Illustratum 2022

A fascination with superconductors prompted Ezell Low to conduct his own research online on floating magnets. Stumbling upon a youtube video on the same topic, the Bedok Green Secondary School student tried experimenting with a Dremel rotary tool that got a magnet spinning along in a holder he designed using CAD and fabricated with a 3D printer.

“The problem I had was the face of the magnet kept moving, and it was hard to find equilibrium with the attractive and repulsive forces kept changing. I tested many times and I wanted to give up, it was hard. But I finally managed to get the magnet floating,” remarked Ezell unassumingly.

Prof Gong Jiangbin, Head, Department of Physics, trying out the demonstration set up by student Ezell Low (in green shirt).

Such was the enthusiasm demonstrated by participants of Illustratum 2022, a physics hallway competition for secondary school students. Be it a simple exhibit, live experiment or Tik Tok video, secondary school students were invited to illustrate and explain any physics discoveries of their choice using their own imagination. Illustratum hopes to tap on the creativity of young minds to communicate the concepts of physics that are accurate and captivating. Organised first time by Physics @ NUS with support from Science Centre Singapore and the Ministry of Education, Illustratum 2022 attracted the participation of 54 teams comprising 150 students.

Prior to the actual showcase days, workshops and clinics were organised where participants could meet and interact with the faculty at NUS Physics to clarify any doubts they had or obstacles they were facing. The judging rubrics included accuracy, clarity, level of engagement, ownership where students would be required to keep a journal of their journey and bonus including design, craftsmanship, originality and workmanship.

Prof Lim Tit Meng, CEO of Science Centre Singapore, in his message to students during prize presentation, encouraged students to pursue their passion and interest whether they became physicists in the future or not. The fact that students were driven by curiosity and trying to experiment with things and being passionate about communicating the science behind was a good starting point. He cited the example of American environmental artist and sculptor Ned Kahn who designed artistic physics-based interactive demonstration sets during his undergraduate days and went on to pursue the fusion of art and science with world-renowned exhibits.

“The whole point of this competition is really to help people make sense of what physics is and to make it come alive for our friends around us. Congratulations to all students in this inaugural competition,” remarked Mdm Lee Lin Yee, Director, Sciences Branch, Curriculum Planning and Development Division 1 (CPDD1), Ministry of Education, who delivered a congratulatory message on behalf of the Guest-of-Honour Mr Sin Kim Ho, Divisional Director, CPDD1. The experience student gained from the competition would provide them with the tools such as the ability to use digital and media means to communicate science and STEM to more people. The competition was very open to new ideas or free spirited in terms of not restricting students as to what concepts to share and the manner of presenting them.

“The process of learning and doing science really shouldn’t be just about solving pen and paper questions but building and sustaining a community that promotes a rich and safe space for collaboration, inquiry and exploration.” Mdm Lee ended on a note where she thanked all participants for engaging so actively in the process and hoped this would be a meaningful endeavour for many years to come.
I see Illustratum as a learning opportunity for the students. Some of them presented a simple concept but they were trying to make sure that it was helpful for other students to visualise the physics behind for example light rays. How students brought out the concepts of physics was impressive. The workshops were useful as they helped students overcame the challenges they faced. Students came in not knowing what to expect but in a way it was good as then it was up to the students’ creativity to come up with whatever they wanted and take ownership.
Mdm Liew ShuhuiTeacher, Nanyang Girls’ High School
Illustratum gave students an opportunity to interact with the physics faculty at NUS and learn physics beyond what the schools can provide them. Here there is expert knowledge and equipment available. The objective of Illustratum is meaningful and unique as students can explore their interest and express physics using illustration on their own. It was a good exposure and eye-opening kind of experience.
Mr Fong Yik CheeTeacher, River Valley High School
We wanted to join this competition to gain some experience. When we were in lower secondary, Covid came and there wasn’t any activity outside of school to participate in. Now is an opportunity not to be missed. We chose the topic of static for our project. We had zoom call with our school teacher to seek clarification but we also had to work on our end by conducting our own research online. It was more exciting than listening in class about concepts. We had never done this before so it was a valuable experience.
Team Static SistersBedok South Secondary School
This event has definitely taught us to not give up. Before the actual showcase we had to drop our original idea and came up with something new instead. Aesthetics wise we definitely were able to deliver something good on time. We felt we had managed to convey the physics principles and the ideas we had in mind. So it was overall a fun experience. This is a breath of fresh air in terms of creating something beyond what we learned in school. We also learned that trial and error isn’t necessary a bad thing. We figured out ourselves the right way to go and how to improve our work. We were thankful the judges were very nice.
Team JSLBendemeer Secondary School
We really like physics and its mathematics and we thought we should get exposed more to the experimental side of physics. We wanted to take a shot at explaining concepts we were interested in and Illustratum was a good avenue. In this competition, we did a study on predicting pendulum and its motion. We had gained an interesting experience in trying to code for a ball tracking program. We also did self-study and turned to online resources. We got to experience something which we would not otherwise.
Team ΣigmaCatholic High School
The event was very enjoyable, interesting and meaningful. We learnt about being innovative so as to showcase our scientific concepts and illustrate our ideas and views well. We taught ourselves new things through research and setting up the experiment. We also observed and learned from the projects of other groups. Adopting new mindsets and working as a team, we became more effective and not to give up despite facing challenges. This event was a good opportunity for all of us to grow and scale new heights. If we had the chance to join again, we would gladly do so.
Team Light WaveKranji Secondary School
There’s a lot to say about the process. For us it was starting from scratch to get to where we are now. We really value the experience. We are very grateful to the teacher mentors for helping us at the clinic sessions. We learned quite a lot and also put in great effort. We are glad that we consolidated this journey on a high note. We are thankful to the judges and professors for making this an enjoyable competition.
Team Light of Your LifeNanyang Girls’ High School
We learned new scientific concepts as the project we did was something completely new to us so now we kind of mastered it. We wanted to do some interesting physics stuff outside of school curriculum. We thought this was a good avenue to do it. We could set up experiment and learn new topic. With more knowledge gained, maybe in future, if we were to participate in this competition, we can explore harder concepts.
Team FaradayNUS High School
This event really motivated us to learn things out of our school syllabus. Through this experience, we also made many new friends. It was very interesting to see what everyone was doing. There were so many ideas we could learn from one another. The judges were really nice.
Team Lab RatsSingapore Chinese Girls’ School
This project taught us how to present physics in a simple manner. We got to simplify the knowledge and present it in a form that others could understand it better. We also learned that there is always more than one way to showcase a topic of physics. We did a skit on Newton’s Three Laws which was different from what was done normally. It helped to reinforce our own knowledge that we have acquired in class.
Team Newton’s AppleSwiss Cottage Secondary School
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