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Greater Jakarta geeks get inspired at science event
Out of the box: Two students from state senior high school SMAN 5 in Bekasi display their creation of a simple projector, on Saturday
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span class="inline inline-center">Out of the box: Two students from state senior high school SMAN 5 in Bekasi display their creation of a simple projector, on Saturday. JP/RBK
Hundreds of students from high schools in Greater Jakarta came together to join in and watch a science competition on Saturday, immersing themselves in the creations and inventions of their fellow budding scientists at state high school SMAN 5 in Bekasi, West Java.
The school's Cyber and Science Club had organized various competitions, including for a line-following robot design, science blog and poster designs, science writing and a science and technology quiz.
Eleventh grader Syahrul Mubarok from private vocational high school SMK Bina Karya Mandiri 2 in Bekasi operated a robotic car he made from electronic components and instructed to run only on black paths on the white floor in the line-following competition.
'The robot will run along the black lines because it can detect black and white through their light intensity,' Syahrul said. Syahrul was among four contestants in the challenge.
The science and technology competition also presented a project exhibition and an astronomy seminar.
Among the 10 projects at the exhibition was the work of three girls: Farah Yulianti, Anindya Nur Ramadhani and Farah Nadya from SMAN 1 Bekasi. These students modified a conventional microscope to make it a digital electronic microscope.
They put a web camera on top of a manual microscope to replace the human eye so the camera would record the microscopic view and display it on a computer screen.
'We came up with the idea when we saw our friends had to wait for their turn to use a microscope to observe materials. So we thought, why don't we make a microscope whose view can be seen by several students at once? That would save more time,' said Yulianti, who wants to be an IT technician.
Other students' projects exhibited included a laser microscope that could view the different forms of water particles, a mini planetarium, a simulation of the working of the eyes, a simple projector and a hydraulic flow simulation.
One of SMAN 5 Bekasi's teachers, Cori Chairotunnisa, said that SMAN 5 was among schools that used 'problem-based learning'.
The students are allowed to use smartphones and computers when doing research and making presentations, according to Cori. The school, she said, embraced a tech-savvy environment as it provided free Wi-Fi and the students registered their attendance using fingerprints.
Cori said, 'The students are very independent because they are used to learning by doing, not theories. They also organized this event without much involvement from teachers.'
On Saturday, the jury for the science writing competition listened to the presentations of six finalists who spoke about a water pollution indicator using water hyacinth and moringa fruit, a biopesticide made of wereng bugs and fragrant roots, tea from date seeds, herbal drinks from reed, kapok and hibiscus leaves, a battery made of the extract of leaves from Averrhoa bilimbi and candies made from mangosteen and dragonfruit.
Nurdiansah, a member of the Jakarta Amateur Astronomers Association (HAAJ) and a juror of the writing competition, said science and cyber clubs have mushroomed among high schools in big cities, thanks to technological advancement and availability.
'The most popular topics under such clubs are astronomy, robotics, informatics, aerodynamics and oceanography,' he said.
In the evening, the event would hold a star gazing activity using four telescopes. (rbk)
