MEDIA RELEASE

A Game of Drones Students flex their skills to raise funds for school’s STEM initiatives

SINGAPORE, 15 June 2018 – From 18 to 21 June, 281 lower secondary students from 11 schools in the Central District will be flexing their skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) to raise funds for their school’s STEM-related initiatives.

As part of the annual STEAM (previously STEM) @ Central Singapore day camp organised by Central Singapore Community Development Council (CDC), students will tap on STEAM principles to build and create drones from scratch and execute a variety of tasks with them; such as aerial photography, navigating a maze, and performing a simple aerial light display. The top three teams (based on judges’ scorings) will stand to win $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 for their school.

The new ‘Arts’ component will also see teams coming up with innovative light designs for their drones landing pad as part of an online social media competition for the Most Popular drone, where the top 10 teams will walk away with $500 each.

Said Ms Denise Phua, Mayor of Central Singapore District: “At Central Singapore CDC, we understand the need to equip our young people with STEAM-related skills that will help them innovate and experiment for Singapore’s future. These skills are essential for Singapore to grow as a Smart Nation and develop new solutions for a better tomorrow. We are excited to be expanding STEAM @ Central Singapore this year, and invite interested schools to work with us in building students who are future- ready.”

FROM STEM TO STEAM

The CDC started the camp in 2015 in a bid to pique students’ interest in STEM-related fields and subjects. Partnering trained professionals, the camp employs novel STEM syllabuses to help students integrate STEM principles with relatable real-world applications. Previous camps saw students creating their own hovercrafts inspired by the Star Wars movie franchise, as well as robots inspired by the blockbuster movie Transformers.

The move to introduce the ‘Arts’ as part of STEAM this year is in line with worldwide education trends, particularly in the U.S. The focus on STEM education over the years has brought attention to the increasing neglect of the arts, and more educators are calling for a balance in students’ curriculums, citing arts-related subjects like design-thinking as important areas that help spark creativity and innovation in STEM-related fields.

STEAM FOR THE COMMUNITY

Beyond the annual camps, the CDC is also looking at bringing the programme to more schools on a regular basis. This includes:

STEAM Workshops with IHLs Collaborations with Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) to provide STEAM workshops for tertiary students. The CDC has been working with Nanyang Polytechnic over the last two years to run or promote an annual gaming and coding competition for students using STEM principles.

STEAM Outreach to the Community Moving forward, the CDC is looking at working with interested schools to do good for their immediate community through STEAM workshops. Students will go through hands-on workshops similar to that of the annual STEAM Camps, and use what they have learnt to give back to the community. For example, they may learn how to repair and repurpose used items to be given to the needy.

Your journalist and photographer/videographer are warmly invited to join us on Thursday, 21 June 2018 from 3:30pm to 5pm, where Mayor Denise Phua will be present to address participating students.

To RSVP and for enquiries, please contact:

Cheryl Lew Tiffany Ong Assistant Manager (Communications) Team Leader (Communications) Central Singapore CDC Central Singapore CDC T: 6715 7594 T: 6715 7616 M: 9112 3928 M: 9383 2753 E: [email protected] E: [email protected]

Encl. Annex A – Media Programme Annex B – Programme Fact Sheet

About Central Singapore Community Development Council Lying at the heart of Singapore, the Central Singapore Community Development Council (CDC) serves close to one million residents living in , Bishan-, Jalan Besar and Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs), and Radin Mas, , and West Single Member Constituencies (SMCs). The CDC envisions a self-reliant, vibrant and inclusive Central Singapore District. It works in close partnership with schools, voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs), grassroots organisations (GROs), government and commercial agencies to fulfil its mission of assisting the needy, bonding the people and connecting the community.

ANNEX A

MEDIA PROGRAMME

Time Activity

3:30 pm Work-in-progress

Media may take photos of the students in action, piloting their drones through various competition stations.

4:00 pm Arrival of Ms Denise Phua, Mayor, Central Singapore District

4:05 pm Introduction to STEAM @ Central Singapore

Mayor will receive an introduction of the programme and be invited to view the presentations for each team. The teams will also have their projects judged at this point.

4:30 pm Speech by Mayor Denise

4:40 pm Presentation of Certificates of Participation to Participants

Mayor will be invited to present certificates of participation to teams from the following schools: 1. Madrasah Al-Arabiah Al-Islamiah 2. Raffles Girls’ School 3. Raffles Institution 4. Pei Hwa Secondary School

4:55 pm Group Photo-Taking

5:00 pm Reception & Media Interviews

Media may speak with Mayor and students from participating schools at this point.

ANNEX B

PROGRAMME FACT SHEET

1. Why STEAM @ Central Singapore?

Since 2015, Central Singapore CDC has partnered several secondary schools in STEM @ Central Singapore to provide students with opportunities and exposure to discover their talents and areas of interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. In 2018, the programme will be enhanced to include an Art & Design component, and it will be renamed to become STEAM @ Central Singapore.

The STEAM programmes to spark and increase students’ interest in STEAM and allow them to gain a deeper understanding of STEAM topics that have real-world applications.

2. What is STEAM @ Central Singapore?

Students will be invited to learn about real life applications of STEAM through prototyping their own Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs (more commonly known as Drones). Students will learn the following:

SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY Aerodynamics Physics and Theory of Flight Microcontrollers and Sensor Technology with Drones Investigating the aerodynamic physics and theory of Applying theory into practice by creating a prototype flight of drones and quadcopters through hands-on with microcontroller and electronic resources to learning. program several sensors compatible with the microcontroller. ENGINEERING Arts + Design Electronic Circuitry and Mechanical Engineering Design and Creative Thinking of Drones Evaluating various components of drones and Designing the drones prototype, leading to coding a quadcopters to construct compatible sensors through brilliant aerial light performance using LED Strips. the understanding and application of electronic circuitry. MATHEMATICS Calculating motion related problems and inverse kinematics Unboxing the underlying mathematical concepts that enables drones to fly including multiple degrees of freedom, solving motion-related problems, inverse kinematics and calculating a flight plan that is set to navigate and program the drone to finish the course.

3. When is STEAM @ Central Singapore?

There will be 4 runs of the programme during the last week of the June 2018 holidays.

Slot Dates 1 Monday, 18 June, 8am to 5pm 2 Tuesday, 19 June, 8am to 5pm 3 Wednesday, 20 June, 8am to 5pm 4 Thursday, 21 June, 8am to 5pm

Students from participating schools will only attend 1 day of the camp, on 18, 19, 20, or 21 June from 8am to 5pm.

4. How is STEAM @ Central Singapore conducted?

Schools who participate in the one-day camp for STEAM @ Central Singapore 2018 will go through the following components:

STEAM TEAM Schools will send teams of 5 to work together and complete all the workshops, quests, and mini challenges.

WORKSHOP All students will go through these workshops:  How to Build and Fly a Quadcopter  Basics of Flight Programming  Aerial Photography

TEAM QUEST Each team of 5 will work together to navigate their drone through a 3D maze.

TEAM DISCUSSION/PROTOTYPING Each Team of 5 will conceptualize, design, and build a drone for multiple purposes and to fulfil various objectives.

MINI-CHALLENGE Teams will use their drones to navigate a 3D maze and complete challenge stations.

5. Which schools are participating in STEAM @ Central Singapore 2018?

Participating schools are as follows:

1. Beatty Secondary School 7. Raffles Girls’ School 2. Bendemeer Secondary School 8. Raffles Institution 3. CHIJ St Theresa’s Convent 9. St Joseph’s Institution 4. Madrasah Al-Arabiah Al-Islamiah 10. Whitley Secondary School 5. Pathlight School 11. Secondary School 6. Pei Hwa Secondary School

12. What will the social media competition be like? What will the teams win?

Pictures and video presentation of each group’s UAV will be uploaded by the CDC on a social media platform, for public voting after the one-day camp. Prizes will be awarded for the most popular projects with the highest number of ‘likes’ from online votes, and the top 3 projects, as assessed by the judging panel, somewhere in mid-July 2018.

The top 3 winning teams stand to win the following cash prizes for their school.

Most Popular UAV Most Impressive UAV Top 10 projects : $500 each Top Prize : $3,000 Second Prize : $2,000 Third Prize : $1,000

# END #