Dear students and teachers participating in AEROFAIR 2016,
The Briefing Day Event for AEROFAIR 2016 has been successfully conducted on last Thursday, 23 June 2016. This event was participated by 32 teachers and 74 students from 19 schools. (Shared above is the group photo taken for the event.)
We the organizers would like to express our thanks and appreciation to all of you for visiting USM Aerospace last week and participating fully in our program. Hope to see all of you again in the Competition Day on 24 September 2016!
As promised, the PowerPoint slides of the presentations during the event are shared below.
Participants can refer to the Briefing Day slides to read brief descriptions about the program's history, objectives, and competitions organized in this program. In the Indoor Flight slides, participants can find out about the resources prepared for the indoor flight activities, outlines of the Indoor Flight Module, brief descriptions about the science of flight and the construction process of an indoor airplane, and our suggestion on how to form your team.
Pn. Che' Fauziah Hanim Mohd Saad (Tel: 04-5995951; email: aehanim@usm.my)
Participating schools can also submit their YouTube video links for the Video Competition (at least two weeks before the Competition Day of AEROFAIR 2016) to our secretariat office, using both emails above. More details about the Video Competition can be read here.
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Update on 14/6/2016:
All the 19 participating schools have agreed to attend the morning session on Thursday, 23 June 2016 (10 am - 12 pm). Therefore, the afternoon session is cancelled. See further details below.
To all the schools participating in AEROFAIR 2016:
Due to requests from a number of teachers from the participating schools, we (the organizer for AEROFAIR 2016) will offer another option for the schools to attend the Briefing Day.
The original plan for the Briefing Day on Thursday, 23 June 2016 (3 pm to 5 pm) will continue as usual. In addition to this original time, we will offer another time for the Briefing Day on the same day but in the morning, that is, on Thursday, 23 June 2016 (10 am to 12 pm).
This offer of another time option is because the teachers found the original time to be inconvenient due to the following reasons:
Because this event will be conducted during the fasting month of Ramadhan, many prefer to arrive home from work well before sunset to break their fast. This could be difficult for participants who have to travel back from the USM Engineering Campus in Nibong Tebal after the event to their areas in the Penang Island or in Seberang Perai Utara.
The traffic from Nibong Tebal towards north is normally quite heavy after work, particularly on Thursdays and Fridays. This would make it even more difficult for participants to arrive home before sunset.
To facilitate the organization of the Briefing Day for these two separate times, each participating school will be contacted by the secretariat of AEROFAIR 2016 to confirm their attendance in either one of the times offered. Alternatively, the schools can also call our secretariat to confirm their preference of the time. Their contact numbers can be obtained in this page. Update on 14/6/2016:
The list of the participating schools who have confirmed their attendance time for the Briefing Day is shown below. All the 19 participating schools have confirmed their attendance on the morning session. No school will attend the afternoon session (so this session is cancelled).
Formal letters will be sent to all the schools on Monday, 13 June 2016 (after the school midterm holiday), to confirm their attendance on their preferred sessions of the Briefing Day.
Schools attending the morning session (10 am - 12 pm):
Picture: SMK Permatang Tok Jaya (Team A), the 2015 champion of the indoor flight competition, with their championship trophy, medals, and a remote-controlled hexacopter pathfinder 2, complete with an FPV camera, priced at about RM650.
We have received many applications from secondary schools in Pulau Pinang to participate in AEROFAIR 2016. The application procedure is now officially closed.
With an additional funding, we are able to accept participation from 19 schools (extended from the previous limit of 15 schools only). These schools are (listed alphabetically):
MRSM Balik Pulau
MRSM Kepala Batas
SMA Mahaad Al-Mashoor Al-Islami, Balik Pulau
SMK Alma, Bukit Mertajam
SMK Bakti, Tasek Gelugor
SMK Bukit Jambul, Gelugor
SMK Bukit Mertajam
SMK Convent Bukit Mertajam
SMK Datuk Onn, Butterworth
SMK Jawi, Sungai Jawi
SMK Jit Sin, Bukit Mertajam
SMK Penanti, Kubang Semang
SMK Perempuan China, Georgetown
SMK Permatang Tok Jaya, Butterworth
SMK Saujana Indah, Nibong Tebal
SMK Seri Nibong, Nibong Tebal
SMK Simpang Empat, Simpang Ampat
SMK Sungai Aceh, Nibong Tebal
SMK Valdor, Sungai Bakap
Announcement: for the participating schools, we will all first meet on the Briefing Day at the School of Aerospace Engineering USM in Nibong Tebal on Thursday, 23 June 2016 (3 - 5 pm). In this event, each school will be provided with the material and equipment needed for their students to conduct the aerospace engineering activities at their school. All of these materials and equipment are fully sponsored by our AEROFAIR program. More detailed information on AEROFAIR 2016 and the two activities, Indoor Flight and Water Rocket, will also be given.
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Update 5/10/2016: Please read this post on the completion and outcomes of AEROFAIR 2016.
The School of Aerospace Engineering USM is once again organizing another series of our AEROFAIR outreach program this year. We have previously organized two AEROFAIR programs in 2014 and 2015. Our program is financially supported by the Penang Education Council of the Penang Institute and a USM research grant on outreach program. This program has been approved by Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri Pulau Pinang (JPNPP).
The theme of this year's program is "Promoting Aerospace Science and Activities in Secondary Schools". The main event of this year's program is the half-day Competition Day, which will be held on Saturday, 24 September 2016. Another earlier event is a Briefing Day, which will be conducted for two hours on Thursday, 23 June 2016. (Its original date on Wednesday, 22 June, had to be changed due to the public holiday, Nuzul Al-Quran, on the same day.)
A video from our last year's AEROFAIR 2015 is shared below. The champion of the indoor flight competition last year was SMK Permatang Tok Jaya, Butterworth. Other winners are listed here.
OBJECTIVES:
Our main objective for AEROFAIR 2016 is different and more challenging from the objectives of the previous programs: "To guide and assist secondary schools in Pulau Pinang to develop sustainable activities related to aerospace engineering at their schools". These aerospace engineering activities will involve constructing small-scale indoor-flying airplanes and water-rocket models.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
All secondary schools in Pulau Pinang can apply to participate in this program. The deadline to send the application form is on Wednesday, 4 May 2016. The application form can be downloaded here.
ACTIVITIES & COMPETITIONS:
Two main flying competitions will be organized for two activities in AEROFAIR 2016 (you can read more about these activities by clicking the links below):
Awards will be given to the top three winners for each of these four competitions.
BRIEFING DAY:
An initial event, a Briefing Day, will be conducted for all participating schools three months before the main event. It will be on Thursday, 23 June 2016, from 3 pm to 5 pm, at the School of Aerospace Engineering, USM Engineering Campus, Nibong Tebal. Each school will be represented by 3 persons (including at least one teacher) to this event.
The main purpose of this Briefing Day is to supply each school with FREE materials and equipment necessary for them to conduct aerospace activities (on indoor flight and water rocket) at their schools. The cost of these materials and equipment (ranging about RM400 to RM600 per school) will be covered by the organizer. In addition, each school will be given explanations and guidelines on how to conduct these activities at their schools.
NOTE: We apologize to have to conduct this Briefing Day on the fasting month of Ramadhan. We try to make it as convenient as possible for all involved by making it a short 2-hour program. It is the only time frame available to both the USM organizers and the schools, for the following reasons:
The organizers will need to order from overseas some of the equipment and materials to supply to participating schools on the Briefing Day; this process may take more than a month,
Schools will have their Mid Term break from 28 May until 12 June, and an examination week prior to this break,
Conducting the Briefing Day in July after Hari Raya Aidilfitri will not give plenty of time for participating school students to carry out the aerospace activities before the Competition Day.
COMPETITION DAY:
This main event of AEROFAIR 2016 will be conducted on Saturday, 24 September 2016, from 7.30 am to 1.30 pm, at Dewan Utama, Kampus Kejuruteraan, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang. Please visit this page for details of the program agenda.
ADDITIONAL NOTE:
Throughout this program, we want to encourage the use of English in learning science, which is why our program content in this blog is written in English. The rational behind this is that English is the international language of science. In addition, most resources and reading materials about activities on aerospace engineering for school students are available in English.
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