(23rd November 2019) The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FPSK) was invited by the Pusat Sains Negara (NSC) to hold a science exhibition during Schools Out Kids In (SOKI) program as a community engagement for medical dissemination to the public. This program was held for 4 days starting from 23rd November 2019 to 26th November 2019 at the beginning of end of the year school holidays. The main aim of this program is to facilitate children to learn science through interactive learning. The exhibition received great participation and support from members of the public. It was estimated that over 12000 attending visitors were recorded for the whole 4 days of the program.
A team of year one and year two students, postgraduate students, Anatomy and Physiology lecturers volunteered to hold the exhibition there. This exhibition covers mainly on the anatomy of the human body which was presented in interesting hands-on activities. The principal is the team must engage with members of the public consisting of a wide range of age. They were required to explain and demonstrate their knowledge in various unique methods using the facilities provided by NSC and USIM. Throughout this exhibition, they also could advocate health awareness regarding alarming diseases for instance stroke and chronic heart disease. In addition, the exhibition was helpful in clarifying a few medical myths that the society has taken into account.
This exhibition serves as a platform for students to enhance their soft skills especially in communication skills and entrepreneurship especially with society in general. Beside the exhibition, they also held a sale on science related items which received tremendous support from visitors. They also gained new knowledge and incomparable experiences throughout the program. This program has been beneficial all parties involved. It is hoped that more collaboration with NSC in the future will recur in order to boost the students’ skills and knowledge to excel better in the future.
By Norliyana Alia, Dr Ku Mastura, Dr Mohd Hairulhisyam