A TEAM from Tzu Chi International School Kuala Lumpur is the proud winner of the inaugural Cambridge University Press & Assessment (Cambridge) global engineering award.
Poon Han Kim, Chong Cheng Yi and Douglas Yip Shi Jie were recognised for their research into how to protect crops from flood and drought.
They found that, between 2021 and 2022, floods caused a total loss of RM138.6mil in agricultural, fisheries and livestock sectors in Malaysia alone. Inspired to find a potential solution, they used 3D modelling to design a flood barrier.
The school’s KS3 Coordinator Chio Sheung Yong was impressed by the positive impact that being part of the competition had on the students.
“We have witnessed them developing and enhancing their soft skills in many areas.
“This achievement is merely the start of their long journey toward making the world a better place for humans and all other living beings,” she said in a press release from Cambridge.
The winner of the new engineering award was announced on Dec 3.
The award, aimed at enhancing climate change education and its application to engineering, is part of the Cambridge global science competition for students aged 14-16.
The International Education group at Cambridge and Cambridge Zero have also published a new introduction paper to help advance climate change education in schools and bridge the gap to engineering jobs of the future.
“Empowering engineers of the future to tackle climate change” was developed by engineering and education experts and describes ways to offer school age students the skills and motivation to become engineers ready for a world that has experienced climate change.
The paper examines how schools can embed climate change-related research and teaching into Cambridge curricula and resources for students aged three to 19.
Some of the recommendations for teaching and learning include:
> Increasing focus on building critical thinking skills to help develop the problem solving and design thinking capabilities needed for engineering
> Engaging students with real-world problems through case studies and open access digital tools to develop skills that relate to sustainability, such as multidisciplinary and systems thinking
> Providing opportunities for hands-on learning which give learners space to be creative and to connect theory with practice
Cambridge global director (climate education) Christine Özden said climate change education for engineers must begin in schools.
“International education at Cambridge reaches 100 million learners around the world and our research tells us that engineering is the second most popular degree subject that our students go on to study at university. “Given how crucial engineering is in managing climate change, we not only have an incredible opportunity to support learning to tackle the climate crisis through this route, but a responsibility,” she said in a press release.
