You will have to fill up a set of forms. I don't know if they have changed since then, and though I have the essay with me (I think there were others too, but it seems I have lost them), I can't find the question. I think it's something about which specific area we're interested in and why. So here's what I wrote
Physics – Cosmology. Ever since I was a kid, I was fascinated by the universe. I often wondered whether the universe had a beginning, how it begun if it had one, whether it would last forever, and above all, will it ever end. Many years later, I chanced upon “A Brief History of Time” (S.Hawking) in the library. I was surprised to learn that science could be used to find rigorous answers to such ancient and apparently metaphysical questions. I was enthralled. From that moment, I decided to devote my life to finding these answers through Physics. Since then, I have been reading up on Physics in general, and cosmology in particular, in my free time. “The Elegant Universe” and its sequel “The Fabric of the Cosmos” (B.Greene) completely blew my mind! The strangeness of quantum mechanics, the subjectivity of time, a universe with eleven dimensions - what wild and amazing concepts. Now, I am a die-hard fanatic.
Here's the report (most of it, at least. Some of the stuff are removed from the version in this post) I wrote for MOE after we got back. It summarizes the two weeks we spent in Canada. Not so much on what we did, but rather, what I thought about the whole thing.
Introduction
The International Summer School for Young Physicists, 2008, gathered grade 11 Physics enthusiasts, half of them from Canada and the other half from the rest of the world, to Ontario, Canada. Throughout the course of the program, students stayed at a hostel at the University of Waterloo. These students went down to the nearby Perimeter Institute for lessons in advanced physics during the average day, and did tutorials in the lounge back at the hostel at night. Sometimes, there were fieldtrips made to local tourist attractions such as the CN Tower.
Opening Ceremony
We arrived late; hence we did not attend any formal opening ceremony. However, we heard it was pretty casual, with people trickling in on the first day and having a barbeque dinner at the end of it. On the second day, there were some ice-breaking games during which we got to know everyone and where they were from. There was also this drum banging activity, which served to make us all vibrate as one, quite literally. These activities are closer to what I consider an opening ceremony to be, but still, it was very relaxed and did not carry the weight one would expect a ceremony to. It was all very pleasing, as though we were visiting some old friend’s house.
Lectures
Learning special relativity and quantum mechanics were what occupied most of the lecture time. These lectures were given mainly by Dr Richard Epp, a researcher at the Perimeter Institute. He relied largely on the 18 blackboards in the lecture theatre instead of powerpoint slides. I found his usage of the chalk-and-talk method very refreshing and engaging. I think this is a point worth noting.
My teachers back in Singapore may be great, but I feel their lessons lack generally lack the vigor and engagement of Dr Epp’s. I think this is because teaching from powerpoint slides makes lectures cold and impersonal. In a sense, part of the teaching has already been taken over by the slides, which give the feeling that the lectures are pre-determined and rigid. This is because it is difficult to make any significant changes to slides during a lecture; it is hardly better than reading from a book and making slight improvisations.
On the other hand, a chalkboard (or a whiteboard, for that matter) allows the lecturer to run the lesson in a way which best suits his current batch of students. In the hands of a good lecturer like Dr Epp, every lesson seemed custom made for us – everything was relevant and engaging, without extraneous information or missing links. Dr Epp taught and improvised along the way, adding or removing details as he saw fit every now and then, leading to a lessons which were dynamic and yet not messy.
After coming back to school, I noticed the conspicuous lack of blackboards (or whiteboards) in the lecture theatre. Although new high-tech multimedia tools may be good for things like flash animations, I think we should not forget the value of older methods of teaching, especially when they are generally more adequate for day to day lecturing.
Throughout the ISSYP, we had a series of keynote lectures given by various researchers. They gave us a wide view of the current frontiers in research, primarily in theoretical physics and also partially in experimental physics. The level of difficulty and amount of mathematics involved in every lecture was quite varied. To be candid, I found some of those which hardly touched mathematics at all too much like the popular science books I used to read by the dozen. Although they may bring across the gist of certain concepts well, the lack of mathematics robs the physics of its rigor and subtlety. I concede that the full mathematics of most of these theories would be beyond us, but at least mathematical formulations of the simpler concepts would have been helpful. Naturally, I found the keynote lectures which incorporated decent levels of mathematics more deep and exciting.
Trips and Activities
We visited the Niagara Falls, Clifton Hill, a shopping mall which name I forgot, the CN Tower, the Ontario Science Centre, and the Institute of Quantum Computing (IQC).
The Niagara Falls was pretty majestic; it was quite entertaining to ride a boat (called the Maid of the Mist) which sailed close to the foot of the Niagara Falls. We all got quite wet, despite the raincoats. It was quite pleasing to see such a grand natural wonder, especially since the contrast between it and ordinary city life is rather stark.
Clifton Hill was a decadent shopping, eating, and amusement park district. Unlike most amusement parks, where one pays an entry fee and gets access to all the attractions, Clifton Hill had individual attractions (like haunted houses) presumably owned by different business entities, hence there was no strict ‘compound’, and we had to pay for the attractions individually. However, I spent most of my time there shopping for souvenirs, hence I did not try any of the rides.
The shopping mall was quite ordinary, that is, quite similar to that of Singapore. I guess this is quite expected in this globalized era, everything everywhere is getting more and more similar, and malls tend to exemplify this trend. However, that mall was only two stories tall and occupied a large area, unlike Singaporean malls, which are generally taller and have less area per floor. It is interesting to see how the availability of land affects architecture (there is much land in Canada, unlike Singapore).
The CN tower was, for a long period of time, the tallest man made structure. It was once used to broadcast television signals, but it is now more of a tourist attraction than anything else. It was quite fascinating. After all, how often does one chance across such a giant concrete stick?
The Ontario Science Centre is much like the one we have in Singapore. The only difference is that Singapore’s feels more physics-like while Ontario’s feels more biology-like. This could be due to the shape of the structures which make up Singapore’s science centre and the numerous plants growing all around Ontario’s. Growing all these plants around and on the building is supposed to reduce power consumption; I found it quite a fascinating idea, how simple (comparatively) natural methods can be so effective. On a less buoyant note, I was rather disappointed by the exhibitions. Perhaps this is my fault – I frequented the Singapore Science Centre as a child, becoming rather familiar with the exhibits, which were more or less the same as those in Ontario.
The Institute of Quantum Computing left a deep impression on me. It was a place buzzing with activity, filled with an air of higher learning. Everything seemed to move like clockwork, yet it was not impersonal, I felt quite at home there. The researchers were exceedingly friendly; one of them even took some time to give me advice on my research project back in Singapore which I was working on.
Mentorship
I was attached to Ghazal, a researcher working on cosmology. It was quite an exhilarating experience. Although I did come across some of the concepts in popular science books, working on the physics and mathematics from the foundations up was an intellectually challenging and utterly satisfying task. There was a certain sense of accomplishment when I (under Ghazal’s guidance) showed how the universe was expanding and what affected this expansion. All the variables seemed so much more meaningful; we have become closer friends, so to speak. I am more certain than ever that a career in theoretical physics is what I want to pursue.
Impressions of Canada and PI
Perimeter Institute was a wonderful place. Besides having mind boggling architecture and delicious food, it had an erudite air, an epicenter of learning. There were blackboards all over the place, not just in the walkways but in the café as well. They were installed so that physicists may scribble down ideas the moment they get them; hence no valuable insights would be lost. It may not be state of the art technology, but it served its purpose well, the blackboards I saw were scrawled full of equations. I hope to be able to one day understand them. That aside, the dedication to uncovering the secrets of nature was not just admirable but intoxicating. Everyone in that building seemed to have an unsullied childlike sense of wonder and curiosity, a place I would like to go to everyday.
Canada is a decent place, relaxed and calm. The air and wildlife at the University of Waterloo was exceedingly refreshing; stress seemed completely out of place.
---------
Nuuuh, looking back, my writing was horrible. And the application process for OSAP may have changed since then, so some of what I wrote may be out of date.
Having hailed from a neighborhood school, OSAP was my first application for something big. I had a rather dismal portfolio and knew next to nothing about such stuff. I don't think I would have passed the interview if not for the guidance from Zhao Ye and Lizheng, two people who went for ISSYP the year before.
There were two round of interview for OSAP. The first lasted for 5 min, and the second 15 min. Here are some of the interview questions which I remember.
-What science articles have you read lately?
-Why choose ISSYP?
-Would you mind if we put you in your second choice? (RSI in my case)
-Explain quantum mechanics to a layman
-Why do you not want to participate in the Local Science Attachment Program (LSAP) should your application to OSAP be rejected? (There is an option to be considered for LSAP should we not be selected for OSAP. It is said to be suicide to not opt for this, but I was only interested in theoretical physics back then, so I explained to them that since theoretical physics really isn't thaaaat prominent in Singapore, I would not want to be attached to a local institute should my application to OSAP fail. On an unrelated note, a month or so later, I was convinced to take up an experimental physics project at IMRE, and I soon fell in love with it)
-Tell me how cosmology and religion are related (I can't remember the exact phrasing, but they did ask something like this, and they were all looking very cheeky)
As Lizheng pointed out, (paraphrased) try to link your answers back to some baseline statement. This will enable the interviewers to remember you more easily, especially for the first round, where time is short and applicants are many.
Here's the report (most of it, at least. Some of the stuff are removed from the version in this post) I wrote for MOE after we got back. It summarizes the two weeks we spent in Canada. Not so much on what we did, but rather, what I thought about the whole thing.
A Report on the ISSYP
By
Chen Hongjie
National Junior College
By
Chen Hongjie
National Junior College
Introduction
The International Summer School for Young Physicists, 2008, gathered grade 11 Physics enthusiasts, half of them from Canada and the other half from the rest of the world, to Ontario, Canada. Throughout the course of the program, students stayed at a hostel at the University of Waterloo. These students went down to the nearby Perimeter Institute for lessons in advanced physics during the average day, and did tutorials in the lounge back at the hostel at night. Sometimes, there were fieldtrips made to local tourist attractions such as the CN Tower.
Opening Ceremony
We arrived late; hence we did not attend any formal opening ceremony. However, we heard it was pretty casual, with people trickling in on the first day and having a barbeque dinner at the end of it. On the second day, there were some ice-breaking games during which we got to know everyone and where they were from. There was also this drum banging activity, which served to make us all vibrate as one, quite literally. These activities are closer to what I consider an opening ceremony to be, but still, it was very relaxed and did not carry the weight one would expect a ceremony to. It was all very pleasing, as though we were visiting some old friend’s house.
Lectures
Learning special relativity and quantum mechanics were what occupied most of the lecture time. These lectures were given mainly by Dr Richard Epp, a researcher at the Perimeter Institute. He relied largely on the 18 blackboards in the lecture theatre instead of powerpoint slides. I found his usage of the chalk-and-talk method very refreshing and engaging. I think this is a point worth noting.
My teachers back in Singapore may be great, but I feel their lessons lack generally lack the vigor and engagement of Dr Epp’s. I think this is because teaching from powerpoint slides makes lectures cold and impersonal. In a sense, part of the teaching has already been taken over by the slides, which give the feeling that the lectures are pre-determined and rigid. This is because it is difficult to make any significant changes to slides during a lecture; it is hardly better than reading from a book and making slight improvisations.
On the other hand, a chalkboard (or a whiteboard, for that matter) allows the lecturer to run the lesson in a way which best suits his current batch of students. In the hands of a good lecturer like Dr Epp, every lesson seemed custom made for us – everything was relevant and engaging, without extraneous information or missing links. Dr Epp taught and improvised along the way, adding or removing details as he saw fit every now and then, leading to a lessons which were dynamic and yet not messy.
After coming back to school, I noticed the conspicuous lack of blackboards (or whiteboards) in the lecture theatre. Although new high-tech multimedia tools may be good for things like flash animations, I think we should not forget the value of older methods of teaching, especially when they are generally more adequate for day to day lecturing.
Throughout the ISSYP, we had a series of keynote lectures given by various researchers. They gave us a wide view of the current frontiers in research, primarily in theoretical physics and also partially in experimental physics. The level of difficulty and amount of mathematics involved in every lecture was quite varied. To be candid, I found some of those which hardly touched mathematics at all too much like the popular science books I used to read by the dozen. Although they may bring across the gist of certain concepts well, the lack of mathematics robs the physics of its rigor and subtlety. I concede that the full mathematics of most of these theories would be beyond us, but at least mathematical formulations of the simpler concepts would have been helpful. Naturally, I found the keynote lectures which incorporated decent levels of mathematics more deep and exciting.
Trips and Activities
We visited the Niagara Falls, Clifton Hill, a shopping mall which name I forgot, the CN Tower, the Ontario Science Centre, and the Institute of Quantum Computing (IQC).
The Niagara Falls was pretty majestic; it was quite entertaining to ride a boat (called the Maid of the Mist) which sailed close to the foot of the Niagara Falls. We all got quite wet, despite the raincoats. It was quite pleasing to see such a grand natural wonder, especially since the contrast between it and ordinary city life is rather stark.
Clifton Hill was a decadent shopping, eating, and amusement park district. Unlike most amusement parks, where one pays an entry fee and gets access to all the attractions, Clifton Hill had individual attractions (like haunted houses) presumably owned by different business entities, hence there was no strict ‘compound’, and we had to pay for the attractions individually. However, I spent most of my time there shopping for souvenirs, hence I did not try any of the rides.
The shopping mall was quite ordinary, that is, quite similar to that of Singapore. I guess this is quite expected in this globalized era, everything everywhere is getting more and more similar, and malls tend to exemplify this trend. However, that mall was only two stories tall and occupied a large area, unlike Singaporean malls, which are generally taller and have less area per floor. It is interesting to see how the availability of land affects architecture (there is much land in Canada, unlike Singapore).
The CN tower was, for a long period of time, the tallest man made structure. It was once used to broadcast television signals, but it is now more of a tourist attraction than anything else. It was quite fascinating. After all, how often does one chance across such a giant concrete stick?
The Ontario Science Centre is much like the one we have in Singapore. The only difference is that Singapore’s feels more physics-like while Ontario’s feels more biology-like. This could be due to the shape of the structures which make up Singapore’s science centre and the numerous plants growing all around Ontario’s. Growing all these plants around and on the building is supposed to reduce power consumption; I found it quite a fascinating idea, how simple (comparatively) natural methods can be so effective. On a less buoyant note, I was rather disappointed by the exhibitions. Perhaps this is my fault – I frequented the Singapore Science Centre as a child, becoming rather familiar with the exhibits, which were more or less the same as those in Ontario.
The Institute of Quantum Computing left a deep impression on me. It was a place buzzing with activity, filled with an air of higher learning. Everything seemed to move like clockwork, yet it was not impersonal, I felt quite at home there. The researchers were exceedingly friendly; one of them even took some time to give me advice on my research project back in Singapore which I was working on.
Mentorship
I was attached to Ghazal, a researcher working on cosmology. It was quite an exhilarating experience. Although I did come across some of the concepts in popular science books, working on the physics and mathematics from the foundations up was an intellectually challenging and utterly satisfying task. There was a certain sense of accomplishment when I (under Ghazal’s guidance) showed how the universe was expanding and what affected this expansion. All the variables seemed so much more meaningful; we have become closer friends, so to speak. I am more certain than ever that a career in theoretical physics is what I want to pursue.
Impressions of Canada and PI
Perimeter Institute was a wonderful place. Besides having mind boggling architecture and delicious food, it had an erudite air, an epicenter of learning. There were blackboards all over the place, not just in the walkways but in the café as well. They were installed so that physicists may scribble down ideas the moment they get them; hence no valuable insights would be lost. It may not be state of the art technology, but it served its purpose well, the blackboards I saw were scrawled full of equations. I hope to be able to one day understand them. That aside, the dedication to uncovering the secrets of nature was not just admirable but intoxicating. Everyone in that building seemed to have an unsullied childlike sense of wonder and curiosity, a place I would like to go to everyday.
Canada is a decent place, relaxed and calm. The air and wildlife at the University of Waterloo was exceedingly refreshing; stress seemed completely out of place.
---------
Nuuuh, looking back, my writing was horrible. And the application process for OSAP may have changed since then, so some of what I wrote may be out of date.
No comments:
Post a Comment