Engineering Unplugged: Behind the Scenes Interviews Pt 2
By Jessie Verma
Teacher Overseer Interview
We know students won’t read long pages so why don’t we trick them by splitting the article in two 😼
Introduction:
“Hello I’m Mr Wong, I’m a junior science teacher, I’m also a systems technology and a year 11 physics teacher.”
What motivated you to become involved in the engineering club?
“Well it is really a student lead progress, I was originally approached by Battal and Varun after they planned everything out. And I was happy to see how organised they were with presenting everything. The real thing that motivated me was because I want to support students in engineering, especially since our school doesn’t have an engineering subject. Also, from personal experience, I was an executive member of an association for 3-4 years in university. So I kinda see myself in them sometimes.”
What on-hand projects have you seen from students recently?
“The one that they built yesterday, the ultrasonic metre. They also introduced the project where students get to build either a spider, car, robotic arm and tank.”
What skills do you think are most important for students to develop through their involvement in the club?
“The skill that they develop everytime they build a breadboard is converting diagrams into physical models. It’s something that isn’t immediately transferable, you do need to develop the skills to read an instruction and put the right pieces together. And also problem solving, because everytime you build something, you probably make a mistake. You need to figure out where the mistake is, and how to fix it.”
Do you also know some things about engineering or are you also learning among students as well?
“I’m definitely learning. I never really learnt how to use breadboards until I started teaching systems technology. Even with all the projects they are doing right now, I’ll understand how the circuit flows, but not how the small components really work. So definitely in the learning process with the committee as well.”