Background and Introduction
The Science Fair for Young Children (SFYC) is ASTI’s premier project in Malaysia for the younger generation to increase their interest in science. Our children need to be totally involved and immersed in the learning of science and exercise their scientific skills through science based activities which are fun and exciting. ASTI believes that the best way to learn science is by doing experiments and drawing an inference from it rather than just reading, understanding and memorizing the contents. Science students, especially the young, should be encouraged to learn science by doing science projects that will bring to “life” underlying scientific concepts.
In addition, SFYC was formed to empower the students with the learning process and provide them with the needed tools will satisfy their curiosity during their path of discovering scientific truths. They are also encouraged to put forward their ideas to the public through presentation of the project during the event. This also serve as a platform which helps boost their confidence and their communication skills. Besides organising the fair at state and national levels, the SFYC organising team also empowers and encourages the schools to hold their own school level science fairs (SLSF). We are of the opinion that school level science fairs have a higher impact and benefit more students interested in science as all the students in the school are involved.
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SFYC has the following objectives:
- To arouse and cultivate students’ interest in learning Science
- To train the teachers and students to understand science and scientific methodology
- To enhance 21st Century Skills among students.
- To develop students’ awareness and interest for scientific issues in environmental and technological contexts
- To train science teachers to develop and design science projects for their teaching and encourage them to organise schools level science fairs.
The target group and age category for the SFYC are as follows:
School Level Science Fair: SJKT Preschool & Year 1-6
Zone Level Science Fair : SJKT Year 3-5
National Level Science Fair : SJKT Year 3-5
The Science Fair for Young Children conducted in 3 level and the implementation methodology are as follows:
School Level Science Fair
Students from Standard 1 to 6 can participate in SLSF. All the materials and prizes for the school level science fair will be given by ASTI. Teachers can download the material from our website. The schools will organize the school level according to their preference date, students will be given simple experiment that they can conduct with team or individually. The teachers were given simple judging criteria for marking and finalizing the winners.
Zone Level Science Fair
Students will be given two hands-on experiments to be carried out during the Zone Level Science Fair day. Each experiment will take 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete. All the experiments will be based on their syllabus. The apparatus and material for the experiments will be provided by ASTI. Judging will be purely based on the answer sheet. 3-5 students from each school can participate. Winners will be announced at the end of the event day.
National Level Science Fair
Based on Zone Level Science Fair results, 70 schools will be shortlisted for National Level Science Fair. The schools will be given titles based on a theme that will be decide later by the judging team. The school should develop the experiment with prototype based on scientific methodology to participate in the National Level Science Fair. Thus, schools are required to submit a page of poster to the secretariat two weeks before the Grand Finale. The schools have to showcase their experiment to the judges and general public at the Grand Finale. In addition, students also need to conduct a hands-on experiment and answer the question sheet provided.
We believe that this program can be a platform for young students to learn science though hands-on experiment method. This method will make science for more fun to learn.
- Science fair has been conducted for the past 18 years with more that 700 teachers trained and 40,000 students participating every year.
- Since 2017, the Ministry of Education (MOE) Malaysia has officially endorsed the AFC as a national-level competition.