Gene Fest @ Singapore Science Centre

Excitement filled the air in the afternoon of Friday, 17th July 2009 as the pupils of 5A boarded the bus, bringing them to the Singapore Science Centre. It was a pleasant trip, the pupils chatting happily amongst themselves.

The first part of the trip was a briefing in the auditorium where they learnt of the various strains of Flu virus. H1N1, H5N1, H7N7...


Following that , they went for an exhibit walk where they had loads of fun interacting with the various exhibits.

The climax of the day was in the kitchen lab at the Omnitheatre where they made a jelly model of a bacteria cell. The pupils learnt a lot about the different parts of a bacterial cell, including the fact that it has no nucleus. The best part was that they get to bring it home and eat it too!






First we put in the jelly.














Then we pour in the hot water.












Just keep stirring. Just keep stirring.
Just keep stirring, stirring, stirring!












Then we put in the organelles!















And its done!


















Look Ma! My very own bacteria jelly!
















Zhu Deng feeding his dinosaur his 'bacteria' jelly. So that's why the dinosaurs became extinct.






All in all, everyone enjoyed themselves, the teachers included.

Question: If we were to do this in class, making a plant cell instead of bacterial cell, what food items can we use for the different parts of the plant cell?

5A, I await your ideas!