KUALA LUMPUR: Seven Malaysian students from SMK Seri Bintang Utara have won three awards in an international STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) competition organised by the British International Education Associations (BIEA) on July 1.
The competition, 2020 BIEA International STEM Competition, which oversees around 2,000 participations from 50 countries, required its participants to create 3D machine-prototype to tackle the global plastic waste problems, starting from the sea-shores.
Speaking to the winners via Zoom-meeting recently, the happy students said they had worked days until nights on their prototypes.
The winner of the Best Report Awards, Alif Luqman Nasution, 16, said his invention aimed to collect at least 10 per cent of the plastic waste around the globe.
"10 per cent may seem like a small number, but on a global scale, 10 per cent is huge.
"My invention is theoretically small and I want it to be affordable to the public. Its height is about six inches and 12 inches long, which can collect two types of plastic waste, and it can move on land, mud and in water," he said.
"When the results came in, I was over the moon. We have put everything into this competition. This win shows that we are doing our part, at least in contributing ideas to solve the global plastic waste issues," he said.
Kow Hong Kiat, 16, alongside his teammates, Eeshwar Uthaya Kumar and Puteri Nur Atiqah Omar, who clinched the Best Video Award said it was a meaningful win for everybody.
"As we work on our project, we've gained a lot of experience and knowledge, especially on plastic waste and its harmful effects on human, marine life, animals and the environment.
"Our submitted prototype is an invention of a vehicle that can pick up plastic waste on land, mud and water, inspired by an ocean clean-up vehicle, Interceptor 002 but ours has robotic arms, infra-sensors, webcam, solar panels and rock wheels.
"The infra-sensors and webcam on the vehicle are used to detect the location and distance of plastic waste from the vehicle on land and mud. It will then help the vehicle to best position itself for its robotic arms to act as manipulator and picks up the waste," he said.
The winners of Rising Star Awards, Ezrin Marissa Ramlan, 16, and her teammates Ejjaz Hakimi and Ryan Khoo said the dedication they've put into the competition has been part of a fun journey together.
Ejjaz said he felt relieved to see that all their hard work had paid off.
"We spent a lot of hours working on this project and to see it has paid off is really satisfying".
For Ezrin Marissa said her team's invention aimed to pick up plastic waste of any size.
"We want to ensure the machine can clean up all the plastic waste that lies on the shores. So, we put together many different components with individual functions.
"Some components, such as the vacuum, has additional filter to suck up plastics (buried) in the sand. And the filters are to ensure no other things will clog up the vaccuum.
"And we also put together a shovel that will handle larger pieces of plastic which the vacuum cannot pick up. All of these (different functions) will operate using the energy generated from the solar panel," she said.
Teacher Lee Saw Im said she had resorted to problem-based learning in her Chemistry classes, as a way to raise awareness while teaching her students about plastic waste issues.
"Teachers play a very important roles in their students' lives. We need to create opportunity and motivate them at all times.
"When I introduced the topic and told them about this competition, these students happily volunteered to participate. And I've also asked my former student, Ong Cheng Zhou to guide them through.
Ong is now studying computer science at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
"When our country underwent the Movement Control Order (MCO), I was worried and I thought that we should pull out.
"However, some time in March, we received emails from the organiser, saying that they've decided to continue the competition virtually. And when the results
came in, I screamed my lungs out! The coach and I were very proud of them," she said.
Lee, who won the 2019 Global Teacher Award and Best Science Teacher at Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation Awards strongly believed such teaching method were important for the coming generation of students.
"It will give students the opportunity to explore their creativity, enhance their communication and problem-solving skills and also learning how to work effectively in collaboration.
"Through this approach, it can prepare our students to adapt to the Industrial Revolution 4.0," she said.