We woke up at around the same time today. My hotel room felt like it was a sauna because we have accidentally changed the settings of our heater to 40 degrees Celcius We packed up and went for breakfast before we headed off to visit the Superintendent, Mr Kim Seokjoon, at the Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education.
We were warmly greeted by many officials working there. After a short break at their cafeteria, we met the director and the Superintendent. I feel very honoured to be meeting them because it is a very opportunity to be meeting such high ranking officials. The Superintendent started off the session by giving a speech which mainly mentioned about how amazed he was at our school's learning environment and how it functions, along with his well wishes for us to enjoy our trip here in Busan. Mrs Chew then gave her speech by highlighting the importance of schools learning from one another in order to better improve the ways of educating students. Busan and SST have been in partnership for 3 years and I really hope that this partnership continues because I agree with Mrs Chew that we need to continue to learn from one another and further grow together in order to educate the young people who will be leaders of our future. It was a rather short exchange. After taking a group photo, we bid goodbye to the Superintendent and we headed to the Samsung Renault Motor Factory.
At the Samsung Renault Motor Factory Gallery, we were greeted by our guide. She hence went on to explain about the engine types, typical sedan car design outline and also a very vintage car called Voiturette. At the sedan car model, we can see a lot of supporting structures to help absorb impact in the event of a car crash. These metal bars are situated around primary areas of the car and are shock-absorbent. The reason why these structures are needed is because a large portion of the car's body is made out of aluminium which is a very weak metal. However, the main reason why aluminium is used in the body of the car is because it is lightweight which explains why there shouldn't be too many supporting structures as well as it will use up more energy and become less energy-efficient. Because of the effects of global warming, many companies that I have seen so far in Busan (such as POSCO) are becoming more environmentally friendly. With such efforts by major companies like Samsung Renault Motors Factory, we would hence be able to greatly reduce the effects of global warming and pollution. Our guide also explained about the timing belt which is usually made out of metal instead of rubber because rubber will lose its tension very easily and it will stretch. The brakes of the car uses a hydraulic press system. Each wheel has an independent brake system. We also saw a very vintage car called Voiturette which was created by Louis Renault. It's maximum speed however, is only 22km/h and weighs 200kg. Interestingly, its headlights are actually candles. Without oxygen, the flame would not be able to ignite. Hence they had lids to allow oxygen to flow in. To move the car, we would have to pull the handle to generate electricity. However, it is exposed to the weather and there is no shelter against unfavourable weather like heavy rain and strong winds. The brake system in this car is different from the modern car shown previously. Its brake system is a lever system. When the lever is activated, the rear pad is gripped to the axel to generate friction and provide resistance for the car to come to a stop. We also learnt about the different types of engines. The cylinders in the engine cause internal combustion as ignition happens, rapid expansion of the fuel and air pushes the piston up which connects to the driving shaft. For example, V6 means that there are 6 cylinders which are shaped in a 'V' and is a very common engine configuration. We also went to their factory where they assemble the car. It was a huge factory and they mainly used robots and machines to help them in assembling the parts of the car. This proves how important technology is in this modern world. The factory also has a field of solar panels installed so that they can use renewable energy to release energy for the different shops to do their job (enough for 8000 households!).

After visiting the Samsung Renault Motor Factory, we went back to school for lunch at the cafeteria when it is finally fully vegetarian!!! I enjoyed my meal a lot.

Afterwards, we went for the different classes. First, we went for robot class at the robot lab to do a sound sensor project using Arduino. Through this, I actually applied what I have learnt back in my ICT class in SST about coding and Arduino to complete this project. I worked well with Raviraj and it felt like studying in SST all over again and doing projects with my peers. We collaborated well and enjoyed ourselves very much, also with the guidance of our buddy. BSHS also has 1 ICT lesson of about 50 minutes also per week, which is similar to that of the lower secondary curriculum in SST.

Next, we went to the Smart Lab where we tried to operate drones. It was a rather fun (and dangerous) experience handling the drones as it kept flying everywhere without control. The teacher, Mr Son, told us that drones are becoming more common in our everyday lives and it is essential that we learn how to operate them because we are living in the 21st century now and many things will be related to technology in future (just like the robot class).

We then joined the regular class. I went to music class and enjoyed myself a lot there. I played the piano and the Busan students were listening to me play my piano pieces. I also learnt how to play the Korean traditional instrument, gayageum, with the help of a buddy. I learnt various tricks and methods to play the gayageum. Another buddy also taught me how to play the drums and I picked up the skill very quickly because I was already very familiar with music in general and it was easy for me to coordinate my leg and hand movement. The buddies then proceeded to perform for us various songs and instrumental pieces. It was very entertaining and funny at times. I appreciate them for their friendliness and patience in interacting with us and teaching us. This was a different learning experience as we don't have music lessons in SST. Although BSHS is very science-orientated, it also provides platforms to hone students' music or artistic abilities.

Afterwards, we went for Chemistry lesson at the Chemistry lab. We were determining the concentration of Vitamin C using the UV-Vis spectrophotometer. This was a real-world application as we applied our learning of vitamins and UV wavelengths. I also had to use the skills that I have learnt during Biotechnology practical sessions to use the instruments such as the Quartz cuvette and the pipette. However, our results were way off than the actual expected results. It was challenging as we did not know what went wrong. After several discussions with the lecturer, we figured out that we did the experiment wrongly as we went to dilute the vitamin instead, resulting in a very weird vitamin concentration value.

We then had dinner with the school officials and teachers at a very fancy BBQ restaurant. We ate a lot of korean food which we had never really tried before. I liked the hot noodles that they have specially ordered for the vegetarians. Our table was full of joy and laughter.

Returning back to school, we were greeted by our buddies at the robot lab again which is a place for us to interact with one another and understand each other better with the use of the computer. Surprisingly, the previous buddies that I've actually met came! Han Jiyun unnie was there too! We had a great time conversing with one another and I really hoped that there was more time to spend with each other as my time with her is very limited :( I will appreciate the remaining time spent with her and the other buddies that I know.

Like other days, today was fruitful and I have learnt and enjoyed myself a lot from today's programmes.





Connect learning
Extending learning
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