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As part of the Youth Mission to Mars concluding event, some 38 Singaporean students and 10 teachers from five secondary schools visited the Space Center Houston in Texas, United States of America from 13 to 17 June 2016. The five secondary schools are Ping Yi Secondary School, Hillgrove Secondary School, Northbrooks Secondary School, Changkat Changi Secondary School and St. Gabriel’s Secondary School. These schools offer Flight & Aerospace STEM Applied Learning Programme that STEM Inc supports.
Below are the Questions-and-Answers with students from Changkat Changi Secondary School, contributed by Lim Qi Hui and Goh Ming Quan on the Youth Mission to Mars project.
A group photo taken just outside the Space Centre Houston, USA.
Question: What have you learnt from participating in this project?
Answer: This project has given us a special and rare opportunity to learn more about space science and space exploration. We are amazed at the complexity behind a space mission, from the planning to the launching of a space shuttle to executing the mission and bringing the astronauts back safely. All these have ignited our passion for space exploration and we hope to pursue this interest further. We have also learnt more about making friends and collaborating with international students. While we learned more about our cultural differences, we also learnt how we could exchange our expertise and work together as a team.
Changkat Changi Secondary students presenting their project with their international teammates at the Space Centre Houston.
Question: What are your most memorable parts of this project?
Answer: Our most memorable part of the project is the trip to Houston organised in June 2016. We also enjoyed the six months of preparation when we spent time with our team members to discuss our modules and solve the questions posted on the online learning platform. We managed to discuss on scientific topics that are not covered in our usual science lessons and we enjoyed reading up on space exploration. Another memorable part of this project is to host the American students when they came over to Singapore. We enjoyed showing hospitality and brought them around our school and the Tampines estate to let them have a better understanding of Singapore!
Youth Mission to Mars is a Science Centre Singapore collaboration with Space Centre Houston (USA) and Cite de l’espace (City of Space), Toulouse (France). This project is administered by American Alliance of Museums and sponsored by US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.