Navigating Deeper Waters

To create opportunities for students to develop expertise in different disciplines.

Public Speaking Workshop

What is fear? It is having to stand while everyone is seated, talk when others are silent, and move a seemingly apathetic audience. In other words, fear is public speaking. To conquer this fear, students took part in the Public Speaking Workshop, where they learned to craft speeches with engaging content, improve the quality of their voice, and enunciate with sparkling clarity.

This year, the workshop’s new-found focus was on impromptu speeches. Students were trained to respond at a moment’s notice to any prompt thrown their way. In these volatile times, it is crucial that our students not only articulate their ideas well, but also respond swiftly when faced with the unexpected. Ultimately, what we hope for our students is that, when asked a question as confounding as What is fear?, they would demonstrate what it means to be brave, and speak.

For The Love Of Writing

‘Tap, tap, tap’ is the crisp sound of the keyboard that brings words to the page. Slowly but surely, a conflict is brewing, a character is breathing, a scene is forming… and a story is born. Its creators are none other than aspiring student writers at the Creative Writing Camp. This is where they learn to craft effective dialogue, create engaging plots and bring their characters to life.

If one thinks that story writing is a lone, arduous process, we have new forms of assistance this year. Student facilitators – campers from the year before – were roped in to guide their peers. Teacher mentors were also assigned to provide close support throughout the journey. We hope that with the support of teachers and friends, student writers will embrace this long-drawn but gratifying process of story-making!

In fact, this endeavour to stretch our budding young writers began just 3 years ago, and in celebration of their talents, their stories were showcased in a Book Launch and Signing session. Contemplations, a collection of short stories written by students from the previous 2 years, was published. They had the coveted opportunity to do what professional writers do – share their stories in a teacherfacilitated interview before student fans and supporters. Rewarding was it to see friends and schoolmates marvelling at these handwritten works… and not forgetting, jostling for an autograph!

WRITERS FEST – A WRITER’S FEAST (SINGAPORE WRITERS FESTIVAL 2018)

This new venture into one of Singapore’s premier literary festivals aims to bring students deeper into the world of writing. Passionate readers and writers, these 12 students learned from world-renowned authors – at times, music and art practitioners – who shared how their daily experiences and societies have inspired their works. Based on their interests, they chose from a delectable array of workshops, tours, performances, and panel discussions, which they attended over two weekends, some of which with their English and Art teachers.

Through this excursion, students discovered that both writing and art is multidisciplinary, cutting across many domains from youth to Artificial Intelligence to learning disabilities. The world is indeed theirs to write!

FLIGHT SCIENCE CRASH(ING) COURSE

Are you intrigued by flying objects? As a child, many of us would be bewildered by the ability of airplanes, drones and helicopters to fly and alter their flight path easily. With help from the Kerbal Space Programme conducted by Science Centre Singapore, this is the first year that AI students learned to design, build and safely land an aircraft with computer simulation. During the course, students learned to identify and fix a faulty aircraft with knowledge of the various airplane parts and forces that impact the motion of an aircraft. This enhanced classroom learning experience provided students with the opportunity to appreciate flight science on a deeper level.

One of the participants, Lin Wenxin of 1E3, said, “It was meaningful as we got to learn about how to fly a plane. think that the learning experience was extremely fun and entertaining as some of us in the class got to fly a simulated plane for the first time.”

Biology Enrichment Programme

The lights were switched off, plunging the room into pitchblack darkness. A black light was shone on the bench top, and slowly, specks of blue light started appearing on the petri dishes. In another laboratory, DNA samples were separated into colourful bands on a gel, revealing the true identity of its owner.

Secondary 4 Biology students learnt advanced laboratory techniques where they created their transgenic glowin-the-dark bacteria, and carried out forensic DNA fingerprinting. It is hoped that this experience will deepen their interest in biology and its many disciplines.

TOLERATING AMBIGUITY AND WIDENING PERSPECTIVES THROUGH HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION (HI)

Students assume the role of judges as they were thrust into dilemmas to solve historical questions such as, “During the Japanese Occupation, were the Japanese always evil?” Their curiosities were piqued as they explored our local museums for answers. Our young historians were equipped with a balanced, inquisitive mind that would serve them well in making their own judgements in everyday life.

Although we had a task to complete, HI was fun and a stress reliever for me as I enjoyed the robust interactions that I had with my classmates in the museum, selecting the most reliable and relevant information to answer the inquiry question.

- Sasikumar Madhesh, 2E3