STEM Education Programme
STEM Education Programme
In line with MOE’s strategic thrusts and college focus in providing differentiated support for students’ diverse interest and learning opportunities beyond the classroom, the college STEM Steering committee was set up to drive the STEM education programmes. Since 2022, we are fortunate to have Dr Timothy Hu Xiao Ming – an Artificial Intelligence expert from A*STAR – to be supporting the college in STEM education initiatives.
1. Engineering Technology Programme Scholarships
This committee oversees the selection, nomination and development of the STEM related scholarship applicants. There are 7 recipients of the award in 2023.
2. STEM Fest
STEM Fest is an annual collaboration between the Mathematics and the Science Departments to help all students recognize the importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) and appreciate its use in addressing real-world problems. The week-long event serves as an important platform to provide learning experiences for science students to acquire and apply their knowledge and skills from H2 subjects on STEM. It also allows Mathematics and Science student leaders to hone their organisation and leadership skills.
From STEMazing Race and Escape Room to Pi Day commemoration and interest-based workshops conducted by various STEM partners, several activities are held to cater to students’ different interest in Mathematics and Science. House points are also awarded to inject an element of fun and competition.
STEM Fest Publicity Boards 2018 and 2019 encouraging students' participation
3D-printed student works on display at STEM Fest after attending workshops
Joy of learning at Balmer Series Workshop by CRADLE of Science Centre Singapore during pre Covid-19 years
Students solve puzzles in Escape Room during pre Covid-19 years
Python Programming Workshops in pre Covid-19 years
Pi Day Recitation Challenge
Students engaging in problem solving during STEMazing Race3. CJC-Nara High School Global Exchange Programme
This month-long stretch programme is an annual exchange programme with Nara High School which is a Super Science School from Japan. Based on the theme of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, students representing the two schools collaborated on a joint research and identified how STEM helps the two countries achieve these sustainable development goals. In the process, students also get to interact and learn about each other’s culture as well as the respective countries’ journey to enhance sustainability. This programme culminated in a joint presentation on the final day where students shared their findings.
4. STEM Local Leadership Stretch Programme
The college has been organizing a Local Leadership Programme known as CJC.STEM.SG to replace overseas academic trips for selected JC1 students since 2021. The 5-day programme is based on the theme “A More Secure and Sustainable Singapore through STEM”. Conceptualised based on the Practices of Science, the programme provided a rich and rigorous learning experience ranging from keynote lectures by STEM experts in the fields of sustainability to workshops on topics such as Cryptography, Mathematical Modelling, Vaccine Development, and Balloon Satellite course by Spacecraft engineers. There are also tours of the NTU Satellite Research Centre and local High Tech Farm and ASTAR laboratory experiences. The programme caters to both the Physics and Biology students.
Participants also had opportunities to do research, presented on challenges facing Singapore, and proposed innovative STEM-based solutions to a panel of judges which included an A*star scientist.
Participants were also challenged to assume various leadership roles, including designing their own ZOOM virtual background as part of the programme.
More information of the programme can be found via this link: https://padlet.com/drwylim/CJC_STEM_SG
5. STEM Competitions and Achievements
Students are encouraged to participate in various competitions to display their talents and skills in different STEM disciplines. This includes Cyberthon, International Space Challenge, Robotics competition amongst others.
(i) Computing@SMU Award
The award is given to JC2 students who have outstanding academic achievement, show an interest in computing and excellent co-curricular achievement or leadership. The 2023 award goes to Javier Lim of 2T11.
(ii) Robotics Competitions
(iii) International Sci-Teens Challenge
International Sci-Teens Challenge 2021 was organised by ACJC. To participate in this competition, students had to develop videos that explain a phenomenon in the disciplines of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics or Computing. CJC sent two teams for the senior category of the competition and one team’s video on Enzymes clinched the Bronze Award.
(iv) SUTD Virtual Research Hackathon
In this two-day online virtual research hackathon, students were introduced to the Monte Carlo Simulation to model the probability of different outcomes in a process that cannot easily be predicted due to the intervention of random variables. They had to utilize the simulation to model traffic and work in groups to propose and test different solutions to improve traffic conditions.
Rayan Wong of 2T08 took part in this event in 2021 and his group, which consisted of students from other schools, emerged as the champion.
(v) Cyberthon
CJC has been sending students who have strong interest in the field of cybersecurity to relevant competitions. This competition organized by MINDEF has been gaining interest amongst students and we have been steadily improving in our ranking over the years.**
(vi) Singapore International Science Challenge
The Singapore International Science Challenge (SISC) is a biennial international event that brings together students of ages 15 to 18 from around the world to compete, collaborate and innovate in the Sciences. The multi-disciplinary foci and integrated nature of the challenges provide an authentic backdrop for students to apply scientific and technical knowledge to solving problems and innovate impactful solutions. In previous SISC events, students across the globe came together for five days to stay onsite at NJC to communicate their research, collaborate in multi-national teams, and to innovate well-designed solutions to science challenges.
In 2021, SISC became an online event and brought together students from around the world to collaborate and learn both asynchronously and synchronously. The theme for SISC 2021 is Altruistic Thinkers, Global Citizens (ATGC). CJC sent a team of 3 JC2 students for the challenge and one of our students, PL Raamanathan, clinched the Thinker Award in the Field Challenge while another student, Lokav Srikanth, clinched the Creative Award in the Design and Build Challenge.
(vii) Singapore International Space Challenge
Organized by Singapore Space and Technology Ltd, the International Space Challenge (ISC) is open to youths around the world. Since 2020, we have CJC students with a keen interest in space technology representing the college in this competition. Our students receive mentoring from CJC alumni who are involved in the space industry. By taking part in this challenge, our students also receive global exposure by attending various seminars and workshops helmed by experts from around the world.
(viii) National Youth Advocacy Movement (NYUM)
NYUM is organized by Crescent Girls’ School, with the support of the Ministry of Education and S2 Cluster Schools. The movement is aligned with the national drive towards environmental education and focuses on preparing students to be responsible global citizens.
NYUM aims to educate youths on the threats facing the natural environment and inspire youths to take action in promoting a culture of sustainability through upcycling and green consumerism.
Advocacy Module
Two teams of three members represented CJC in NYUM Advocacy 2021.
The theme for this year’s NYUM is ‘Food Packaging: Don’t Throw It, Upcycle It’. Through its ‘By Youths, For All’ approach, NYUM empowers each team to design and create upcycled household items using waste materials, with guidance from experts and consultants in the industry.
From May to September this year, each team had to go through three phases, namely, ‘Learn, Create and Advocate’, which culminated in a final written report to be submitted for judging by industry experts.
Team Traffic Light was awarded the Silver Award. The team conducted a webinar to raise awareness of upcycling on 5 September. They created a video to demonstrate how they made use of existing food packaging to make a personalized notebook.
Access the video here:
www.instagram.com/tv/CTjagVinlgF/?utm_medium=copy_link
Enrichment Module
21 members of the STEM-based CCA Environmental Science Society also participated in the NYUM Enrichment module where they created an upcycled product using the Design Thinking Framework and reflected on the process.
Their reflections can be found at https://padlet.com/drwylim/cjcess_nyum.
(ix) STEP Environment Camp (Renamed as NUS Youth Environment Camp)
Selected JC1 students have been taking part in the STEP Environment Camp for youths from Singapore and Asia. Built around the overarching theme of Climate Change and Sustainability, the thematic-based programme nurtures young budding scientists in Asia, with an emphasis on environmental stewardship.
Participants have the opportunity to network with youth leaders across Asia through a series of immersive, experiential, and cooperative learning exercises.
