Paul Shin

Day 3:

What new question do you have regarding the discipline?

Since i have already understood what i can, i do not have another question.

How do you feel about the SST-NTU flagship programme?

I feel that i have learned many different things that may or not be relevant in the future such as the use of rotational evaporator. Even though it was fun seeing how it was used, i doubt that i would ever have to use it in my life as i do not like chemistry and most of the time, the rotational evaporator is used in chemistry. However, i still liked the camp a lot as there was a lot of interesting things that happened and furthermore, i was able learn more about my friends and along the way, made new ones. Moreover, i also found most of those that we did very interesting as there was a lot of hands-on compared to normal science which is just sitting on the table and doing calculation. The TAs and professors were also very kind and friendly and yet very gentle and informative which was very helpful in getting new data, fixing existing original data or finding the flaw in what we did.

Day 2:

What did you do today?

We did two things today, Caffein extraction and Fastest Ball Challenge. In the extraction of caffein, we extracted caffein from the lemon tea through many different methods such as filtration and insertion of chemical into the solution. In the fastest ball challenge, we had to use different ways to make the ball reach certain speed.

What did you do today?

We learned to use different apparatus in the laboratory today. Through this experience, i would now be able to use more equipments with ease allowing me to do more stuff at faster rate. I also learned additional laboratory rules which i was unaware of.

How do you feel about today’s activities?

Today’s activities were very engaging. This was primarily because the TAs were very friendly but also because there were not a huge clash in any group. This meant that everyone work well together which would mean that they are more bonded. This would mean that in the future, they would be able to help each other better when they are formed into exact or similar group as they would understand each other better.

Day 1:
Pre-camp:

What sounds interesting about this topic?

The fact that we can extract caffein from the drinks are very interesting. For the first time, i would be able to see what a caffein looks like and how dangerous it is as well as its properties.

What do you think you can learn from this project?

I will be able to learn the health risk of drinking a lot of caffein and other chemicals in the drink.

Any immediate questions regarding the project?

I would like to know if there is any health risk of drinking pure caffein.

Plenary Sessions:

Note down at least one key learning point for each session?

1)Career is not a way/reason of life. Instead, it is a medium for it.

2) You can have fun in life.

3) Great intelligence will bring arrogance to the person.