An inaugural Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) hackathon at the National Institute of Education (NIE) saw 23 first-year student teachers turning up on 20 March 2021. Organised by the Multi-centric Education, Research and Industry STEM Centre (meriSTEM@NIE) and Sci-napes club, the hackathon aimed to create the space for student teachers to experience group problem-solving in STEM as well as understand how a STEM hackathon is conducted.

The participants were divided into groups of four and introduced to the challenge of the day: to design and create a portable rapid cooler that can lower the temperature of a standard drink can and its contents without the direct or indirect use of conventional chilling equipment.

For six hours, the student teachers researched on the science and mechanisms for cooling, and brainstormed possible designs. They also constructed, tested and refined their coolers, before presenting their final prototype to the judges. The participants were required to work with the materials provided. They could, however, “purchase” additional materials from the “provision shop” using the 100 tokens allocated to each team. Besides a short break for lunch, all the student teachers were fully engrossed in the race against time to build a cooler that works!

At the end of the session, four judges examined and tested the prototypes. The excitement and anticipation had been intense each time the thermometer was taken out of the can! The teams whose prototype recorded the lowest temperature in the two-minute and 10-minute challenge were respectively declared winners of the Speediest and Frostiest Awards. Everyone left with a sense of satisfaction at having persevered through the gruelling problem-solving process!