I participated in the Young Scientists' Experimental Camp, also known as YSEC, during the June holidays. This year, the camp was held over 3 days, at the Hwa Chong Science Research Centre from 13 to 15 June. About 80 Secondary 1 and 2 students attended this camp, from different schools all over Singapore. During the camp, we were engaged in many hands on activities and practical sessions relating to biology, physics, chemistry and much more.
For the first day, we did a bit of chemistry. Unfortunately, I wasn't there that day as I had fallen sick. I missed out on a lot of fun experiments. The next day I came, when I found out that I had missed out on a lot of experiments which I could have learnt a lot from, I felt that it was a pitty that i missed the first day.
On the second day, we did some experiments in biology. We were taught the basics of the Kirby- Bauer Antibiotic Testing, as well as experimenting on E.coli bacteria. Later that day, we also did some forensic science, where a crime scene was set up for us and we were to solve the crime. We were taught some techniques used by investigators at a real crime scene and had to put them to use.
On the last and final day, we did some experiments relating to physics, in which we were taught the ideal gas equation (pV=nRT). To end off the camp, we had a rocket lauching competition in which we had to make our own rockets out of plastic bottles and cardboard and lauch them in the field using pumps.
Overall, I felt that this was a really meaningful camp as I had learnt a lot of things that I had never known before, increasing my knowledge about the three sciences. Also, I made a lot of new friends in the camp from different schools. I definitely would like to participate in this camp again next year.
To find out more, click here to go to the YSEC website.
