Engaging students through STEM Challenge

All smiles after the event

Jointly organised by Centre for Foundation Studies (CFS) of Kampar Campus and Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology (FEGT), the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Challenge 2019 was successfully held on 1 March 2019 at UTAR Kampar Campus. Participating institutions included Kolej Matrikulasi Perak, Quest International University Perak and Westlake International School.

Present at the opening ceremony were FEGT Acting Dean Assoc Prof Ir Dr Ng Choon Aun, FEGT Deputy Dean for Student Development and Industrial Training Dr Tan Kok Tat, HILTI Asia IT Services Sdn Bhd Head of Central Technology Suwin Yesitha Karunaranthne and colleagues Daniel Syaukani Ahmad Farouk and Calvin Boey, IEM Perak Branch Vice Chairman Ir Simon Yeong, IEM Perak member Dr Mark Ovinis, Organising Chairperson Rachel Tham Jia-Hui, accompanying teachers, staff and participants.

STEM Challenge 2019 was an initiative to encourage interest among participants in STEM education. The challenge aimed to provide an innovative platform to expose students to STEM-related programmes and to encourage interaction among students of various institutions of higher learning in the Perak region.

Tham highlighting the importance of STEM education

“Our nation is currently facing a shortage of students furthering their studies in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, in short STEM. The percentage of students taking STEM subjects are declining at a rapid pace. Therefore, we have teamed up to organise this event for students to learn more about STEM education. STEM is not only limited to students who intend to study the fields of Medicine and Engineering. STEM education trains students to possess analytical capability and logical thinking skills. These are skills that are definitely required in the workforce. Global giants like the United States of America, Singapore and Germany all have at least 30% of their workforce trained in the STEM field. However, Malaysia is lagging behind with less than 5%. The future of STEM education lies on our shoulders. I urge all of you to strive on in your pursuit of STEM education in order to help Malaysia meet its national demand and to advance further in STEM fields. I also thank all sponsors for your generous contribution in support of this event, as well as all participants who have come,” said Tham in her speech.

Suwin giving advice to participants

“STEM is a growing field, and we have been actively collaborating with various educational institutions to give students the knowledge on technology, as well as to seek talents in these fields. STEM is important; for instance, the greater demand for food because of the rise in world population led to the development of Genetically Modified Food (GMO) back in the 1990s. People have discovered an alternative food source to meet the growing need for food,” said Suwin.

He added, “In relation to you coming out to work after your studies, I would like to advise all participants here to be relevant. Technology keeps changing every day and is changing rapidly. It is important that as professionals in the industry, you must be relevant. At HILTI, we encourage our staff to learn from various platforms, including social media platforms. This is our way to encourage continuous learning; picking up new knowledge all the time. Be sure to stay updated with the trends of the market and be knowledgeable of the changes in the industry. My final advice for participants is to possess good communication and social skills. At HILTI, we first look into the candidates’ communication skill, teamwork and knowledge sharing skills. When you are entering the workforce, be a multifaceted person with good business acumen.”

STEM Challenge 2019 was officiated with a balloon-ribbon cutting ceremony by CFS Kampar Deputy Director for Academic Phang Ying Ning, Tham, Dr Ng, Suwin, and Dr Mark Ovinis.

From left: Suwin, Tham, Dr Ovinis, Dr Ng, and Phang officiating the event

The highlight of the event was the Science Bowl Challenge, whereby participating teams of three were to compete against each other through a series of questions. A total of 36 teams participated in the preliminary round and only the top five teams (no particular order) advanced to the final round. The three winning teams of Science Bowl Challenge were Team 19 (second-runner up) from Kolej Matrikulasi Perak, Team 3 (first-runner up) from UTAR and Team 14 (champion) from UTAR.  

From left: Team 14, Team 3, and Team 19 posing with their prizes while Prof Ewe (second from right) and Tan (far right) looks on

There was also a Mathematics booth which was consisted of four Colour Theorem Challenges, Sudoku Challenges, IQ Car Challenges, Intelligent Pyramid Challenges, and Geogebra and Excel VBA Challenge. Other participants also participated in the “Mighty Structure Challenge”.

A talk titled “Science and Technology in Digital Product Development” was delivered by Boey. The talk began with an introductory video about HILTI and continued with Boey explaining the definition of a digital product. He listed some of HILTI’s digital products, which were Firestop Documentation, HILTI Connect and Asset Management. Behind these digital products, Boey explained the user interface (UI)’s design principles that were embedded in these products. The principles were clarity, context-aware and consistency. From these three principles, Boey spoke about how these principles have enabled the company to come out with products that have elements such as sustainable differentiation; loyalty and engagement; and size of opportunity.

Boey explaining the definition of digital product

The closing event marked the end of STEM Challenge 2019. Present at the closing ceremony were UTAR Vice President for Internationalisation and Academic Development Prof Ir Dr Ewe Hong Tat, CFS Kampar Director Tan Lee Siew, Tham, Dr Tan, Yeong, IEM YES representative Ir Jason Leong, staff and participants.

Prof Ewe delivering his closing speech

“The Fourth Industrial Revolution is already upon us and there are already talks on 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), Robotics and Data Analytics. These topics are also becoming more important. In fact, we cannot imagine how our lives would be without the access to all these technological devices. Therefore, it is important for us to emphasise on STEM education for the development of the country. I also want to congratulate the organising committee for the success of the event, as well as their initiative towards promoting STEM education,” said Prof Ewe in his closing speech.

He continued, “The organising committee is also very creative to use various discipline of sciences to test the participants. This is a very good idea as we should equip ourselves with much knowledge of different fields. At the same time, participants were also provided with interesting elements that helped them learn more and beyond. We also understand that industries are in need of more STEM graduates. If your interest lies in STEM, your job prospect will be bright. With STEM education, you are also able to hone your analytical mind, logical skills and you will know how to integrate facts and solve problems, which are all very important in our daily lives and work. Once again, I thank all participants for your participation.”

From left: Dr Tan, Prof Ewe, Yeong, Leong, Tan and Tham at the closing ceremony

CFS Kampar is actively supporting the University’s initiatives to promote STEM education. Apart from this STEM Challenge 2019, last year saw CFS Kampar organising another successful event, Kampar Science Fiesta which aimed to enhance the awareness of the public on the practical application and utility of STEM while engaging students’ interest in STEM-related fields of studies.      

Participants enjoying the challenges