The Centre for Science and Engineering Promotion of the University of Macau (UM) held four science outreach workshops, with the aim of promoting knowledge and applications of satellite technology. The workshops, which also served to prepare students for the BOC STEM Talent Challenge to be held in December, attracted the participation of teachers and students from 13 local secondary schools.
The four science outreach workshops all revolved around the technologies of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System. During the workshops, faculty and researchers from UM’s Centre for Science and Engineering Promotion introduced to the students the technologies employed in the satellite system, which consists of a space segment, a ground segment, and a user segment. The students also gained hands-on experience with the excellent performance and wide range of applications of the satellite system through the experimental kit, and explored its applications in various industries in Macao.
The BOC STEM Talent Challenge is jointly organised by the Macao Base for Primary & Secondary STEM Education, a national science education base, and the Alumni and Development Office of UM, with support from the Macao Science Center and sponsorship from Bank of China (Macau). The theme of this year’s competition is the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, which aims to enable students to learn about the country’s research development, understand the scientific and technological principles used in the Beidou System, and apply the relevant knowledge in their daily lives. In addition, it serves to inspire students to develop inventions for technological innovation in the community as well as micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.
The BOC STEM Talent Challenge will open for entries from 1 December to 28 December this year. The competition is open to Form 2 to Form 6 students studying in Macao’s secondary schools in the 2023/2024 academic year. For the student category, there will be one first prize (MOP 8,000), one second prize (MOP 5,000), and eight third prizes (MOP 3,000). This year, there will be a new award category for supervising teachers, with one first prize (MOP 3,000), one second prize (MOP 2,000), and eight third prizes (MOP 1,000). Interested teachers and students are welcome to sign up for the competition. For details, please visit the website of UM’s Centre for Science and Engineering Promotion: https://go.um.edu.mo/qpt7w0ak.
