Jointly Reported by:
Jr2Z(2) Emily Kuok Yee Han
During the weekly Kuen Cheng High School Independent Learning Day on the 8th of July 2023, students of Junior Middle One and Two participated in an activity which involved deciphering codes and completing simple paper folding using their knowledge in Mathematics, thus allowing them to experiment with a side of the subject that lay hitherto undiscovered.
For the first part of the activity, the students divided themselves into groups of two and worked on deciphering secret messages which were written in the form of binary and octal numbers on the given question sheet. The students had to convert the binary and octal numbers into numbers of the decimal system in the range of 1-26. Each decimal number stood for an alphabet (e.g. 1=a, 2=b), and once every single number in the row was successfully converted, the students would then discover that the row of numbers turned out to be an encoded message, which consisted of various inspirational and witty quotes. It was a sufficiently entertaining and mind-stimulating experience for everyone, which resulted in a huge wave of satisfaction over each and every student once they had succeeded in deciphering all of the codes.
The next session that followed was a simple paper-folding activity. The students folded the papers according to the instructions and guidance given by the senior students in charge of coordinating the activity in each respective class. They had to complete four sets in total, and after they had completed the final step for each set, they would then discover that the creases at the centre, top centre and bottom centre of each respective paper formed an equilateral triangle. Everyone had great fun folding the papers as they wondered how the steps would take them to progress towards the final result. Overall, it was a wonderful experience for everyone.
Once the activity had been completed, the seniors played a video regarding different types of codes which were used to send confidential messages to others without being interpreted by other parties, such as the Morse code and the Caesar cypher, providing much valuable insight for all the students.
At precisely 12.30 p.m., the activity came to a close. It was filled with plenty of fun and stimulation, leaving the students heading home feeling great satisfaction and fulfilment with regard to the day’s events, and ultimately, with the joy of the discovery that the wonders of Mathematics could be found in not only calculations, but also games and practical life as well.