Jointly by:
Tan Yi Khai (Sr1ScD)
Thian Yi-Ming (Sr1ScD)
Ng Choon Hau (Sr1A)
What better way to commemorate the last self-directed learning activity day of 2019 with some arguments about science? On the 21st of September, six Senior 2 Science classes and Sr1ScA have partaken in a physics debate competition, a glorification of discourse on hot scientific topics. The two rounds of preliminaries took place from 8 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. while the finals were held from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
 |
 |
Students of the aforementioned classes were supportive audiences for the preliminaries; whereas the finals that took place in the hall had all students from the Senior 1 Science and Senior 2 Science classes spectating. This competition was held in a basic debate fashion and had members from the Chinese Debate Team hosting each match, briefing judges on the rules at the start of each round.
 |
 |
(Preliminaries – auditorium)
At AV2 Room, Sr2ScA was slugging against Sr2ScD on the topic “Should Malaysia use nuclear energy?” with D class as the supporting side and A class as the opposing. A class went strong at the start, while D class retaliated with points of their own. Both sides debated with such fiery passion that it seemed that they were arguing. Eventually, A class got the upper hand and won the preliminary round with all three votes in favour of them.
Sr2ScC and Sr2ScE faced off against one another in the hall, debating on the topic “Should Malaysia rely on wind energy as its power source?” Participants of Sr2ScE debated for this topic while Sr2ScC debated against. Eventually, the overwhelming statistics thrown at Sr2ScC proved to be highly disadvantageous to them, and in the end, Sr2ScE had the last laugh in this round with two out of three votes.
Up next was Sr2scB against Sr2scA, held in AV2 Room. Again, A class swept all three votes and advanced into the finals. Meanwhile, Sr2ScE went up against Sr1ScA in the hall on the topic “Pros and Cons of Internet of Things”; the former doing pros, latter doing cons. Sr1ScA was tough, though Sr2ScE was not going to back down that easily; it was a good battle while it lasted since Sr1ScA achieved a landslide victory in this round.
 |
 |
 |
 |
The finals were between the two ScA classes, with Sr2ScA saying “yay” and Sr1ScA saying “nay” to the topic “Does Artificial Intelligence make human’s lives more pleasant?” Tensions were prevalent and the stakes were high, since both teams had top notch debaters on their side; it was anyone’s game. The astounding revolution that the audience waited an hour for was another perfect win for Sr2ScA, crowning them the winner and Sr1ScA the runner-up. Our Principal awarded the winners with trophies, then all judges, administrative teachers and physics teachers went onstage to convey their congratulatory message and the group photo.
In conclusion, everyone left with some sort of gain. The contestants had the experience of prepping for this special contest and competing in it, as well as gaining valuable advice concerning their debating skills from the judges. The audience members were pretty pleased with this contest, too; it was surely one of the most interesting ones they have watched yet. The only downside to this is the rush of it, though with limited time planning by the physics teachers it went by perfectly smoothly. Many would love it to be carried out next year, featuring all Senior 1 and Senior 2 students, even those not in sciences.
 |
 |
 |
 |