Project Transformasi is a social initiative founded by my teacher, Mr Nigel and some students (including me!) in 2015 to teach our juniors robotics and Arduino. We started with only 12 students and soon grew to have more than 80 students in 2018.
To kick-start 2019, I volunteered to organize a training boot camp for new members of Project Transformasi. This event had received more than 70 applications from the students. Two weeks before the event day, my team worked cohesively to brainstorm and plan for the boot camp activities. We eventually decided to give the participants a series of educational challenges to explore their abilities.
On the event day, we had a fun ice-breaking game where all participants were asked to find a "treasure" in teams based on a treasure map. They ran around the school, solved some riddles, and worked together to get through obstacles. In the end, all teams successfully secured their treasures.
The highlight of the event was the design thinking workshop. I started with introducing the students with design thinking and explain how it can be applied in problem-solving. I shared my experiences of developing an automated waste separating machine to solve littering in school by following the design thinking processes. Many participants were fascinated by this design concept as it was the first time they ever heard of it. Some asked interesting questions like "Can I apply design thinking in my studies?" Do great designers use design thinking?"
To experience design thinking, the participants were then divided into groups and instructed to construct a future city model from recycled materials. They were asked to think of the current problems in our cities (e.g.pollution and flash floods) and tried to create solutions to the issues selected. It was nerve-wracking for them when I kept asking "why" particular problem was happening until they identified the root causes. Besides, I challenged the team to create a tall building that could withstand a tornado (where I simulated it with a fan).
Out of our expectation, I was surprised by creative ideas from the participants: some suggested to power up the whole city with clean energy while some proposed to include trees and plants when designing buildings. It was indeed a fruitful session.
Learning is a never-ending process that happens anytime, anywhere. Being able to share my knowledge and inspire these young students gave me a sense of accomplishment. I believe true leaders will always empower their teams (community) with the best of their abilities. And that's the kind of leader I want to be.
Hope you enjoy the blog!
Kok Wei
Gallery
Modelling the future city!
Measuring the height and testing the building with a "tornado"!
Say Cheese!
Sharing session!
The end!