Nine In-Kingdom Entries in KAUST Science Fair: Thuwal Schools Win

The KAUST Science Fair, an anchor event at the University’s annual Winter Enrichment Program (WEP), this year hosted over 80 booths, comprising exhibitions devised and delivered by KAUST graduate students, school students and scientists, as well as nine booths from In Kingdom Schools and Universities including Thuwal Male Intermediate School, Thuwal Female Intermediate School, Umm Al-Qura University, Taibah University and King Abdulaziz University.

Each year WEP invites experts in their field at KAUST and across the globe, to take part in an on-campus, two week themed program of highly informative and entertaining lectures, shows, exhibitions, discussions and workshops.  The Science Fair is a highlight, with its fun, interactive demonstrations displaying the results of exciting new research and bringing science and technology to a wide-ranging audience of the KAUST community, local schools and guests from across the Kingdom.

Successful science fair entries demonstrate a journey of discovery, sparked by curiosity that generates a research question or hypothesis.  This leads to the creation of an experimental design that produces data from which the student can draw conclusions to prove (or disprove) their hypothesis.  The hypothesis, design and data are one part – the team has to demonstrate knowledge, understanding and interest in their project when questioned, as the best invention in the world will remain a secret if the scientist cannot communicate their discovery.  The Judging Panel scored the Science Fair entries against a rubric that assessed how well the project and the team members met the criteria, with this year’s Panel consisting of the WEP Chair – Professor Niveen Khashab; Jeremiah Gassensmith, Professor at the University of Texas in Dallas; Tom Pringle aka Dr Bunhead; David Tigchelaar Principal of The KAUST Secondary School and Susann Rossbach, a KAUST PhD student.

The three In-Kingdom Schools category winners were from Thuwal High School and Intermediate School.  Each team had an imaginative project with an original approach, and the team members were able to display a good understanding of their work, with thoughtful and significant conclusions.

• Third place was awarded to Video Games Programmers Mohammed Marwan Aljahdali and Feras Altwyrjl who presented the creation of a simple video game using C++ language, incorporating a standard household device - a remote control.
• Second place went to Robotics Makers Abdulrahman M Alharbi and Yousif T Aljahdali, with their construction of an automated robotic candy sorter using simple components. 
• The winners of the In Kingdom category were Industrial Designers Badr M Almuhammadi and Badea S Aljadani for their presentation about the potential uses of 3D printers, and their ‘Grobot’, a horticultural aid that provides environmental data such as humidity and temperature.  

While these science experiments may seem simple, they were inspired by and can lead to more intricate inventions – for example, Abdulrahman and Yousif explained that the motivation behind the candy sorter came from investigating how pharmaceutical factories sort tablets.

These six students are all participants in KAUST’s Young Learners Development Program (YLDP), a rolling series of initiatives and projects designed to help the next generation of Thuwal students reach their full potential by developing skills in STEM, English, digital literacy, soft skills and environmental awareness.  The STEM element of the YLDP includes Science Summer Camps at KAUST - a season of intensive daily workshops with KAUST faculty and graduate students, where ideas are explored and developed into long term projects.  These projects then extend beyond the Summer Camp, with the students and their mentors getting together to continue development.  The winning entries in the Science Fair are the result of these long term projects.  The outstanding team of volunteers that support the students include their mentors, Masters student Sakhaa Al Saedi and PhD student Sevatr Ooi.  The volunteers’ commitment to their students’ advancement, embodies the aim of the YLDP, and their dedication was appreciated by the students, who particularly praised the scientists’ skills at communicating difficult concepts.

The students send their thanks to the KAUST WEP Team, and the organisers and judges of the KAUST Science Fair – KAUST looks forward to what they will create and exhibit for WEP 2021.

      

Part of the Young Learners' Development Program - read the Program Overview here

February 4, 2020