A team of eleven Korean students headed by their teacher from the Malayan English Academy paid a courtesy visit to the School of Education, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia on Tuesday, 6th of August 2019. They were enthusiastically received at the Educational Chemistry Laboratory by a team of the University staff, Professors Dr. Yeo Kee Jiar, Dr. Corrienna Abdul Talib, Mrs. Hasnah Md Amin and Mrs. Aminah Ab Kadir. After they enjoyed a tour to UTM’s special and famous places, the students participated in the famous STEAM activities: the Rubber Band Car Construction and Racing from the CREATE program module. Students worked on the activity individually with assistance by staff and a Ph.D. postgraduate student, Faruku Aliyu. They were given the material and instructional support and the relevant facilities. Faruku Aliyu explained the cognitive foundation of the activity which targeted the promotion and enhancement of their critical thinking and reasoning skills. Individually, they constructed the rubber band car within a relatively short period of time. After construction, they competed against each other; winners were identified, declared and reinforced. For the second activity, the Elephant Toothpaste was introduced by Prof. Yeo, Dr. Corrienna Abdul Talib, and the teacher who led the students’ team.
They were so excited and taken-in with the activities that throughout the period, they expressed their appreciation and readiness for another round of these kinds of activities next time around. The event ended at about 2:00 pm.
The students and their teacher thanked the management of the Learning Adventure Program, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia for the warm welcome and unexpected learning benefits they experienced during such a short visit and echoed their disposition to have a longer visit the next time.
Written by Faruku Aliyu, Dr. Corrienna Abdul Talib and Dr. Rainer Zawadzki.