By Dr. Sheela Chandren

 On the 20^th of July 2017, in conjunction with Iskandar Learning Festival 2017, STEM Day was held in UniKL MITEC Bandar Seri Alam, Masai, where many activities related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, involving school students and teachers, were carried out.

The “Saintis Cilik Kreatif” Competition was one of the highlights, where 7 teams of Form 1 students did a 15 minutes presentation.

In fact, these 7 teams were actually participants of Jelajah Sains 1.0, where 121 undergraduate students from the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Bioscience and Biomedical Engineering, UTM, visited 7 schools in the district of Johor Bahru, held from 8^th of May to the 11^thof May 2017, with the aim of spreading the love for Science among Form 1 students. Jelajah Sains 1.0 is part of a service learning programme, that aims involve the transfer of technical knowledge and skills in Science and Mathematics from UTM’s undergraduate students to the chosen Form 1 students.

This “Saintis Cilik Kreatif” Competition was judged by 3 juries, namely Dr. Husni Hani Jameela Sapingi, Senior Lecturer from the Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, UTM, En. Junit Yasir from Johor Department of Education and Dr. Kamarulafizam Ismail, Senior Lecturer from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, UTM.

In the 15 minutes that were given to each team, the contestants not only had to demonstrate a Science concept of their choice, they also had to answer a field of questions from the juries.

Among the experiments carried out and explained by the contesting teams were ‘Elephant Toothpaste’, Volcano, Friction, and many more. As it was the first time conducting/demonstrating scientific experiments for most of the contestants, many unexpected twists took place.

In fact, one of the most memorable one was when the production of the ‘Elephant Toothpaste’ went out of control and overflowed out of the container and onto the stage. The crowd could not contain their laughter. Even the juries and contestants joined in. Luckily, the mess was easily cleared up and all was well.

After a tight competition, ‘Boomshakalaka Mad Scientists Team’ from SMK Skudai emerged as the winner, with their demonstration entitled ‘How to Drink Water when it is Polluted’.

The second prize went to ‘Team Friction’ from SMK Selesa Jaya 2, while ‘Science Boys Team’, also from SMK Selesa Jaya 2 was the second runner up.

The prizes were cash amounting to RM 1000 and hampers sponsored by Yayasan Penyayang MPJBT and APG Plantation.

One of the juries, Dr. Kamarulafizam commented that although the contestants mostly demonstrated very basics and simply experiments, the level of enthusiasm and interest showed by the students were overwhelming.

Most of them had trouble answering questions by the juries, but they persevere and tried their best. After all, it is students that are passionate and eager to learn like these that will keep the spirit of Science strong!