Ok.. first.. let's have some more fun with Adobe CS 3. Here's a low light shot with the A700 and CZ 16-80mm lens at 16mm wide open. It is purposely underexposed by 1 stop to capture the night atmosphere during the mid-autumn festival some time ago. This is an image take from my study room's window using version 4 firmware of A700

S$97 for Adobe CS 3 (Web Premium), including a free upgrade to CS4 too... it's 'mai tu liao', time to grab two sets. Here's some tweaking with Adobe Camera Raw.. something I have been thinking of trying for a long time.

The Enquirer is an online publications by NTU students as a reaction to NTU pulling an article related to Dr Chee Soon Juan from being published in their own periodical. One of the recent article talks of Dr Vivian Balakrishnan's forum and this was one of the points raised in the article.

When Shan, a second year political science student, asked Dr Balakrishnan about Singaporeans who were affected by the mini-bond fiasco, the minister in turn asked her whether he should approach the problem as an economist or politician.

Her simple reply—to look at the issue from the eyes of an “ordinary Singaporean”—won the applause of the audience.

No doubt many, if not all, of the issues raised during the forum have some impact on the political governance of Singapore, but Shan pointed out the more direct and critical link: the ones affected are ordinary unpoliticised Singaporeans.

Heroes are celebrated for their deeds and contributions to mankind, they are never remembered because of their wealth or intelligence.

- Me

There are many Science competitions in Singapore for students to take part in, and we can classify these competitions into some of the following categories.

Quiz type - The most common type of competition, and possibly the least scientific of them all. Quiz based competition is the easiest to organise, to judge (only right or wrong) and yet it can be the most entertaining of all types of competitions. We can do it in a Pyramid game style, Who wants to be a Millionaire style etc. The feedback is instant and the majority gets very impressed with the student who can spell "Geobacillus stearothermophilus" and identify that it is a cause for food to spoil. You don't need to know Science, you just need to memorise everything about Science. Like what Feynman said, what's the point of memorising Science when all you need is a few seconds to look up the answer? The winner will be the guy who is a walking wikipedia.

Short-term project type - Usually students will be tasked with a project and given a short time frame (hours, days or even weeks), they may be given materials or a seminar on the project and the students will come out with a product at the end of the project. On the competition day, students will have to present their product or take part in some form of race with their products. Some science may be involved in the design and making of the product but the level of science involved various from project to project. For instance, you do not need to know science to build a bridge, though some science background will help you in improving the design of the bridge. These type of competition can be very exciting and entertaining but the bulk of the competition is actually conducted behind the scenes when the students build their products.

Long-term project type - Maybe it is a new invention to improve life, maybe it is a research project that advances our human knowledge. Students usually take months and perhaps even years to make or study something that little or nobody have done before. This is Science (and perhaps Engineering for inventions) at its core. Unfortunately, these are the most boring type of competitions because it is not assessible to the general public and the winner is decided by a panel of expert judges. Much like the Nobel Prize, the excitment comes only when they announce the winners. Are you sure you want to watch 100 hopeful candidates present what they found out about Zebra fishes etc?

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Hence the most entertaining form of competition, the type that you will get to see on television, is actually the least scientific of them all. How ironic! Do we want substance over form? Is it better to have students who can give us, word for word, the definition of Newton's 3rd Law in Latin or to groom students who win awards because they know what is Science?

In the ideal world, if we tackle the substance, the form should come.... But seriously, these are two opposite directions in the approach for preparing students. (I know because I organised competitions before and the winning team comes had students who mugged University level textbooks before the quiz) In the ideal world, the public, in particular parents, will place more emphasis on substance.

Cannot Attitude: After exams students won't bother to learn so I can't teach
Can Attitude: I don't have to worry about assessment after exams so we can have some fun teaching and learning.

Cannot Attitude: I have so many things to do and I can't finish it if I do it the same old way!
Can Attitude: I have so many things to do, perhaps I can try a new way to do it.

Cannot Attitude: I am limited by this and that hence I cannot do what's important
Can Attitude: I may be under constraints but I need to do what's important too, maybe I can try to fit it within constraints by making some adjustments here.

It's dangerous to get into one's comfort zone, develop this cannot attitude and build up an aura of negativity. The challenge is, how to develop this can do attitude in students and teachers alike and be creative in the way we work.

SURE CAN MAKE IT!

Farewell Ceremony 2008

Now get back to studies... You will get this if the school decides to burn another DVD for you, otherwise I will try to get one copy made for each class to re-distribute.