The Faculty of Science organised a “Science Education and Outreach Programme” for Westlake International School (WIS), Kampar, Year 10 students on 14 November 2019 at UTAR Kampar Campus. A total of 57 WIS students participated in the programme.

Led by Department of Laboratory Management and Safety Administration Head Dr Ooi Zhong Xian, the programme aimed to provide a platform for school students to further explore their interests in Science and Technology, as well as to enlighten participants on the applications of Science and Technology in the industry. The programme kick-started with a short briefing session before the participants were divided into four groups.

“It is my pleasure to welcome our participants from WIS, and we are more than excited to be able to host this interactive day. I am also happy to know that our young generation, like our participants here today, are interested with Science and Technology. There is certainly more things to learn and understand when you are able to be hands-on doing experiments. Such practical learning session is important to increase your knowledge, and with that knowledge, you are able to see for yourself its usefulness and applications. This is what learning is about as well; it is supposed to be fun, experiential and meaningful. Therefore, I hope you will use the time you have here and enjoy today’s lesson in our science laboratories,” said Dr Ooi.

The programme consisted of four stations for the participants to conduct various experiments. Each group spent a minimum of one hour at each station before moving to the other stations. The stations relates to a specific area of Science. Station 1: Department of Chemical Science saw participants conducted experiments, with the first namely Rainbow Connection. In this experiment, participants learnt of the effects of pH on the colour of solutions, and the reversibility of indicator colour change. Other experiments conducted included Disappearing Paper; Golden rain to learn about ionic bonding; Chemical Garden to learn about the related behaviour seen in fluids separated by membranes; Iodine Clock Reaction to learn about chemical kinetics; and Storm Glass to learn about weather prediction.

Station 2: Department of Biological Science was intended for participants to learn basic of microbiology through the experiment that involved aseptic techniques, streak plate, pour plate, and swab plate. They also learnt of separating DNA strand according to length or size, and methods to detect carbon dioxide in human breath.

At Station 3: Department of Agriculture and Food Science, the experiment namely ColourGraphy enabled participants to learn separating pigments of plants, while the Sweet Tower experiment allowed them to learn of the effects of different densities of sugar. The testing of fruit ripening experiment taught participants the way to identity a ripe fruit and the right time to harvest fruits.

Station 4 was the Department of Allied Health Science where participants learnt about blood groups, the way to execute venepuncture on human, and methods to extract buccal cells for cell morphology and genetic study. The participants also used the stadiometer to determine the accurate height of a person. The Body Composition Analysis (BCA) was a process the participants went through to examine the human body in order to determine the percentage body fat compare to muscle tissues. It was noted that a BCA is capable of revealing how healthy an individual’s body is, and is a popular resource for trainers, coaches, medical professionals and researchers.

Overall, the participants expressed their enjoyment learning from the experiments conducted. The programme ended with a group photograph, and Dr Ooi also expressed his hope to conduct the programme again next year.