By Dr. Mohd Firdaus Mohd Anuar
SERDANG (UPM) - A total of 78 secondary school students and 15 accompanying teachers from 12 fully residential schools (SBP) and daily secondary schools participated in the Malaysia Conference of Young Scientists (MYCYS) 2019 competition.
The competition which was organised for the 5th time by Alam Shah Science Secondary School (ASiS), also marked the first collaboration between ASiS and the Faculty of Agriculture, UPM. The competition was held at the Agriculture Hall, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).
A total of 34 entries were accepted to participate in the MYCYS competition which involved 3 main elements of Science i.e. Chemistry (10), Biology (12) and Physics (12).
MYCYS competition involved six researchers from UPM who were appointed as judges to assess MYCYS participants involved in poster and oral presentations.
The poster presentation required the participants to provide a brief explanation on the results of their study and the invention to the judge, followed by an oral presentation session.
The principal of Alam Shah Science Secondary School, Norazhar Mohd Shah, said the MYCYS competition prepared school students to take part in competitions at a higher level such as the Asia Pacific Conference of Young Scientists (APCYS) and the International Conference of Young Scientists (ICYS).
"The judging approach in MYCYS also emphasises the mastery of the fundamentals of science, namely Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Mathematics in an effort to produce a young generation with basic knowledge in pure science," he said.
MYCYS 2019 Competition Director, Rohaya Bakar, said the goal of the competition was to encourage creativity and innovation activities among Malaysian students to improve the quality of research in science innovation and inculcate research practices among students.
Chief Judge, Dr. Mohd Firdaus Mohd Anuar who is also a researcher at the Faculty of Agriculture, said among the key factors that were taken into account were the authenticity of the research or inventions, possibilities of being commercialised and the participants' confidence in answering questions about their work.
On the last day of the competition, MYCYS participants had the opportunity to attend a lecture by UPM researchers on organic farming and agricultural technology.
A total of eight winners for the gold category, 11 winners for the silver category and 15 winners for the bronze categories were selected from the contested fields. Participants from Kuala Kangsar Malay College (MCKK), Perak were selected as the overall winners for the Best Poster Presentation category while participants from Seri Puteri Science Secondary School (SESERI), Kuala Lumpur were selected for the Best Oral Presentation category. - UPM
