Preface

SJC Heartbeat – Passion, Aspirations and Dreams (Vol 2) continues the ideation of Singapore’s future by our students and staff who were inspired by the Future of Us Exhibition which concluded the SG50 celebrations.

In Vol 2, staff and students share their aspirations about the transformative power of technology – how technology may deepen and extend community ties, enable us to transcend the limitations of gravity and space, and create anew a borderless learning environment. Yet while these ideations inspire, there is also a very real sense of the need to balance the empowering use of technology with respect for a natural, sustainable environment.

Let’s continue to build Our Dreams for the Future Together!

From the Editorial TeamTay Yea Bih, Adeline Ng, Wang Peidi and Berlina Tan

Avery Chan (2G)

Allie Naqia Bte Ahmad (3A)

Small Technological Advances Add Up

Change cannot take place overnight, yet such change is possible. It requires time and effort from everyone. Change comes with education and creating awareness about why we need this change and how we can each play our part to promote change.

- Miss Nurwidayu (Malay Language teacher)

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Vasnwini Vivakumar (3D)

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Miss Jeanette Ngoh (English Literature and Geography teacher)

3

In the light of rapidly declining resources, the ideal living environment is increasingly one that uses the least energy, consumes the least resources. Having sensors to detect human activity in rooms has long been employed in some industries. Perhaps this simple installation may be made a standard in schools and offices.

Similarly, given how Singapore aspires to balance busy lifestyles with healthy living, threadmills in offices and homes could all come with electricity generators that can power up other devices in the room, so that a quick exercise break isn’t just beneficial for the runner but also for the environment. An app that can connect the runner with family, friends and neighbours for a little friendly competition while discretely reminding us of our health status or little bursts of exercise achievements for the day could add to the motivation to exercise. - Elizabeth Baey (2A), Mrs Phoon Lai Ling (Computer Applications and Mathematics teacher) and Miss Jeanette Ngoh (English Literature and Geography teacher)

4

Joey Kong Zu Er (2F)

Energy-saving practices at home are critical since everyone uses quite a substantial amount of energy at home every day. Many people living in cities waste a lot of water as they go about their day-to-day activities, especially during showers. Other than petroleum and coal resources being depleted, water could all too easily run dry in the next century due to over usage in commercial agriculture, and lack of monitoring of the depleting levels of aquifers. Should we not make a change in our lifestyle, we may well face severe water shortages within the next fifty years, let alone worry about the depletion of marine life as a key source of food. To conserve precious resources like water, showerheads could be attached with detectors consisting of different LED lights that indicate the different levels of usage/water flow. This visual impact will serve as visual reminders to users to discourage them from taking prolonged showers and hopefully reduce wastage.

- Micah Hane Dacany (4F)

5Kanoknapha Valaikanok (3E)

With rising temperatures, more families and even schools in Singapore are turning to using air-conditioning in more areas and for longer periods of time. Windows without shades would make the building warmer, thus, even more resources must be pumped in to cool the rooms. Something as simple as transition windows for schools and classrooms would deliberately reduce the amount of sunlight that penetrates into the rooms, especially in the mid-morning and mid-afternoon, hence, reducing the general temperature of the room. A cooler room would help everyone feel more comfortable and thus, increase work efficiency.

- Grace Looi (4G)

Mrs Goh Boon Hong (Design & Technology and Mathematics teacher)

6

Classrooms of the Future: an Integrated Digital School Community of Students, Teachers and Parents

Paperless digital books, information scribbled, captured and beamed directly from digital platforms like digital whiteboards or online portals connecting students’ personal handheld devices, are what we look forward to. A welcome aid for improved visualization, a 360° projector or holographic screens could be installed in classrooms. The 3-dimensional effect could intensify the learning process, especially for the learning of Science, Geography and Mathematical modelling, or for the imagining of alternative realities in the Humanities, Languages and Arts and Design.

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Miss Han Chuin Chi

To reduce paper wastage, communication between parents and the school can be done digitally through the school website and MC-online.

An online helper app could allow parents to acknowledge parental letters and information online, further reducing response time. If marks from daily assignments can be computed automatically, these marks may be beamed to parents weekly so parents can be alerted regularly about their daughters’ work and they can monitor their daughters’ progress more easily regularly.

This integrated learning environment would also provide more motivation for students to read ahead as a flipped classroom approach would be the norm and the basic expectation as all in the learning community will be prepared to come to class armed with questions and queries for active discussion instead of such heavy reliance on the teacher as the source of information.

Of course, the flip side to this increased technological reliance is that we need to ensure that there is a way to re-charge our handheld devices in a more environmentally friendly way. Instead of just throwing away battery packs and handphones and laptops after 2 or 3 years, all secondary school students should be given a basic course in computer repairs so that we can all learn to upgrade, retrofit, improve our laptops and PCs on our own, then we would not have to keep buying completely new machines so frequently. Like old buildings with solid basic foundations, if we learn such basic upgrading skills, we can help extend the lifespan of our laptops and PCs.

8

Reina Tay Si Ru (2F)

It would be even better if we can fit solar panels on the rooftops of our schools to convert solar energy into electricity for re-charging points scattered around school. The sun is a massive, free source of untapped energy that can be converted into environmentally expensive electricity, a precious, freely available energy alternative to the gas imported from Malaysia to be burnt for electricity.

Similarly, there has to be a more concerted, nationwide approach to improving recycling, especially environmentally sustainable recycling of electronic devices. Recycling starts with us at home with our families, in school with our classmates and teachers. Recycling begins with Us!

- Sabrina Than (2B), Kaitlyn Sng (2F), Aalyyah Bte Mohd Imran(2F), Danielle Lu (2F), Callista Goh (2F), Heidi Han (2G), Trisha Vinnarasu (2F) Alexandra Koh (2G), Dora Wong (2H), Alicia Lee (2H), Benson Lim (Mathematics and Computer Applications teacher)

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Chloe Foo Jia Qi (2G)

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Samantha Chan Ying Ying (2F)

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Vera Koh Wen Xi (2F)

Claire (3H)

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Felicia Chia Wen Xuan (3H)

Julianne Kuon Hui Xuan (3E)

During Biology class,

You are able to interact with holographic, 3D projections. For example, to learn about digestion, pupils can manipulate and interact with the projection to trace the route of food travelling through the tract.

During Geography class,

the holographic projections could show hard to observe phenomenon like volcanic eruptions up close. Similarly, we can control different factors in the phenomenon to understand it better.

Goggles like Google 3D glasses can be used in the classroom to enable students to visualise images at the click of a button.

Transport of the future: Improved, faster public transport to maximise land, sea and air spaces

What would transport look like in the future? How about a “green” train using magnetic energy to move trains along? The trains can move faster because there is less friction, commuters can travel further within a shorter travelling time.

Similarly, transport of the future could be magnetic cars, similar to our electrically powered current Light Rail Transit (LRT), but the former instead moves using magnets which have replaced wheels. When the car travels on magnet paved tracks, the magnets repel one another and the car floats above the ground. The car can be propelled forward by propellers that use either solar energy from the solar panel on the roof of the car or electricity gathered from charging stations. With more such tracks and magnetic cars laid on roads and widened pavements in Singapore, fewer people will feel compelled to save up for that expensive COE purchase. Say goodbye to carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, greenhouse gas and expensive petrol!

Emma Lee Jia Qi (3D)

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Dozing off, using phones, being engrossed in conversation, reduced vision in bad weather, having to hit the road after medication – all these reduce the reaction time for car drivers. Technology- driven, self-driving cars could prevent traffic accidents in such circumstances.

What about travelling in a flying car? Prototypes of low-lying flying vehicles are already out in USA, Canada and Germany. Over the next decade, policies need to be mapped out to regulate the use of flying cars and flying transportation or aerial drones. With such inventions, we may be able to reduce travelling time and traffic congestion.

- Nadya Loke (2G), Milcah Sze Hui Feng (2G), Chow Li Qing (5B), Emma Lee Jia Qi (3D), Janelle Thian (5B) and Mr Zulkifli (Computer Applications and Chemistry teacher).

Chelsea Klyne (2F)

Devanshi Suppraja Beatrice Sim (3D)

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Eleanor Contance (3A)

Flying hover boards and even winged, short-distance, enclosed vehicles could be the thing of the future with rolling hover boards a current hot item for tech geeks. It will be more convenient for everybody as they just need to step onto the flying boards for transportation across short distances. This saves time for the average commuter. Traffic jams, long wait for taxis, overcrowding MRT and buses may be eased at the same time. We could float in the air or even just be lifted off the ground, like the Shikansen of Japan, with electromagnetic waves. Another use for our HDB rooftops beyond being places for water filtration and storage tanks, and solar panels, would be as places for locating hoverboard stops if we could get our public transport to be air-borne! Like bicycle stations in cycling-loving cities like Montreal and Holland, would hover board stations take off in the future as people reduce their reliance on cars, and rent hover boards for the day or for the distance at hover board stations all across the island?

- Jolene Lim (4E), Faith (4C), Deborah Choo (4D), Andrea Rio (4E), Wynne Chan (4H), Ms Ho Yan Yi (Biology and Chemistry teacher)

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Tan Yi Lin, Whitney (3H)

Harnessing renewable energy for transport

Moving beyond hybrid cars and electricity vehicles, solar-powered cars is a possibility in sunny Singapore. At night, our cars can run on the energy stored in the day as solar energy is converted to electricity and air-conditioning!

- Lynsey Chan (4C)

18

Food for the soul and body on the way to work, school and play

Singapore is a small country but we have built so many kilometres of track and road that travelling sometimes takes a long time and sometimes, a whole journey is made entirely underground. Using technology, perhaps some MRT cabins could be installed with screens covering the windows that reveal different types of beautiful scenery to offer such commuters a relaxing start or close to the busy work day. If soothing music is piped in, this would make the experience even more whole. These screens can also double up as news portals to transmit important news reports when the need arises.

- Nazla Afrin Bte Mohamed A (5A)

Floating Hospital

With coastlines set to rise in the next century with increased global warming, more and more coastal areas in the world will find themselves at risk of innundation from sea water without even a single drop of rain.

Floating medical ships may just be alternative rescue vehicles needed to save people from disaster-prone areas. Self-powering engines with shape and structure which are calculated with aerodynamics and precision engineering may enable the ship to be lasting, power-efficient and able to serve a large group of victims.

- Dyan Long (4H)

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Improving Road Safety with Improved Surveillance

There have been newspaper reports about commercial vehicles, construction dump trucks, vans and lorries moving on the road past the speed limit. Many accidents happen on the road because of errant road users. There is no need to speed at the expense of other road users. We can create a safer road condition for all users by changing some current practices and mindsets. The LTA or traffic police could allow road users to report errant drivers, without much hassle, such as by sending in the video clips captured with in-car cameras. Another way is to have all heavy vehicles install a tracking device (which has been piloted on school buses), together with an app to track the buses’ movement on the road. Such precautionary measures will contribute to more responsible road usage.

Lastly, we have to educate all road users that safety on the road is the best policy. Just as cyclists should not veer into the pedestrian lane in parks, motorcyclists delivering goods should not use pedestrian walkways as extended short cuts. If we install cameras along these pedestrian walk ways to police safety, responsible road and pedestrian way usage will improve.

– Miss Adeline Ng (Social Studies and Mathematics teacher)

Tech-savvy infrastructure and textures for healthcare, elderly, handicapped and those with special needs

Singapore needs to build more facilities and organise more activities for those less able to help themselves, such as the elderly, in the community. Some members of the elderly are neglected by their working children or are unable to cope in fast-changing Singapore despite their past contributions to the building of the nation and their families. For the elderly living alone, robots known as care-bots and N-bots could assist the elderly or physically handicapped in daily chores and they would have more time to take part in activities that could enhance their well-being. Robots could reduce the chance of injures in the absence of caregivers.

Playgrounds and fitness corners in the neighbourhood could be further enhanced to cater to the needs of the handicapped and the elderly. For example, threadmills and various exercise equipment at community park corners could be installed with storage systems that transmit the information from users to community hospitals that can track the health statistics of users, especially those of our silver tsunami, thus raising an alert if a user doesn’t use the equipment for about a month. The human data trackers in the hospital could then give a call to these elderly or the handicapped to check in on their well-being.

- Bhargavi S. (4E), Shauna Tupaz (4G), Tan Syn Yee (4G), Victoria Poon (4D), Carol Ng (4G), Melissa Chng (4F), and Jensin Ang (4B)

21 Adelina Wong (3D)

How necessary is air-conditioning? Would it not be ideal to be able to wear fabric that makes you feel like you have your very own air-conditioner even in our warm and humid environment? It will enhance the quality of life because when people feel cool, they can concentrate better at work and in school.

- Kanoknapha Valaikanok (3E), Amanda Yeong Xin Yi (3E)

Cell-rebuilding machines to cure diseases

Cord blood banking is nothing new to new age parents of today; we understand how useful stem cells could be in combating certain diseases like leukaemia. If we have a cell-rebuilding machine to regenerate healthy cells to replace the diseased ones, everyone could be more likely to be freed from diseases and thus would be more likely to live a quality life till natural death occurs.

- Miss Samanthan Tan (English and Social Studies teacher)

Amanda Yeong Xin Yi (3E)

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Greening Singapore through Technology

A cleaner and greener environment enables its citizens to be less prone to illness, while providing a green environment that is a tonic for busy city souls. Singapore is already a relatively clean country. Putting in specific plants that have been found to filter pollutants from printers, photocopying machines, paints and so forth, will go a long way in creating a sustainably clean environment. We could and should do more also to reduce our reliance on plastic, and rein in our waste by making recycling a part of Singapore life.

While we protect the local flora, we must not forget the fauna in the country which adds to the great biodiversity on this small mainland and our surrounding islands. Beyond visiting the zoo, we must curb the illegal trade of exotic or endangered animals by not buying these. The wise choice and participation in conservation of animals can even be as simple as making better food choices like eating for survival and not wasting food. We must teach our next generations the importance of conservation before we lose everything to the concrete jungle. There are many online media platforms which are used to actively gather support for wild life causes, and to spread awareness such as those by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

- Chelsea de Mello (5B), Iman Fandi Ahmad (4H), Lyka Mae Erodias (5A), Nera Mok (4E), Mdm Su Xue (Mother Tongue teacher), Miss Mary Charles (Biology teacher), and Mr Jansen Tan (Chemistry and Biology teacher)

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Using Technology for Sustainable Living and Farming Alternative Food Sources

With global warming, riverbanks are drying up and many lands have been overfarmed. The burning of forests to clear land and to obtain fertile ground adds to the problem of climate change, perpetuating the challenge of drought.

In many countries, the ease of buying and discarding disposables without proper legislature on the sustainable disposal of such materials (metals in handphones, batteries and laptops, toxic chemicals from the manufacture of manmade fabrics that wash out into waterways, random discarding and burning of readily available plastics from plastic bags, mineral water bottles) has resulted in nanoparticles and potentially toxic waste products making their way into the food chains that eventually lead back to larger mammals like humans.

Biologists and chemists could work on ways to make environmentally sustainable products more widely available at a lower cost but commercial organizations and consumers need to support these approaches too. Scientists are also looking for ways to turn low grade, mass produced food into edible utensils to reduce use of non-biodegradable material.

Furthermore, the rearing of big farm animals like pigs, sheep, cows and even poultry produce a lot of waste, especially methane from cow farms. We could look at alternative food sources like insects which are known to be protein-rich and which can be bred in a tightly controlled environment as a future, sustainable food source.

- Goh Si Qi (4D)

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Using Technology to Address the Manpower Shortage

Machinery reduces manpower for labour and may be used to increase efficiency and productivity for many of the jobs that we see daily. However, there is still a demand for manual labour for jobs as small as clearing the plates after a meal, to moving much larger objects.

Robots in public places could serve to complement human’s work. People who are less abled could simply wait for the food to be served to their tables by robots after ordering and paying online at a central deposit point such as the electronic ticket purchase booths in an MRT station. Similarly, robots could even collect the used dishes and send these to the dish washing corners. Such robots may also be used in old folks homes and hospitals. The Japanese are already experimenting with adorable robotic toys shaped like baby seals, complete with soft fur for stroking and adorable body shapes, that wink and make cute noises as part of therapy toys for the sick and those who need companionship.

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Charmaine Chee (2F)

Apart from the service and medical industries, we could use robots to replace people involved in risky/monotonous work like in the construction and cleaning industries. People would then be freed-up to take on bigger roles and do more meaningful work.

A robotic chef can help relieve the burden of working parents who do not have helpers but need to prepare meals for the family when they return from a long day at work. The robotic chef can also help in other household chores such as washing the dishes and general cleaning.

- Fiona Ong (4B), Sheryl Ang (4D), Renee Lum (4B), Lim Tae Ying Zann (3H) and Mrs Margaret Low (English Language and Literature teacher)

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Lim Tze Ying Zann (3H)

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Acknowledgements

This volume features a segment of the enthusiastic and thoughtful contributions from the students and staff of CHIJ St Joseph’s Convent. We have highlighted the more unique and representative ideas.

We thank all our colleagues for facilitating conversations with our students and look forward to implementing the many interesting ideas with One Singapore Heartbeat.

Cover design and additional graphics done by The Creative Dept.Published 2016.

THANK YOU

CHIJ St. Joseph’s Convent62 Sengkang East WaySingapore 548595 www.chijstjosephsconvent.moe.edu.sg

Copyright © 2016 by CHIJ St. Joseph’s ConventAll rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher.