ABOUT
US
The
Team
Our
team is made up of two students from Victoria Junior
College (VJC) and one from Ping Yi Secondary School
(PYSS) in Singapore, with the able assistance and
guidance of two teacher-coaches.
This
website was pieced together over a period of 15 weeks
or so. We have only met once and that was before any
work began. Subsequently we collaborated online. Despite
our proximity, we have never met up after that first
meeting. This is because each one of us is really
busy and travelling via public transport takes up
too much time. In true Thinkquest style, we collaborated
completely online.
The
VJC students worked on the research front, while our
PYSS member handled the actual design and layout of
the web pages you see before you. This project has
been a huge learning experience for us all. Most of
us had never undertaken a project of such magnitude
before, and were not quite used to having to communicate
via the Internet only, for the most part. It was also
a fair amount of work for us all, what with having
to collect, collate and organise the vast amount of
data out there, then trying to build an attractive,
engaging website for it.
Ironically
enough, not a single team member had studied biology
before; so we learnt as we went along. The team was
fascinated by the sweeping changes in the field of
genetics and the human genome unfolding before us.
As a result, we decided to do a website on the human
genome. We felt that was the best way to learn about
genetics and the human genome and indeed it turned
out to be an invaluable learning experience for us
We
also had to juggle our time with an array of extra
curricular activities, examinations, continuous assessment
tests, our social lives and other commitments. We
have learnt how to explore the inter-relationships
and inter-connectedness of different subjects, and
the project has helped us develop the ability to integrate
all sorts of different types of information and make
meaningful use of it. I believe we have all come through
the better for this experience.
Student
Members
Name
- Sim
Age - 18
Role - Team leader
Location - Victoria
Junior College, Singapore
Reflection
- Participating in Think Quest has broadened my perspective
of life. Through the collaboration with another school,
I have learnt to be responsible and gained some useful
communicating skills. The topic that we chose for
our project was eye opening because I learned many
things I would not normally learn in school.
Name
- Lance
Age - 17
Role - Researcher
Location - Victoria
Junior College, Singapore
Reflection
- Well, it hasn't been the easiest time. Lots of hard
work, worry and stress were put into this project.
I sure hope it shows from the website's quality. But
I think I nevertheless benefited from this experience
through invaluable lessons learnt in resource gathering,
teamwork, communication and so on.
Name
- Shameer
Age - 14
Role - Site design, layout and animations
Location - Ping
Yi Secondary School, Singapore
Reflection
- This has been my most challenging webpage competition
so far. My studies, projects, exams, extra curricular
activities in school and my social life had to take
a back seat. Working on a topic that I knew nothing
about was an additional challenge. Having a slow 56K
Internet connection (hey, often it goes down to 28.8K
only, blame it on my ISP?) at home which had to be
shared with my brother and sister certainly was another
problem. Hey, but problems are meant to be solved
…says my coach. So I had to pull all stops to
get going. With perseverance and grit, I camped overnight
in school on weekends on leftover pizzas, noodles
and canned food to come up with the pages and animations
you now see. Nevertheless, it was a great learning
experience - the collaboration, the accommodation
of each other's views, the numerous skills learnt.
It certainly was most enriching.
Coaches
Name
- Gi Soong Chee
E-Mail - gisc@moe.edu.sg
Role - Coach
Location - Victoria
Junior College, Singapore
Reflection
- Hi! I am a Computing tutor in Victoria Junior College,
Singapore. This is my third year as a coach in the
ThinkQuest Internet Challenge, and I must say that
it is probably the most fulfilling year :). The students
are really committed and self-motivated. I must say
that I am impressed with the amount of long hours
and hard work the team members have put in to building
this site. They have truly collaborated effectively
and contributed significantly, with Lance as the main
content researcher, Shameer handling the web design
and animation, and Wee Lee integrating all these with
the scripts. The product is a high quality site presented
before you, and we really hope that you will have
fun navigating and learning about the topic as much
as the team has enjoyed and benefitted from creating
it.
Name
- Low Yik Foon
E-Mail - ittics@pacific.net.sg
Role - Coach
Location - Ping
Yi Secondary School, Singapore
Reflection
- I had wanted to take up this project last year but
I was a little hesitant to take up a project of such
a magnitude. In retrospect, I should have done so,
as the collaboration and the experience gained were
invaluable. The entries are getting better each year
and it's a real challenge as a coach to keep up with
the competition. I am grateful to the other coach,
Mr Gi who gave us invaluable advice and also to my
department head, Mrs Caryn Leong for her support.
