Term 3 Blog Post 2: Project Showcase

Recently, I did an ACE project with another fellow classmate in my class on the topic: Sexual Reproduction

Our project was more based on the morality issues(more on the Sexual Education side), as we wanted to expand more on a certain focus on a topic that was already part of our syllabus. Unlike last year, where I just did reports on all the various external topics that I found interest in, this year my friend and I decided that in order to get the full 5 ACE points on one single ACE project, we had to take a step further. Therefore we brainstormed on how we could come up with something creative and innovative, but yet being able to be informative. After much discussion, we decided to submit a package to our Science teacher. Yes, a nice package containing different content materials, all wrapped up and neatly labelled. So what was in our package? Here's what:

PowerPoint Slides

The most conventional and common way students decided to submit ACE projects with. We tried to make this the 'formal and informative' part of our package, serving as proof that we did our research and came up with quite a lot of content and statistics.

You can download the PowerPoint Slides here: http://www.freefilehosting.net/sexualreproductionace

Comic Strips

Yes, COMIC STRIPS. I would say that this would be one of the ACE projects that really stand out among others because of our variety and quality. I created 3 comic strips regarding the same topic, but adding a touch of humour and cartoon-like quality to it. We intended this to be 'creative and innovative' part of our package.

Video Case Study

I think this really gave our package something to end with. We decided to do a case study on a man who recovered from HIV. Unfortunately, the video is with my friend who accidentally dropped and broke his thumb drive which was the only thing containing the video(after submitting it to the teacher of course) so I will not be able to showcase the video here. The video should still be with my Science Teacher though!

Update: My friend actually managed to post the video on YouTube, so here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf6MRApLoNc

There you have it, the hard work of both my friend and I. We got 5 ACE points in the end, and I think we actually deserved it!

Term 3 Blog Post 1: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster

Recently, Japan had a huge disaster. A nuclear disaster. I read about it on the Newspaper, articles on the Internet, on television, even on Facebook. I decided to talk about it as one of my Science E-Portfolio post.

Basically what happened was that there was a series of nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, follwing the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. This spelled disaster for Japan, leaving many dead, more injured, and everyone worried. This Fukushima is perhaps the largest of the 2011 Japanese nuclear accidents, and is the largest nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

So instead of talking about the disaster itself(which I think many of my classmates would should do a post regarding this article), I decided to do things from a different point of view. I imagined myself to be Wen Jiabao, the premier of China, and write my views on the issue: Nuclear Power has no future in a post-Fukushima world(as opposed to how I decided to do on Singapore previously). I also wanted to face the issue by taking into account the subject Science.

My View:

I am premier Wen Jiabao of the People’s Republic of China. Today, I want to make my stand clear – and that is I still believe that nuclear power has future in a post-Fukushima world, that the nuclear industry will recover and regain the confidence of the people.

Like for every other discovery or invention, time has proven that it is better to remedy the defects. Throughout the history of Mankind, rarely, if ever, have we turned our backs on a technology. From the Ancient Era; where men started practising animal husbandry to when we taught ourselves to number our days. From the Renaissance Era; where men found curiosity in the sky and the stars to the invention of gunpowder. From the Industrial Era; where men discovered the precious resource of oil to the inception of steam power. Scientists have always sought to remedy the defects of their discoveries or inventions rather than abandoning them and I believe that nuclear power deserves equal treatment. After all we Chinese believe in a Chinese idiom, “前事不忘，后事之师”. Past experience, if not forgotten, can serve as a guide for the future. The Chinese government will take the Fukushima incident as a lesson, and take note not to make the same mistakes.

China is facing rapid economic growth now, and the demand for energy would then be inevitably immense. With increasing concerns about air quality and global warming, nuclear power seems to be the only other feasible alternative to coal power up to current. We therefore have already committed greatly to our nuclear plans, which are an integral part of our development strategy, and will not be changing course. We have more than 25 nuclear power plants under construction, and 50 more in the planning stages. We expect our nuclear capacity to jump 10-fold by 2050.

Some might argue that the safety risks that nuclear power poses negates any benefits it might have. The Chinese government has taken this into account, and have carefully laid out plans to ensure safety. We say, “提高效率，立下周详的计划，监督绝对不能宽松。”In order words China treats our nuclear power plant projects very seriously, and never cut any corners. To do so, China's approach to nuclear power would be centred on building many smaller reactors, instead of Japanese-style megaplants such as Fukushima, and thereby dispersing the nuclear threat if anything goes wrong. Of course there will be challenges for the government, such as to keep an eye on any contractors who may be tempted to cut corners. But as a precautionary measure, we will maintain nuclear safeguards, in a business culture where quality and safety might sometimes be sacrificed in favour of cost-cutting, profits and corruption. We have also asked for international assistance in training more nuclear power plant inspectors.

Putting all that aside, the Chinese government also know that, “Actions speak louder than words.” In light of that, China has taken involvement in the development of nuclear fusion reactors, which could be the next breakthrough in nuclear technology. We have done this through our participation in the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) project, having constructed an experimental nuclear fusion reactor known as EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak) located in Hefei. We hope that the world will see why China supports nuclear power, and that our actions will bring the nuclear industry back to life.

There you have it! I find myself taking interest in seeing such articles relevant to Science and debating on issues related to it. After all, I do learn much better when I have a passion and interest for something!