Four days of science
Courses at the six-day science camp came to an end yesterday. This year 121 high school and college students and approximately 70 teachers took part.
Students found the week at the camp tremendously worthwhile because they had the unusual opportunity of meeting world renowned scientists and making friends who shared their penchant for science.
"Just think of the chance we had. It's amazing. We were so fortunate to be here to meet and listen to some of the world's greatest scientists and be directly guided by them," said Phil Wu (
The program was spread over four days, with one or two lectures given each day by scientists specializing in different fields. A question and answer session followed each lecture.
The guest speakers this year included Morris Chang (張忠謀), President of the Taiwan Semiconductor MFG Co, Ltd (台灣積體電路製造公司), Ovid Tzeng, Steven Chu (朱棣文), Nobel laureate for Physics in 1997, Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠), chemistry professor of the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, and James William Schopt, Paleobiology professor of University of California, Los Angeles.
Students selected to attend the camp are believed to be the country's most gifted science students. While they marveled at the breadth of knowledge of the attendant experts, comments that the lectures were at times beyond students' level of comprehension were also heard.
Hsieh Wen-pin (謝文彬), a soon-to-be freshman of the National Tsinghua University, said it did not matter that he did not entirely comprehend the contents of each lecture.
"I probably only managed to understand half of each lecture. But it's good not to understand the whole thing, because then you know there's a lot more to learn. The more meaningful point is to broaden my perspective," he added.
Albert Wu (吳孟軒), a high school student from National Experimental High School at the Science Based Industrial Park, told the Taipei Times that, in his view, science was learned piece by piece.
"Now I only understand this piece, and tomorrow that one. Though not getting the whole picture, I am sure I eventually will if I learn these little bites gradually and solidly," he said.
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