At 10.30, the whole classroom of 10 Geography was filled with students from the Science club of Korea International schools and members of Physics & Youth Hanoi-Amsterdam. Also, the exchange was all the more honored by the presence of Mr. Nguyễn Văn Quảng – teacher of Home Economics and Ms. Tạ Thu Trang –  English teacher

Students appeared on time, enthusiatically debating on science matters during the exchange

The scientific  workshop took place in an avid and exciting atmosphere. Opening the exchange was a presentation by Lê Minh –  a student of class 11Physics, president of Youth&Physics club – on a special pump using water force. Through Minh’s introduction, other students learned about the motor mechanism of the pump and water treatment application in real life. This is an automatic pumping device which uses the energy of a source water pole to elevate part of the stream source to a greater height. This scheme’s advantages include: simple structure, high reliability due to voidance of moving parts, minimum requirements for maintenance and capacity for long-term operation. At the same time, the pump doesn’t use electricity so it can be easily erected. However, some disadvantages cannot be avoided; one of these is the low water flow in the pump (only 10-25% of the water source is elevated). In the last part of the presentation, Minh mentioned ways of water treatment. In highland areas, transportation of water meets with tremendous difficulties, but there are many rivers, streams and large lakes that are suitable for this pump.

Lê Minh – President of Youth & Physics Club of Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted

Continuing the exchange is a presentation by Bùi Thế Quyền – student of 11Physics – about an electrostatic dust filter EPS made from recycling material. He said that the idea of this filter stemmed from the state of increasing environmental pollution: more and more dust fills the air and garbage takes up large landfills on the Earth. With the clever utilisation of recycling material and the electrostatic precipitator system (previously used only in factories), the filter is a very helpful invention to clean the air of heavy dust. Through that, dust will be absorbed in three ways: electro field, gravitation and momentum(/inertia?). The persuasive presentation with such an unique invention idea truly attracted everyone present’s attention.

The interesting presentation by Bùi Thế Quyền – student of class 11Physics 

In the same spirit, coming to the exchange, Tae Hyung Kim – student of Korea International School made an introduction of the group of World In Nature (W.I.N.) and a project named “How to make soap using cooking oil”. WIN was founded mostly to aim at environmental science activities. Through a short documentary clip shown by Korean students, we could see numerous activities that the W.I.N. had carried out in the last 2 years. The group had trips to science museums in Hanoi City, found out about tourist attractions and global warming phenomena

Tae Hyung Kim – student of Korea International School – giving an introduction about the group World In Nature (W.I.N.) and the project “How to make soap using cooking oil”

The project named “How to make soap using cooking oil” was built based on the situation where redundant oil makes negative effects on the environment. If redundant cooking oil is discharged directly into rivers and lakes without any filter process, it will prevent water’s ability to re-filter and destroys marine ecosystem. Hence, with the purpose of making positive change to environmental protection campaign around the world, this project transforms redundant oil into soap and then sell the soap they’ve made to everyone.

Students of Korea International School participating in the science exchange

Members of PYHA and students from Korea International School then joined hands to perform experiments to prove the procedure of making soap from cooking oil. The first thing to do is to pour 125ml of water into a small cup. Then carefully put 75g of caustic soda into water. Continue by adding 225ml of redundant cooking oil before stirring the mixture to unify its components. Gradually the mixture will turn into a color of creamy yellow. After the mixture has set, store it in molds. The experiment procedure may sound simple but it presented members of the science clubs with certain difficulty. Despite all that, each and every student’s face was filled with eagerness and vibrant happiness as students got the chance to carry out experiments together.

Students carrying out experiments and producing the very first products

At 11.30am, the exchange between two science club of Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted and Korea International School came to an end. Though it took place in only a short one hour, the exchange acted as a bridge that brought the two clubs together. After the exchange, each student gained his or her own lessons and helpful experience. May the two clubs develop in the future with even more novel inventions helpful in real life and achieve much success!

                                                                                   Reporter: Nhật Linh – Literature 1417

                                                                               Translator: Minh Phương – English 1316

                                                                                 Photos: Ams Media