Campus’s event facilitators.

The event started with an introduction to the event by the emcees of the day, Caroline Kiew Li Xuan, a third-year student of Electrical Power Engineering, and Teoh Vin Shen, a third-year student of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, in which they briefly described the concept of solar power as well as introduce the \”IET UNITEN on Campus\” team. After that, Tan Chew Min, event director of the workshop, gave a briefing about STEM and the importance of STEM to the students, followed by Teo Kai Kuang, Vice President of IET UNITEN On Campus, to explain the technical information as well as STEM in detail.

After the opening speech, the solar kits workshop started and the students were taught to assemble all six designs of the provided solar kits with the guidance of event facilitators. The six designs included two different planes, a solar airboat, a solar car, a solar windmill, and a solar puppy, which were all assembled successfully by the students. Following the workshop, the students were then engaged in a fun and healthy competition to see who could successfully assemble all six of the designs the fastest. Prizes were given to six of the fastest groups. During the competition, many students displayed leadership and teamwork.

After the competition ended, a quiz session was held to test the students regarding their knowledge of solar power and what they had learned throughout the workshop. They were also asked regarding their experience throughout the event and what they thought of the workshop. Most of the students’ answer was that it was an interesting workshop where they could not only learn in class but also the hands-on experience which they really enjoyed.

The workshop ended with the exchange of a token of appreciation to the School for allowing \’IET UNITEN on Campus\’ to organize their event in the school. One of the teachers in SMJK Yu Hua said that IET UNITEN on Campus had done a great event because it gave the students a chance to know in-depth about the science and engineering field. Additionally, the teacher also gave some advice about possible improvements for the event in which IET UNITEN on Campus could prepare more challenging tasks for the students, at the same time also try to squeeze in some additional activities in case there is an excess of time of the activity flow.

Tan Chew Min, director of the event said that “The event was great! It was my first time organized such an event and I didn’t expect that the event will be so successful. All of these, I would like to thanks all my committees and helpers who helped before and during the event itself passionately. Without their cooperation, the event won’t flow smoothly. Like people used to say – no one succeeds alone. Lastly, I really appreciate the participants for their full cooperation throughout this event.”

 

 

Report by Fiona Sharon