JOHOR BAHRU – On 29th August 2019, STEM-RBTK (Reka Bentuk Teknologi Kejuruteraan) from the School of Electrical Engineering (SKE), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) held a workshop for school teachers at SMK Alauddin, Kulai. Five schools in Johor participated in the program: SMK Bandar Tenggara, SMK Bandar Tenggara 2, SMK Seri Pinang, SMK Sultan Alauddin, SMA Bandar Tenggara. The STEM-RBTK from SKE was led by Dr. Fauzan Khairi Che Harun as the main trainer (principal), Dr. Zaharah Johari (vice principal), Mdm. Norhafizah Ramli (treasurer) and Dr. Noraini (secretary). The team is supported by Dr. Suhana Mohamed Sultan, PM. Dr. Nasrul Humaimi Mahmood, and Dr. Nurul Ashikin Abdul Kadir as committee members.

SKE STEM-RBTK was represented by (sitting from right): Dr. Suhana Mohamed Sultan, Dr. Zaharah Johari, Mdm. Norhafizah Ramli, and Dr. Nurul Ashikin Abdul Kadir.

The program was held as a 1-day course. Dr. Suhana started the program by introducing the teachers to Computational Thinking (CT) and active learning activities. For active learning activities, four components of CT were introduced to the participants; decomposed, abstraction, pattern and algorithm.

The second part of the program was led by Mdm Norhafizah who introduced Electronics Components and Circuits to the participants and brought their imagination into reality with Arduino UNO development board. The teachers were exposed to Arduino UNO IDE software and the board pin-out interface. Mdm Norhafizah shared the knowledge to connect the electronic components with the Arduino and run the experiment to upload the program into Arduino, to function as blinking the LEDs by using both active HIGH and active LOW circuit connections.

The final session was presented by Dr. Zaharah who introduced the mBlock and MIT Inventor to design and develop their own mobile apps. In this session, the developed mobile apps was designed to control the LED which was connected to the Arduino UNO board and the breadboard. The circuit connections used in Mdm Norhafizah’s session were used in this session. The program ended with pure contentment and joy. The teachers were very happy and have requested for a second session to be conducted in the near future.