Monday 27 May 2013

Science SIA 2013 - Overview (Video)

Reflections - Yong Li Xuan (31)


From writing a proposal, to researching on the topic, to experimenting with sweets in the laboratory, I have learnt a lot from this interesting process. I have learnt from my mistakes, and although our experiment did not yield a positive result, we have learnt much from the journey. The first step was to write a proposal. Although we had some knowledge about writing proposals from last year's Basic Research Program, we were still quite lost, and struggled to write the final report. Although we missed out a lot of things, and the proposal was rejected, we still peservered, and found an alternative. We had to learn from our mistakes, and not be dejected by the less than positive feedback from our teacher. Our experiment also failed, as we could not find a suitable solvent to dissolve the dye. Our teacher recommended hexane and ethyl acetate, however, the lab techinician said that it was too dangerous and that it would "fry our brains". So, we had to conclude our test, without positive results. I still enjoyed the entire Science SIA because it was fun and interesting. What matters is the process and not so much on the final result.
(Word count: 198)

Saturday 25 May 2013

Reflections - Tan Bao Jun (23)

           This Science SIA has indeed been an enriching experience as my group mates and I have gained a deeper insight of the usage of certain chemicals as well as chromatography through the many experiments we had conducted. Unfortunately, our experiments did not achieve any positive results in the end. Nevertheless, our group has gained new knowledge and also a higher level of understanding of the different aspects in Science.
           We had to face various problems and challenges whilst doing the project. Firstly, we had to think of a different and a more feasible experiment to carry out after our initial draft proposal was rejected. It was completed with some difficulty since it had to have a certain depth to it and at the same time, showing how the experiment relates to our daily lives, hence making the world a better place. Secondly, there was the problem of finding a suitable solvent for our chromatography which involved melted candies as our solute.
           Through the practical sessions, we have learnt the proper handling of chemicals, which includes ethanol, hexane and propanol. It was a pity that we did not get to use ethyl acetate for our chromatography since there were risks to it despite it having provided a higher chance of success for our experiment.
            All in all, our group has worked rather well together despite the few conflicts that we have encountered. It was a valuable experience and I would not refuse a second opportunity to do this Science SIA.
(Word Count: 249)
                                                                                                                                                                         

Monday 20 May 2013

Reflections - Lim Xin En Grace (12)

          For our Science SIA, I personally feel that we did not fully make use of the time that we were given, as we did not take any initiative to start working on our experiment. We dragged and waited for a long time before truly starting on work, resulting in a last-minute rush of work. We also did not plan our experiment process well, and when we were executing our experiment, we were rather lost and did not know exactly what to do. This resulted in us being unable to efficiently complete our experiment and we were lacking in a great amount of time to complete work. However, I felt that we were still rather cooperative and we stayed back together as a team to do our experiment. We did not complain much and exhibited rather good teamwork.  
          In response to the problems that we encountered, I feel that there were many areas for improvement. In terms of lack of time, I think that we could have better allocated our time and we definitely could have started work far sooner, instead of pushing everything to the last hour. We also could have been more well-learned with regards to our experiment by reading up more about solvents and solutions before conducting our experiment so that we would not be unsure of what to do. 
          In general, we could have been more well-prepared and have a better sense of time so that we could do a better job of our SIA.            
(Word Count: 248)