Project Summary

The high nutrient level of sewage effluent causes common problems to our water bodies.  In this study, we explored the capabilities of various aquatic plants namely, Water lettuce, Water Hyacinth, Salvinia and a submerged plant in purifying and reducing the nutrients in sewage effluent.  This investigation was carried out in two separate experiments. 

In the preliminary study, we experimented with salvinia, Water hyacinth and Water lettuce over a period of 3 weeks. For the second experiment, we repeated the use of Salvinia and Water hyacinth and included a submerged plant over a period of 7 weeks.  The plants were grown in tubs of sewage effluent of 5 litres each.  We hypothesize that the aquatic plants would proliferate rapidly upon growing in the sewage effluent due to the large presence of nutrients, leading to a decrease in nutrients level.

Our results showed that the plants appeared green and healthy  in the first three weeks.  Salvinia and Water lettuce showed better growth than Water hyacinth and the submerged plant.  After Week 3, plants started to die.  Salvinia and Water lettuce were able to reduce nitrate levels; only Salvinia was able to reduce phosphate levels.  Hence, we concluded that Salvinia has the greatest potential in reducing nutrients in sewage waters.  The plants growing in the sewage waters did not affect the pH drastically.  pH remained in the neutral or slightly alkaline range of 7.0-7.5.  Hence, we concluded that it is feasible to use water plants, particularly Salvinia and to a lesser extent, Water lettuce, in the reduction of nutrient levels in sewage water.  In this way, eutrophication can be minimized.

Project Summary

Our project is the creation of an original game-book in which readers can choose how the story progresses and ends.  It will be a personal adventure for everyone and along the way, they will learn about environmental issues, the beauty of the ocean, and how their actions will affect the environment around them.  Our book is targeted at 10 - 14 year-olds, in hopes of them treasuring and valuing their marine environment.  We also attempt to stir up their interest in marine conservation through a captivating storyline, while increasing their knowledge of these marine environmental issues, and hope they will continue to care for the environment even when they grow older.

Through this interactive system, the readers will be drawn into the story and more easily retain what is written, including the wonder of the oceans, causes and the some of the solutions pertaining to the most serious of threats to our marine environment.

The features of our book include:

1.        Lively Drawings
2.        Compelling Storyline
3.        Game
4.        Factsheets
5.        Educational Value

Our system of gameplay as well as a brief overview of how our story would go if the reader makes all the correct choices, are explained in our report.

We conducted a trail run prior to the final prototype of our book, by allowing relatives of our target age group of 10 - 14 years old to have a chance to try out our game-book and provide us with constructive suggestions.  The main concerns and our actions taken were:

1.        Too many pages filled with words – Increased number of drawings

2.        Certain routes in game found to be able to allow readers to avoid facing the planned environmental problems in the story – Made it more difficult to do so, and implemented some penalties, if these important plotlines were to be sidestepped

3.        Some misleading phrasing and words – Modified word usage and phrasing to simplify language.

4.        Fundamental errors in language or formatting – Corrected them and did run-throughs to check yet again.

Project Summary

Vinasse is produced in huge quantities from the brewery industry and if not disposed of properly will cause severe environmental pollution.  As recent studies have shown that vinasse possesses antifungal properties and high in organic mineral contents, vinasse has great potential to be recycled for use as a 2-in-1 antifungal agent cum fertilizer for plants.

There are 3 phases in our project: Phase 1 – preparation of vinasse extract, Phase 2 – screening the vinasse extract for antifungal activities and lastly Phase 3 – plant growth studies.  In Phase 1, vinasse extract was prepare and this was screened for antifungal activities against Phytophthora parasitica and Sclerotinia sclerotiurum in Phase 2.  The optimum inhibitory concentration of vinasse was determined and vinasse extract of this concentration was used for our plant growth studies involving Chinese cabbage.

Our results showed that vinasse concentration of 50% (v/v) was most effective in inhibiting the growth of both of the soil fungus Phytophthora parasitica and Sclerotinia sclerotiurum.  We are currently in the process of studying the effect of the vinasse on plant growth.  In this phase of our project, plant growth will be determined by the chlorophyll content of the leaves and height of the plants.

Findings from our project can provide information to design a method for recycling vinasse and for the creation of an organic antifungal agent that can prevent fungal infections of valuable crops.  Results of the plant growth study will serve to indicate the suitability of vinasse for use as a fertilizer.

Project Summary

The Singapore Government has invested $170 m to boost clean energy research in areas such as solar energy and biofuels.  In the area of education, all 5 polytechnics offer courses in clean energy.  The challenge is for schools to support and promote the green movement.  The Jatropha Project@SKSS is a “green entrepreneurship” project by 8 students under the school’s Science Research Programme, which develops pupils’ thinking skills through inter-disciplinary projects that offers practical solutions to real-life problems.

The Jatropha Project@SKSS aims to transform communities by providing practical and scalable solutions to environmental problems.  It aims to improve the lives of people in rural communities, by providing them with a simple and convenient way to obtain oil from Jatropha seeds and purify it.  The farmers can profit by selling the oil and the proceeds can be used to supplement their income and livelihood.  Through outreach and education initiatives, we hope to inspire the young about he potential of clean biofuels and to do their part in saving the earth.

The Jatropha Project@SKSS is an inter-disciplinary project between Science and Design and Technology (D&T) departments to explore the ecophysiology of the Jatropha plant (grown in the school compound), followed by extraction of oil from its seeds and purification of oil using a process called trans-esterification.  The aim is to establish a cost-effective, scalable and practical approach to the growth, extraction and purification of Jatropha.

The Jatropha Project@SKSS has two deliverables – products and publications.

Products designed by the students are the ME-O (Mechanical Expeller of Oil) and PuJo (Purification of Jatropha oil into biodiesel).  The ME-O is an handy device invented to expel oil from seeds through mechanical compression.  It can be carried anywhere and used anytime, in all weather conditions as it is made of sturdy materials such as bronze and copper.

The PuJo is a experimental kit to convert oil to biodiesel.  The fatty acids in oil go through a process called trans-esterificatioin, using chemicals sodium hydroxide and methanol, to produce methyl ester.  The mixture of methyl ester and methanol gives better performance compared to oil direct from seeds.

A photo-book targeted at children from ages of 7 to 16 is published.  This book presents information about harmful effects of fossil fuels and the potential of clean fuels such as biodiesel from Jatropha in a simple and colourful format, to attract young readers.  In addition, a total of four educational posters have been produced, two of which explains the workings of the ME-O and PuJo, while the other two shares about the Jatropha plant and its current uses, and the differences between bioethanol and biodiesel.

Project Summary

Our current knowledge about the pivotal factors in leadiing people to adopt and maintain an ecologically-friendly lifestyle is merely infinitesimal.  However, recent research published in the Journal of Environmental Systems strongly suupoorts the notion of a strong relationship between intrinsic motivation, personal satisfction and everyday conservational behaviour.  We have decided to use this theory to guide the making of our workbook.

Our target audience is primary school students, for an obvious reason – they are our future.  Our group’s activity book aims to inculcate a love for nature in them, and we believe that this will multiply into positive environmenta l action on a greater scale.  Our youth are the deciding agents of change that will determine the future of our rainforest, so such an education would instill ideal environmental habits in them, ensuring an environmentally friendly Singapore in the years to come.

Our workbook will feature and present to students an array of fascinating plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, and even fungi, which they can find locally in their very own rainforests.  What is unique about it is that it focuses on conservation in Singapore specifically.  We have observed that few people in Singapore realize just how rich our biodiversity is in our backyard, believing in a myth that biodiversity can only be found in the Sumatran rainforests or the Amazon basin.  We hope that through process of discovery, they will learn to appreciate nature and have a desire to help her.  We strongly believe that environmental conservation should start at home.

Project Summary

The increased in standard of living brings about increased waste generation.  As a holistic approach towards waste management, biological reprocessing is one of the many methods that one can employ.  Biological reprocessing covers many forms of which composting is one of them.  Being a garden city, Singapore generates much garden waste that can serves as good candidate for composting. 

In our project, our primary aim serves to explore into the feasibility of composting garden waste and to use it as a supplement to plant nutrients need.  Secondary aim serves to study and explore the feasibility of introducing measures to bring about tapping into composting as a means of waste management in school and parks.  The composting of garden waste last about 6 weeks per cycle and physical factors such as temperature and signs of condensation were recorded.  Presence of fauna within the compost and around the compost sites are recorded accordingly.  The potential of the leachate as a source of nutrients were investigated using plant grown in Nutrient Sollution Agar.  Temperature is significantly higher when the compost process in on going and generally the temperature increases before returning back in a cycle of about 10 days, which is close to our topping up of garden waste which was once every two weeks.  The leachate was found to stimulate root development and when used in conjunction with nutrient solution, it contributes to better root and shoot development.  The compost was able to promote germination of seeds but the nutrient level was inadequate to promote healthy development in the seedling.  Merging of findings from our composting process and the nutritional potential of the compost together with the pruning process in our school, plus the observation of garden waste treatment in East Coast Park, we realised that there is much potential in drafting of policy to better manage garden waste reducing cost in disposal of waste yet saving cost by churning out compost as plant growth enhancer.  By tapping into scientific findings coupled with sound policy measures, biological reprocessing as a means of holistic waste management certainly has vast potential in Singapore.

Project Summary

Rejuvenation of Marsh Garden is a collaboration project between Commonwealth Secondary Shool and West Coast Park.  This collaboration project is a long term project that will last about 4 – 5 years.  This collaboration project is supported by Shell which provides the funding for this whole project.  In other words, this provides opportunities for synergistic partnership between our school and different partners mainly Shells and NParks.  Besides funding, Shell also provides volunteers that will work closely with our pupils in many programmes held at West Coast Park.

Through this project, the partners will provide our pupils with their authentic experience, expertise in their various fields, concepts beyound the pupils’ normal school curriulum as they share with the pupils.  At the same time, with the knowledge and passion of the partners, this will better engage the pupils, indirectly enrich students’ learning, hence providing a education for the pupils.

This project comprises of a total of 3 phases which align closely to our school philosophy : Head, Hand and Heart.

Our school believes that total learning will only takes place when students think, do and internalize when touching their hearts.

We hope that through the various green activities, as they share with the community and contributing back to the society, the pupils will develop their sense of fulfillment, compassion and commitment towards the environment.  Hence touching their hearts.

Project Summary

This project is about investigating ways to improve on the toilet roll dispenser that is currently sold  in the market.  This not only reduces the cost of producing one, it is also more environmentally-friendly than the automatic dispenser as it’s main energy source is not electrical energy, but rather, chemical potential energy.  The main reason as to why we were insistent on making the toilet roll dispenser semi-manual was to reduce the harm brought about because of the use of electricity.  As quoted from Thin-quest library, “the production of electricity contributes to global warming since greenhouse gases are released every time it is used”.  Moreover, as compared to the manual toilet roll dispensers, this semi-automatic dispenser would be more convenient.

To do so, research was done on the current toilet roll dispensers before deciding to make use of elastic potential energy, magnetic energy and chemical potential energy by using rubber-bands, magnets, springs, pulleys, levers and gears in our repective ideas.  After a total of 6 ideas, we started making our prototype, using the trial and error method to find the most suitable type of system the toilet roll dispenser should use.

After much improvement on the final prototype, it was completed.  A toy dial, taken from a toy phone; and the gears from a hand-powered torch, as they were one-directional, were used.  It is essential that the toilet roll dispenser is one-directional so that the toilet-roll will not roll back when the lever returns to its original position.  The final prototype we made worked.

In our opinion, reducing the amount of tissue paper students can take every time the lever is turned will inevitably reduce the amount of paper wastage generated by the school annually.  With that, less land will be turned into land-fields, which allows for more space for other activities, instead of reclaiming more land.  Furthermore, fewer trees will be removed in order to provide for the demand for toilet paper.  This would in turn save the environment.

Thus, we conclude that our prototype is beneficial to humans and to the environment at the same time.