Term 3 Blog Post 4: Termly Reflection

Introduction:

In this blog post I will reflect on my personal growth in science and on my performance in the science assessment test for this term(term 3).

How has my knowledge and understanding for Science improved and grown?

This term I have definitely improved! Looks like studying hard and having better time management did pay off after all. This term most of SLC's responsibilities have ended for me, and I took it upon myself to ensure that I had to improve my results. After all since time was the main factor that affected my results during term 1 and term 2, this term I should score much better as I would have had much more time to study and do more practice. Last term I was devastated at my Science marks(actually at most of my marks), and after a lot of hard work this term I managed to bring back some confidence.

So the topics that were focused on this term were mostly Ecology and Nutrient Cycles, I found this less boring as compared to Physics, but then again I realised that there was a lot of memory work to be done. Therefore once again most of the studying was done by ourselves, while class time was mostly used for going through worksheets and assignments etc.

I think I would have enjoyed Science a little more than last term because what we were learning was part of Biology; always more interesting to me. It was nice learning what the different relationships between organisms with one another in the environment, as well as other simple concepts of population, community and ecosystem. We also revisit what decomposers were and their role to play in order for the Nutrient Cycle to exist. I think many of us would have already found all these concepts and content familiar as we had already learnt some of it during Primary School. This made things easier for everyone when we wanted to self-study at home. I also did a ACE project with another group of fellow classmates regarding Ecology so as to allow us to gain a deeper understanding of the subject, and we presented it to our class to share what we had found and learnt.

There was also another group that did the same, and that allowed us to learn from one another! So in this way my understanding in Science has grown in that I realised the importance of hard work, and even with high intelligence or talent in Science, one must be willing to put in a certain amount of effort before seeing tangible results. After all, the joy in learning is when you put in effort; be it a certain project or assignment, and see yourself improving and getting what you deserved. Such is the case of 'No pain, no gain'.

For my knowledge in Science, I definitely managed to learn much more regarding Ecology as compared to when I was learning the same subject in Primary School. This time we went into much more detail, and learning many new terms such as "Mutualism, Commensalism, Parasitism etc." There's a Chinese idiom, '温故知新', and I think it really fits in my current situation.

With that, I know that I should not rest on my laurels, and that should I choose to go into a 'Slack Mode' now then I would surely fail my EOYs. If I just think about it, EOYs would be testing on Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Should I choose not to study hard and start early, I fear the worst has yet to come!

My performance in the Science Assessment Test:

For this term's test, I scored a total of 33.5/40, which is actually 83.75/100. This means that I got an A1! A huge improvement from last term!

I think firstly I was very lucky during this test. I actually was busy trying to study for all my other subjects, and was struggling to try to put Science into one of my top priorities. I tried my best to study over the term, but things don't always turn out the way we want too. Therefore for this particular term, I confess that I did quite a lot of 'last minute' studying.

I still remember the night just before the test where I studied from 9pm - 5am. Went to sleep for 1.5hrs and went to school the next day, all confident that I should be able to score well. I think this is very bad, and I will at all cost try to avoid such situations in the future. I finished 3 cups of coffee in on night, but I told myself that I had to score well this term, and I would not allow anything to stop me from getting an A1 this term. Therefore I wanted to make sure that I had memorised every single content from my notes. Surprisingly, I did not feel sleepy in school at all!

The test paper this term was considered easy as compared to the other terms. I do not know if it is because I studied, or simply because the teachers wanted to set a easier paper such as to allow us to score better. I did the best I could, and I got an A1. Despite that, I am actually not very happy with my score as I felt that I could do even better. Thinking about it, I really need to continue to improve my time management skills, so that I can juggle all the many things that I had put so much effort in. All my passions; CCAs, Council and the like. If I want to do well for my EOYs, to get into CSE or at least IPSP, I would surely need to work doubly hard. This year is a very important year for me as a Secondary 2 student in Hwa Chong Institution, and I am not planning to let slip my chance of becoming an outstanding student. Whether a not I will emerge as another one of those 'legendary' students that are all-rounders, or end up as a wannabe, whatever I do now will decide.

Term 3 Blog Post 3: Interactions & Cycles

Introduction :

In this blog post, I will be talking about the issues and things we learnt in class, and the theme for term 1 was - Interactions, as well as Cycles. Basically, we were introduced to Ecology, and what the Nutrient Cycle was. It was almost a revisit to what we had learnt during Primary School, which helped us a lot as most of the content had to be learnt through memory work and self-study, so a little bit of background knowledge actually made a huge difference. My ACE project group also did a PowerPoint Presentation regarding Ecology, which helped us gained a better and deeper understanding before we officially covered the topic in class.

Ecology

Simple concepts of population, community and ecosystem

Basically we learnt many new terms such as 'population' and 'community' and 'habitat'. We also had to be able to identify a habitat and some of the organisms associated with the habitat. This was pretty much what we learnt in Primary School, and is also where the tedious 'memorising stage' is. I would guess that many of us spent quite some time trying to make sure we had the sufficient content in our heads before we headed off to any examination.

Covering things that were not during Primary School included learning the importance of various physical factors like air, water, temperature, light, minerals and acidity/alkalinity, in regards to the life of the organisms. Now that was a mouthful, and I found it hard to try to form any kind of acronym to help remember all those factors!

We also had to remember the many reasons of the importance of conserving the physical environment. I paid particular attention to this one, seeing as to how the practice assignments had a question that weighed 6 marks, asking us the exact same thing that appeared on our notes.

Relationships of Organisms with One Another and with the Environment

This one was a little more interesting for me(and perhaps my ACE project group too), as we had done more research on this area during our presentation(for the fun of it). This was because out of what we learnt for the interactions between organisms; Mutualism, Commensalism, Parasitism, Herbivory, Predation and Competition, we found particular interest in 'Parasitism'. Just a quick gist of what we found:

Tongue-eating parasite:

Cute little fellow isn't he? There were also many other interesting things that we found regarding parasites.

Now going back to the topic, we also needed to be able to establish the relationships in a food web, such as the producer, consumer, herbivore, carnivore, decomposer and the food chain. The Sun of course, is the principal source of energy input to biological systems.

There were also other areas that were not covered in class but in the notes; pyramids of numbers and biomass, as well as energy losses between trophic levels.

Nutrient Cycles

Nutrient Cycles in the Ecosystem

For the theme 'Cycles', there wasn't really much being taught in class, and the notes we were given were also minimal. Most of my class thought that this would not be tested on much during the examinations, and decided to skip/skim through this part of the notes. I on the other hand was not prepared to take any chances, and also made sure I knew the content very well.

So what we basically learnt here was the Carbon Cycle and its importance, which is really to help maintain a balance in the ecosystem. I also understood from linking to what I learnt in Ecology that nutrients trapped in living organisms are recycled with the help of decomposers.

There you have it! This post might seem a little short as compared to the others in my E-Portfolio, but most of the things we learnt this term were details that had to be memorised!

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!

Term 2 Blog Post 4: Termly Reflection

Introduction:

In this blog post I will reflect on my personal growth in science and on my performance in the science assessment test for this term(term 2).

How have I has my knowledge and understanding for Science improved and grown?

If I were to use one word to describe how I am feeling right now, that word would be: "Wow". Many interpretations of what that could mean.

I am truly shocked, or perhaps surprised at how I fared for Science this term. This term was perhaps the term in my entire Secondary School life thus far where I scored the lowest. I shall elaborate more on that later, but now I shall do some reflection on how I actually fared this term.

As always before, I learnt new things this term; I learnt about Lenses, colours of light, reflection and refraction and much more. In contrast to what the syllabus was for last term(Chemistry), this term was focused on Physics. I never really liked studying Physics as a subject. It poses to me as an irony; I am very curious on how things work like in real life, but yet I dread all the different rules that I have to be able to memorise in order to score well for the test.

This term most of the topics were self-study topics, class lessons mostly being used to go through worksheets and assignments, as well as having some extra practice. This did not help me at all, I found myself constantly trying to keep focus when I was reading and understanding on say, what 'Colours of Light' were about on the Science Wiki. This leads me to realising something about Science and myself; all along I thought that Science was the 'Easy Subject' that I could conquer without effort, but this term everything I thought I knew was immediately crushed when I got back my results. I found it hard to remember anything, especially when we had to memorise the different situations in which light refracts(on the topic lenses). I ended up making up acronyms for myself, which really helped a huge amount.

The only topic that I felt really helped me in improving and growing in my knowledge and understanding for Science was actually 'Colours of Light', simply because I actually found a tiny interest in it. This clearly shows how big a factor 'interest' is to me when I am studying, and therefore allowed me to understand and make sure that I manipulate the factors that affect my studying in the future to my advantage. The reason why I found 'Colours of Light' interesting was because I never knew that white light was actually made up of different lights; the colours of the rainbow. It really changed how I perceived things and really could be described as 'mind-intriguing' at that point for me. Therefore I took the initiative and tried out the experiment on my own as well, and it turned out that I learnt much better this way.

So I must admit, I really have not improved in Science this term. In fact, I deproved greatly. I am not someone who would regret what has happened, but I definitely will use what I have learnt this term(metaphorically), remedy the mistakes I made, and make the necessary changes for better improvement next term; 前事不忘，后事之师。

My performance in the Science Assessment Test:

For this term's test, I scored a total of 22.5/40, which is actually 56.25/100. This means that this is the first time I did not get an A, but instead got a C5.

Never would I have imagined myself getting such a low score. It was a huge blow to both my confidence and arrogance, on how I had taken the fact that I have the potential to easily score an A1 for granted. In summary, this was a wake-up call for me.

After I got my results and went back home, I spent a lot of time thinking what went wrong. How is it that someone who got exempted for Science the previous year get a C5 for one of his term tests? It definitely could not be the issue of not being able to understand the syllabus, it definitely could not be the test paper being too hard! Then after thinking for a really long time, I came to a conclusion; Time. I had managed my time badly this term. As I had mentioned last term, I knew that the first two terms of this year will be very busy for me due to the intense amount of things I had taken up. What's more, this term was the peak busy period for SLC. I simply had no time to study. I would come home after my CCA three times a week at 6pm. Then I would take my dinner and bathe, after which I spent at least 2-3hrs settling SLC work(I had to do this almost everyday during term 2). By the time I actually started doing my homework, it was usually 10pm or 11pm!

I guess looking at the issue just with what I had just stated does not warrant me an excuse to get a C5. Truth be told, I don't have an excuse of getting a C5, but matters were only worsened when I could not study effectively due to this term being Physics. As I had stated earlier, I found it hard to concentrate when I was studying, and thus I ended up having to spend more time on each topic, which I simply could not afford! This term was really a mismatch of coincidences.

Nevertheless, I knew I could not let this drag on. If I do not act correctly and properly now, the issue would just be brought forward to when I am having my EOYs. Last term I barely missed my A1 and I was determined to get an A1 this term, this term I got a C5 and I am still determined to get an A1 next term. Right now I have realised my folly and arrogance, and I am sure that next term I will gradually improve. Despite the fact that I would not longer be able to get exempted, I know that it does not really matter as long as I learn from my mistakes and score well for the next test. It would have been better for me to have the wake-up call now then have it during the EOYs.

Onward to a new term; deprove I shall not, disappoint I shall not!

Term 2 Blog Post 3: Singapore's intention to build an offshore underwater nuclear power plant

Recently, I read an article regarding Singapore's intention to build an offshore underwater nuclear power plant. Here is the article:

Reflection

I feel that there are both pros and cons to Singapore's intention on building an offshore underwater nuclear power plant, but I feel that Singapore should go ahead with her intentions despite some risk being involved.

Firstly, Singapore's limited land space leads us to focus a lot on land maximisation. Building a nuclear power plant underwater is actually saving Singapore a huge amount of space, but yet providing Singapore with a large amount of energy. These large amounts of energy are essential in aiding Singapore's growth and progress, and could be the solution to the land scarcity in Singapore. This is crucial as Singapore is beyond her limited land resources and making use of other available resources to build her nation, as nuclear power is a much more efficient method of generating electricity compared to fossil fuels.

Secondly, by building the nuclear power plant underwater, we are in fact minimising the risk of any disaster as the water acts as a shield to Singapore in the case of any outbreak; the abundance of seawater would mean an abundant supply of liquid water that could be used to cool the generator and prevent it from overheating or a meltdown. The underwater nuclear power plant is also planned to be built 20km away from Singapore; this is quite a safe distance away from Singapore, should any misfortune happen. Therefore, the feasibility of Singapore's intention to build an offshore underwater nuclear power plant is further increased.

Lastly, some might argue that Japan's recent nuclear power plant disaster should serve as a warning to Singapore, that we should not consider this idea at all because no matter how many possibilities an underwater nuclear power plant might pose, gambling with our lives, in this small little island, is simply not acceptable. However, I feel that the recent disaster in Japan instead serves as a learning point for Singapore, that although we are shielded from tsunamis and earthquakes, we should still build the power plant to withstand such natural disasters, as there is certainly no room for mistakes when the lives of 5 million people are at stake.

To conclude, I still feel that it is a good idea to build an offshore underwater nuclear power plant after weighing the pros and cons in the points I have stated above.

Term 2 Blog Post 1: Project Showcase

Recently, I did some research along this line: How Has The Structure of the Atom Changed Over Time?

Unlike last year, where I just did reports on all the various external topics that I found interest in, this year I decided to do something different. Therefore, I decided to come up with something more creative and innovative - a pamphlet. I made sure that content was not just the only thing of importance and quality in my project, I also ensured that aesthetics and being as concise as possible was constantly a factor and goal I worked towards to. I also used it for an ACE assignment, and so here's what I've come up with:

*If the images cannot be seen(too pixelated due to enlarging), you can view the Google Docs version of it(click start presentation) here: https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AQ9q2-IxeSsFZGhjc2ZjN2ZfMWN6ZDJwNjYy&hl=en_US

The lines you see are actually dividers, making this 2 pictures 6 pages in a pamphlet. I was actually quite happy with what I came up with, as it actually did look quite professional considering this was my first time attempting to do my ACE projects for Science in a different way. The best part is of course, that I managed to learn as much as I would, but in a fun way!

Apart from that, I also did a PowerPoint presentation on Covalent Bonding. This was a topic that was covered in the previous term, but I felt that I could build more on what we had learn and do research on a particular area that was not taught during lessons. You can download the PowerPoint at this link: http://www.freefilehosting.net/covalentbonding

Term 1 Blog Post 3: Termly Reflection

Introduction:

In this blog post I will reflect on my personal growth in science and on my performance in the science assessment test for this term(term 1).

How have I has my knowledge and understanding for Science improved and grown?

Well, contrary to last year, this year when I started learning the syllabus, I thought I had lost my "science" touch. I simply did not understand anything, and found it hard to do any worksheets. I panicked really bad, as I did not want it to fall into a "domino" effect when because I had started with a bad start that the rest of the year I would be doing badly. So I sat down for a good 2 hours and thought to myself, what were the things that led me to score so well in my science last year? What were the factors that eventually earned me an exemption?

And then it struck me, I had to read the textbook. Yes, cliched and simple enough, reading the textbook actually improved my science by a huge margin, and it really helps when you don't understand a single thing the teacher says during class. I scrambled for the thick Science textbooks, and started reading on the various topics that I would be learning for term 1. Booyah! It worked. This was during mid-term, and I found myself at ease with the subject for the rest of the term, even coaching my friends on the subject.

But my results really disappoint me, and I will elaborate on it later. So as usual, I had gained all the head knowledge of the syllabus itself, such as chemical equations, periodic table etc., but what I had really found out was that I really had to manage time better. 2 CCAs, 2 Competitions, Organising Team of 17th SLC, ANGLES and 3NGLES, and finally council. Whew, that was a mouthful. With so many things to handle this term, I was really, really overwhelmed with work. I told myself, I would not let all this take control of my life, and as a result, my acadamics suffer. But even then, losing hours and hours of sleep everyday was not an option too, making me feel very sleepy during class and my learning suffers as a result. Either way, I knew that I would not be doing well this term in terms of acadamics. I told myself to just do my best and strive for even better the next term, but it really daunts me to know that I would be EVEN more busy next term.

Putting that aside, last year in my E-Portfolio I stated that the science syllabus was really too easy for me, and I had lost interest in it due to getting straight A1s throughout the term. This year, I still found the science easy, but I found another interest in a field of science - aviation science. I think this is very feasible in terms of my current life, as I am a member of Singapore Youth Flying Club, and one of the competitions I am taking part in is also regarding Aviation Science. This term, I also attended the Aviation Science sabbatical.

So I have begun to see the world in a different way, and after learning the different chemical bonds, I start to intepret things in a different way. Salt is now sodium chloride to me, water is now Hydrogen + Oxygen to me. Science is really fascinating to me, and I plan to keep striving for the best and improving myself in the rest of the year!

My performance in the Science Assessment Test:

For this term's test, I scored a total of 29.5/40, which is actually 73.75/100. This means that barely missed A1, and got an A2!

I have to say, I hate myself, really, for scoring such marks. When I received my paper, I saw a 30.5/40, and I was like, "Thank God!" Then I saw the -1 at the side, and my entire life plunged into darkness. No, I am not exaggerating. If what my science teacher said is true, that if I don't get A1 for all the terms, my exemption is certainly gone. The reason why I am so upset about it, is that Science is one of my strongest subjects, and at the end of the year, I need the exemption time to study for other subjects! Although it's true that exemption does not matter as long as I study hard, and that I will surely get an A1 at the end of year, but this would mean that I would score lesser for other subjects, as time is already such a crucial and precious thing to me now!

I would like to also say, my score was entirely my fault. I got complacent mid-term, thinking that getting an A1 was a sure thing for me, and look what happened. I did not study for my test, thinking that I understood all its concepts, and the worst thing is, when I looked through the test paper, it dawned on me that had I studied, even if just for 1 hour, I could score at least 6 or 7 marks higher! I am not one to dwell on sad things in the past that cannot be changed, but sometimes the strain and stress is really pulling me down. I am all determined that I will never let such a thing happen to me again, but sheer determination needs to be coupled with time and effort.

I did hear from other students that their Science teacher said that as long as after calculating everything; ACE, E-Portfolio, Tests, Assignments, your final score is above 80, then you will get exempted. If truly hope that that is the case, because I am down right determined to score well for my Science, and will not fail my teachers or disappoint them. Right now I am also hoping that my score would be rounded up, which would mean an A1. Now please do not think that I just care about marks, I am very interested in Science, just that how can I learn the things that I enjoy in Science that are not part of the syllabus and curriculum, if I do not score well for my examinations. In such cases, that half mark really makes a difference in my life and my pursuit for knowledge in Science, and many other subjects.

Having said that, the mistakes that I made in the Science Test were actually 90% careless mistakes due to not refreshing my memory by revising and forgetting a certain concept, and 10% not understanding the question itself. That minute 10% can actually be solved by studying deeper into the topic itself, nothing major, but that 90%, that heart killing 90% was unnecessary marks wasted. Things like, "Hydrogen + Oxygen = Hydroxide", boy I really hate myself. I am going to study hard and do well next term, and hope that in my next Termly Reflection, I would be rejoicing instead of mourning.

Term 1 Blog Post 2: Aviation Science Sabbatical

Introduction:

Ahh, Aviation Science. When I came to Hwa Chong and found out that I could take Singapore Youth Flying Club as a CCA, I was simply elated. I guess I have to say I was born into such an environment; my dad is a lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic, teaching the course on avionics. Then again, avionics isn't aviation, avionics is a portmanteau of "aviation" and "electronics". It comprises electronic systems for use on aircraft, artificial satellites and spacecraft, comprising communications, navigation and the display and management of multiple systems.

Then again, his constant fascination with helicopters, planes and jets naturally led me in his path. He would bring back radio-controlled helicopters or planes from those stores and let me take a try at controlling them. That was when my passion for aviation started.

Into the Sabbatical itself:

Now you might ask me, why did I only take this sabbatical this year when I am secondary 2, and not last year? Well my answer was simple, I wanted to concentrate more on the 'flying' activities in my 2nd CCA, Youth Flying Club, before going into the theory itself. Last year the course was conducted in 2 Sabbatical weeks, a basic course, which was a pre-requisite for the advanced course.

This year, however, they decided to mash both together, which can be a good and bad thing, one of the pros being that the students save a lot more money, as each course cost $100.

So moving on to the details of the course itself, the content was spilt up among the week; the basic section will be conducted on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, while the advanced section will be conducted on Thursday and tomorrow(Friday). Throughout the entire Sabbatical though, I found the time not enough - the instructor had to skip a lot of content in order to make sure we had enough time to experience the 'hands-on' part ourselves. He also said that last year, he would go through the acadamic part first, which is the things we learn in science class(Energy, Rate, Speed, Density etc.) and then showing us how it linked and how we could apply to flying and aviation science. This term he just went straight into the application part, which meant it was very taxing on our brains throughout the whole sabbatical. I have to say something though, the instructor was superb, he could make those dreaded and boring science theories interesting, and his lessons were conducted with personal experiences, stories, interesting slides and all sorts. This is simply an excellent sabbatical, and I strongly recommend this to anyone who has a passion for aviation.

What have I learnt?

I will now split this into the basic module and the advanced module:

Basic Module - Basic Pilot Course

Major Aircraft Parts:

So on the first day, we were introduced to the parts and components that made up a plane. Of course it would vary from different models of the plane, but the components we learnt were the standard parts that every plane should have.

Fuselage - The fuselage or body of the airplane, is the component of he plane that holds all the other pieces of the plane together. The pilots sit in the cockpit at the front of the fuselage. Passengers and cargo are carried in the rear of the fuselage. Some aircraft carry fuel in the fuselage; others carry the fuel in the wings.

Wings - Well, need anything else be said? The wings are the part of the plane that actually allows to it fly! Due to the shape and the way the wings are designed and built, they generate most of the lift to hold the plane in the air.

Empennage - The empennage is a term used in aviation for the tail section of the plane. The empennage's purpose is mainly to control and maneuver the aircraft, as smaller wings are located at the tail of the plane. The tail usually has a fixed horizontal piece, called the horizontal stabilizer, and a fixed vertical piece, called the vertical stabilizer. The stabilizers' job is to provide stability for the aircraft, to keep it flying straight. The vertical stabilizer keeps the nose of the plane from swinging from side to side, which is called yaw. The horizontal stabilizer prevents an up-and-down motion of the nose, which is called pitch. (On the Wright brother's first aircraft, the horizontal stabilizer was placed in front of the wings. Such a configuration is called a canard after the French word for "duck").

Landing Gear - Consist of three wheels in most cases of a plane for landing.

Powerplant - This is basically the part of the plant that helps it generate thrust, which in most cases of planes are turbojets, propeller engines, or turbofans.

Flight Control and Basic Maneuvers:

Instead of having a 5-day long course of just teaching and lecturing, we also used flying simulation software, such as the Microsoft Flight Simulator software, to train on flying and learn on aviation. So in this part of the sabbatical, we basically learnt what was the longitudinal axis, the lateral axis, vertical axis, and the techniques of flying. I have to say that the simulator is really realistic, such as that real professional pilots train on it too!

Basic Flight Aerodynamics:

For most people attending this sabbatical, this has got to be the most 'brain-juice' intensive part of the programme, though I found it quite a breeze as I already had some background knowledge of aerodynamics.

So, why do planes even fly? ow comes to the question, how does our glider fly? First we have to know the four forces that are present before flight can take place. Thrust, lift, drag and weight. Thrust being a propeller or engine that generates the energy for the plane to move forward. Lift is produced because the airflow above the wing is faster than the airflow below the wing, and because of Bernoulli's Principle(Don't really want to elaborate on theories), the pressure and velocity changes, and thus creating lift according to Newton's third law of motion. Drag is incurred mainly because of air resistance. Weight basically consists of the components of the plane.

We were also taught on Center of Gravity, Weight and Balance and why the plane is designed in a certain way and how it helps to improve the overall flying performance

Basic Navigation / Navigation Aids:

Alttitude Indicator, Altimeter, Turn Coordinator, Heading Indicator, Airspeed Indicator, Vertical Speed Indicator and a simple clock. These are only some of the instruments that a pilot uses to navigate around. Without these instruments, pilots would most probably find it hard to fly, as a risk of stalling or crashing into a mountain could be the cause of such instruments failing. We also learn what were the the different ways a pilot could try to hover above terrain, such as VOF and IFR. We also learnt about certain terms such as Dead Reckoning, which is in contrast to flight by pilotage. This refers to flying a course solely by relying on calculations of time, speed, distance and direction. Scary what technology huh?

Instrument Charts

I would say this was basicallya geography lesson on how to read and see the different information and charts or maps that pilots use to fly. Boring? No, the superb instructor I talked about managed to put in stories of how errors in a simple map could cause disaster to the pilot, co-pilot and passenges.

Advanced Module - Fighter Course

When I received the booklet for the advanced module today, I gave an incredulous look at the teacher - literally. It was thicker, with much more information as compared to the Basic Module, and we only had 2 days(including today) left to cover the content. We ended skipping a lot, and it was a pity as the title itself pique my interest. We did have a lot of 'hands-on' time though, to try different flight combat simulators such as Falcon 4.0: Allied Force. Don't be mistaken, we did not have a gaming course during this time, these simulators were very realistic, and if you play it like you would play a game, you would die before you even got into battle during take-off.

There was one thing that really got my interest in this area, which is a term called "G-Force". "The g-force (with g from gravitational) associated with an object is its acceleration relative to free-fall. This acceleration experienced by an object is due to the vector sum of non-gravitational forces acting on an object free to move. The accelerations that are not produced by gravity are termed proper accelerations, and it is only these that are measured in g-force units. They cause stresses and strains on objects, which are felt as weight (any g-force can thus be simply described, and measured, as a "weight per unit mass"). Because of these strains (weight forces), large proper accelerations (large g-forces), may be destructive." - quote from wikipedia(I couldn't find a better explanation for it, and using my own words would just be twisting its meaning.

Check this video here to find out how a pilot experiences 9G: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9d_PK6pWNo&feature=related

With that, I would really like to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this course. I cannot wait for tomorrow, which is the last day of the course, where we all get to pit our skills against each other in the combat flight simulator. I might yet be a budding pilot, with a flying dream: "For once you have tasted flight, You will walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward; For there you have been, And there you long to return." - Leonardo Da Vinci, On Flight of Birds.

Term 1 Blog Post 1: Models and Systems

Introduction :

In this blog post, I will be talking about the issues and things we learnt in class, and the theme for term 1 was - Models and Systems. Basically, we were introduced to the Periodic Table and the Atomic structure, something that would be rather new for most of us as during secondary 1, we we only touched on the surface of these 2 topics. We have learnt what are elements and compounds, that every thing is made up of atoms, but have we really understood deep enough? Well I would have to say I did learn a lot more regarding these 2 topics after the school lessons! Aside from that, we also learnt new topics, such as Chemical Bonding and Equation Writing.


Periodic Table

Now ever since Primary 5, I have been hearing classmates mentioning the Periodic Table, memorising the Periodic Table and all sorts. This year I finally got to clear all my doubts, and know actually what the Periodic Table is. I did have a brief idea what it was, but due to countless procrastinations and forgetfulness, I never really researched about it before, as easy as it is by just typing it into Google. The Periodic Table is actually all the elements known to man so far - both natural and man-made. The elements are arranged according to their order of increasing proton(atomic) number, which means to say the position of an element in the Periodic Table is actually related to it properties, such as proton number and electronic structure. The elements are also arranged from metallic to non-metallic character from left to right across a Period of the Periodic Table.

Each column in the Periodic Table represents its Group, while each row in the Periodic Table represents its Period.

Atomic Structure

So what I knew last year was that an atom is a basic building block of matter. Everything around us like plants, animals, air, water, sun, earth, planets and even people are all made up of atoms. It is the smallest unit of an element that still exhibits all the chemical properties unique to element.

According to my knowledge at that time, an atom consist of a nucleus, which I learnt this year is made up of protons and neutrons, surrounded by a cloud of electrons.

Chemical Bonding

Defination of Chemical Bonding: "A chemical bond is an attraction between atoms that allows the formation of chemical substances that contain two or more atoms. The bond is caused by the electromagnetic force attraction between opposite charges, either between electrons and nuclei, or as the result of a dipole attraction. The strength of chemical bonds varies considerably; there are "strong bonds" such as covalent or ionic bonds and "weak bonds" such as dipole-dipole interactions, the London dispersion force and hydrogen bonding. " - Wikipedia

Ionic Bonding

So what is an Ionic Bond? When atoms get close together, sometimes they form ionic bonds to make molecules. When those unstable atoms come near another unstable atom, they trade electrons until they find a more stable arrangement. Usually in Ionic Bonding, it is a metal atom joining up with a non-metal atom

For example, some kinds of atoms, like sodium, have only one electron in their outside ring, which is an unstable situation. Sodium's so unstable that if you add water to it, it catches on fire!

When sodium atoms come near chlorine atoms, the chlorine atoms are also very unstable, because chlorine is missing an electron to fill up its outer ring. So when they get together, the sodium atom's extra electron jumps over to the chlorine atom. Then the chlorine atom is stable, and so is the sodium atom.

Covalent Bonding

When two atoms come near each other form bonds to make a molecule, but sometimes they don't form Ionic Bonding, another way of bonding is covalent bonding. Like in Ionic Bonding, in covalent bonding, the atoms are unstable because their outer rings of electrons aren't filled up
By sharing electrons with other atoms, these atoms can fill up their valence shells to gain the electronic configuration of a noble gas and become stable.

In water, for instance, the oxygen atom needs two more electrons to be stable, and the hydrogen atoms each need one. When they get together, the oxygen atom shares one electron with each of the hydrogen atoms, and the hydrogen atoms each share one electron with the oxygen atom.

Now that the atoms have become stable, it's pretty hard to knock them back into being unstable again, so covalent bonds are strong and molecules that form with covalent (sharing) bonds are strong molecules.


Difference between Covalent Bonding and Ionic Bonding

Equation Writing

Equation Writing is like how I would think it as a science sentence. It's as if science had its own language too. It really pique my interest here, on being able to write equations and acting all scientific and "chim" to people who never learnt it before.

Chemical Equations:

Chemical Equations are made up of chemical formulae. A chemical formula is a combination of elemental symbols and subscript numbers that is used to show the composition of a compound. Depending of the type of compound that the formula represents, the information that it provides will vary slightly. Before we went about learning how to write chemical formulas, I knew it was important that I clearly understood the difference between molecular compounds and ionic compounds.

It was a little hard for me at first, trying to remember what are the chemical formulae of each elements, learning how to balance equations, making sense of ions and the different cation and anion. Then I got a hang of it after making sure I studied the textbook thoroughly. To help with my revision, I even found a Chemical Equation Balancer calculator! Here is the link: http://www.webqc.org/balance.php

I once asked my sister, "Why all the 'chim' equations that just make scientists lives harder, making students lives harder, in that we have to memorise and remember all these equations things?" She replied, "Because scientists have to constantly work together, and it is not uncommon to see scientists of different races coming together to work on something. In the case that they do not understand each other's langauge, they would be able to communicate and understand each other's work through chemical equations." I was enlightened, and I was only 7 years old!

Word Equations:

Word equations basically describe chemical reactions using words.

Word equations have the following pattern:

name of reactant 1( ) + name of reactant 2( ) + ... name of product 1( ) + name of product 2( ) + ...

The reactants are the substances with which you begin the reaction. The names of the reactants are listed before the arrow in the word equation. A plus sign is used between the reactants when there is more than one reactant.

The products are the substances made as a result of the reaction. The names of the products are listed after the arrow in the word equation. A plus sign is used between the products when there is more than one product.

Here are some examples:

1. Magnesium metal burns in oxygen gas with a bright white light to make a white powder called magnesium oxide.

magnesium (s) + oxygen (g) magnesium oxide (s) + heat

2. A solution of sodium iodide is added to a solution of potassium nitrate to make a potassium iodide precipitate and a sodium nitrate solution.

sodium iodide (aq) + potassium nitrate (aq) potassium iodide (s) + sodium nitrate (aq)


3. Gaseous hydrogen and gaseous oxygen react explosively to form water vapor.

hydrogen (g) + oxygen (g) water (g) + heat

And that's the end of my first post. I am filled with excitement on all the things that I would be learning on the days and years to come, and Science is always the major factor in it!