An Article on the AEROFAIR Project

Our work on the AEROFAIR outreach project has recently been published and presented at the Regional Conference on Engineering Education (RCEE 2016) on 9 August 2016 in Kuala Lumpur. The article is "Outreaching and Engaging Students with STEM through AEROFAIR". The PDF file of the article can be downloaded from the given link.

The article looks at the issues related to STEM in Malaysia, particularly on students' diminishing interest in the fields and the major challenge in Malaysia to fill up sufficient capacity of about 500,000 skilled workforce in STEM by the year 2020. At the current rate, there will be a huge shortage of almost 48% from the target.

Our approach to contribute towards this issue is by promoting STEM to secondary school students through outreach programs and engaging them with hands-on activities related to aerospace engineering. Learning modules and resources are also developed to assist students participating in these programs.

Two outreach programs have been organized in our AEROFAIR project, which are further discussed in the article. Future works toward the goal of promoting STEM are also described to build a more sustainable effort in reaching out to more students to be involved in our outreach programs.

The summary of the article is:

One critical issue facing Malaysia’s aim to become a developed nation by 2020 is in the possibility of attaining only half of its targeted capacity of workforce in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This national challenge of motivating students towards STEM presents opportunities at many scales and levels, one being the urgent need for tertiary STEM institutions to conduct outreach programs to attract prospective students. This paper presents the development, implementation, and outcomes of AEROFAIR, a long-term outreach project by the School of Aerospace Engineering at the Universiti Sains Malaysia designed to promote STEM to secondary school students through hands-on activities related to aerospace engineering. Discussion on these activities focuses on indoor flight, a new outreach platform introduced in Malaysia through this project. The project has been organized into two consecutive outreach programs, each consisting of a half-day workshop and a half-day competition event participated by more than 240 students and teachers. Surveys were conducted to assess the outcomes of each program. Feedback from participants largely indicated positive impact of the activities in generating interest towards STEM, but recommended a few suggestions to improve the physical and organizational aspects of the programs. Recommendations from AEROFAIR 2014 had been implemented in AEROFAIR 2015, resulted in better students’ learning outcomes and in producing longer flight times during the competition. Further improvements will be incorporated in organizing the next AEROFAIR program in 2016, with the main aim of scaling-up the impact of this outreach project.

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AEROFAIR 2016: Briefing Day

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.

1. Briefing Day
2. Indoor Flight

For more details on each activity and competition, please click the links below:

1. Indoor Flight
2. Water Rocket
3. Presentations by schools' contingents (on the Competition Day)
4. Videos made by students about aerospace activities at their schools

Other photos during this event are shared in this Google Photo Album.

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AEROFAIR 2016: Contact

For further information about this program, please contact the program's secretariat office below.

1. Pn. Fakriah Jamaluddin (Tel: 04-5995903; email: fakriah@usm.my)
2. 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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AEROFAIR 2016 Briefing Day: An Update

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.

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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:

1. 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.
2. 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):

1. MRSM Balik Pulau
2. MRSM Kepala Batas
3. SMA Mahaad Al-Mashoor Al-Islami, Balik Pulau
4. SMK Alma, Bukit Mertajam
5. SMK Bakti, Tasek Gelugor
6. SMK Bukit Jambul, Gelugor
7. SMK Bukit Mertajam
8. SMK Convent Bukit Mertajam
9. SMK Datuk Onn, Butterworth
10. SMK Jawi, Sungai Jawi
11. SMK Jit Sin, Bukit Mertajam
12. SMK Penanti, Kubang Semang
13. SMK Perempuan China, Georgetown
14. SMK Permatang Tok Jaya, Butterworth
15. SMK Saujana Indah, Nibong Tebal
16. SMK Seri Nibong, Nibong Tebal
17. SMK Simpang Empat, Simpang Ampat
18. SMK Sungai Aceh, Nibong Tebal
19. SMK Valdor, Sungai Bakap

Schools attending the afternoon session (3 pm - 5 pm): none.

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AEROFAIR 2016: Participating Schools

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):

1. MRSM Balik Pulau
2. MRSM Kepala Batas
3. SMA Mahaad Al-Mashoor Al-Islami, Balik Pulau
4. SMK Alma, Bukit Mertajam
5. SMK Bakti, Tasek Gelugor
6. SMK Bukit Jambul, Gelugor
7. SMK Bukit Mertajam
8. SMK Convent Bukit Mertajam
9. SMK Datuk Onn, Butterworth
10. SMK Jawi, Sungai Jawi
11. SMK Jit Sin, Bukit Mertajam
12. SMK Penanti, Kubang Semang
13. SMK Perempuan China, Georgetown
14. SMK Permatang Tok Jaya, Butterworth
15. SMK Saujana Indah, Nibong Tebal
16. SMK Seri Nibong, Nibong Tebal
17. SMK Simpang Empat, Simpang Ampat
18. SMK Sungai Aceh, Nibong Tebal
19. 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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