Overview
STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. STEAM AHEAD is our initiative to combine our international academic competitions to educate students and bring them international exposure about possible career choices in these fields. So, STEAM AHEAD is the first to combine 3 international academic competitions in one location and offer multiple opportunities for students to win awards. (details on page) 2021 marks the third year of running STEAM AHEAD, with over 2200 students from 21 countries having participated.
The following are the awards participants can stand to win:
1. IJMO – Math Olympiad Individual Award
2. VANDA Science Individual Award
3. VANDA Science Team Award
4. DrCT Individual Award
5. IJMO Overall Champion, Runner-up, 2nd Runner-Up in each grade level
6. VANDA Science Overall Champion, Runner-up, 2nd Runner-Up in each grade level
7. DrCT Overall Champion, Runner-up, 2nd Runner-Up in each grade level
8. President’s Award for Excellence in STEAM (PAExS) winners in IJMO, VANDA Science Individual & DrCT Individual
IJMO, VANDA and DrCT
The top performing contestants who win all 3 Individual Gold Awards in VANDA Science Global Finals, DrCT Global Finals and IJMO will be honored with the President’s Award for Excellence in STEAM (PAExS).
These contestants will be awarded a PAExS Platinum medal and certificate plus get inducted into the International Junior Honor Society (IJHS) and win a full scholarship to attend the Young Achievers Leadership Academy (YALA) 2021 online on December 11 – 12, 2021.
STEAM AHEAD 2021 is brought to you by SIMCC in collaboration with Scholastic Trust Singapore Limited and our global partners in over 35 countries and territories.
At each STEAM AHEAD event, we will start to promote linkages across the subjects so that it will upskill students and boast their interest in STEAM.
Our goal is to help our students get into professional paths that are future proof. Our society’s demand for technically driven roles is rising and therefore it is crucial that students are encouraged to get qualifications in Science, Technology, and related fields. By getting qualifications that will allow students to work in innovative fields, they are guaranteed to have fulfilling and well-paid professions.
The International Junior Math Olympiad (IJMO) is an international mathematics competition which is held annually in different countries across Asia. IJMO is organized by SIMCC in collaboration with the National Math Societies in Asian countries to identify and encourage potential young math talents in every SIMCC participating country.
Objectives
IJMO aims to provide a global platform for students to interact and compete against their worthy opponents. IJMO is the ideal platform to showcase every student’s potential and talent in math in the international math competitions arena!
IJMO empowers students with deep conceptual understanding and logical thinking skills beyond Grade-level. This effectively stretches every student’s potential beyond Grade-level, allowing them to better apply much higher level logical and analytical skills to solve challenging Math Olympiad problems. Questions in IJMO are carefully designed to develop every student’s higher level of conceptual understanding and logical thinking skills.
Pre-Requisite for the Competition
Candidate needs to obtain the following award before qualifying for IJMO:
• Gold or Silver award winners for AMO 2020, SMKC 2021, and SASMO 2021 from each country are selected annually to represent their country.
SIMOC 2021 Math Olympiad Gold, Silver and Bronze winners are also qualified to participate in IJMO 2021. Don’t miss this opportunity!!
Format
Duration: 90 minutes
Contestant starts with 20 bonus points at the start. Competition papers for each level contains 30 questions. IJMO will be hosted on our Online Contest System (OCS) (https://simccocs.org/#!/home)
Syllabus
IJMO reserves the rights to change the syllabus without any prior notice.
GRADES 2-4 (PRIMARY 2-4)
Arithmetic and Statistics
Geometry and Mensuration
Solving word problems using model method (or any other methods including algebra)
Non-routine problem solving (including number patterns, divisibility tests, spatial visualisation, logic problems and cryptarithms)
GRADES 5-6 (PRIMARY 5-6)
Arithmetic and Algebra
Geometry, Graphs and Mensuration
Statistics
Non-routine problem solving (including number patterns, divisibility tests, spatial visualisation, logic problems and cryptarithms)
GRADE 7 (SECONDARY 1)
Arithmetic and Algebra
Geometry, Graphs and Mensuration
Pythagoras’ Theorem
Statistics
Non-routine problem solving (including number patterns, divisibility tests, spatial visualisation, logic problems and cryptarithms)
GRADE 8 (SECONDARY 2)
Arithmetic and Algebra
Geometry, Graphs and Mensuration
Pythagoras’ Theorem and Trigonometry
Statistics and Probability
Non-routine problem solving (including number patterns, divisibility tests, spatial visualisation, logic problems and cryptarithms)
GRADES 9-10 (SECONDARY 3-4)
Arithmetic and Algebra
Geometry, Graphs and Mensuration
Pythagoras’ Theorem and Trigonometry
Statistics and Probability
Non-routine problem solving (including number patterns, divisibility tests, spatial visualisation, logic problems and cryptarithms)
Awards
Individual Awards
IJMO Overall Championship Awards
IJMO Overall Championship awards are given to the top 3 winners per grade level from grades 2 to 10/11 based on the Math Olympiad Individual Score. They will be announced during the award ceremony.
Awards (Cash)
Overall Champion – SGD250
Overall Runner – up SGD150
Overall 2nd Runner – up SGD100
In the event of any ties, we will give the winners the same position. For example, if two contestants score 90 points and the third contestant scores 87 points, we will grant 2 overall champions (with the prize money split between them, giving each S$200) and an overall 2nd runner-up.
About VANDA Science Global Finals
Vanda is an International Science Competition held annually around the globe. It focuses on the student’s ability to think critically and creatively to pick out hidden information to aid them in solving the question.
Vanda is for students from primary 3 to secondary 4 (Grade 3 to Grade 11). It follows closely with the Singapore School Science Syllabus and tests students based on their level of content that they have learned. This allows participants to do better compared to pure-Olympiad papers since they are familiar with some of the questions.
Vanda has very strong teamwork component in the competition, and the Gold-winning group will demonstrate high levels of collaboration and mutual support. These skills are highly valued and a number of our winners have gained admission into top schools by sharing their experience gained through VANDA Science Global Finals during admission interviews. Questions in the competition have a strong foundation in scientific knowledge and methodology which include the development of reasoning and analytical skills, decision and problem solving skills, flexible to respond to different context and possessing an open and inquiring mind that is willing to explore new territories and learn new things which are aligned to the desired 21st century competencies.
Objectives
IGNITE YOUR PASSION
Vanda ignites students’ hidden passion for science! Vanda provides a range of interesting content in questions to spark their curiosity and encourages them to venture deeper into the world of science.
AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL
Vanda exposes students to a Science Olympiad Competition that follows closely to their syllabus and their level of content learned. This gives them the confidence to take part in more challenging science competitions and start scoring A* in Science.
REACHING GREATER HEIGHTS
Vanda helps students to be comfortable with various science olympiad papers in the right environment. Vanda wants students to utilize this experience to continue to take part in more challenging Science Olympiad Competitions in the future.
Pre-Requisite for the Competition
Candidate needs to obtain the following award before qualifying for VANDA Global Finals:
• Gold, Silver or Bronze award winners for VANDA International Science Competition 2021 from each country are selected annually to represent their country.
Format
Round 1 – Written Paper (Individual)
Duration: 60 minutes
Scoring:
Starting Bonus = 5 points
Section A = 10 points
Section B = 30 points
Section C = 40 points
Total Score = 85 points
Round 1 will be hosted on our Online Contest System (OCS) (https://simccocs.org/#!/home)
Section A
Questions 1 to 5
2 points each
0 points for unanswered question
Deduct 1 point for wrong answer
Section B
Questions 6 to 15
3 points each
0 points deducted for wrong answers and unanswered questions
Section C
Questions 16 to 25
4 points each
0 points deducted for wrong answers and unanswered questions
Total number of questions for each paper is 25.
80% of the questions are from the syllabus, with a focus on improving higher order thinking skills, development of reasoning and analytical skills, decision and problem-solving skills.
In addition to it, the competition strongly encourages possessing an open and inquiring mind that is willing to explore new territories and flexible to respond to different context to learn new things which are aligned to the desired 21st century competencies. Therefore, the remaining 20% of the questions are from out of syllabus.
Round 2 – Team Challenge
Duration: 2 hours and 30 minutes
Section A – Problem-solving questions
The team will answer free response questions based on the experiment they are presented with.
Section B – Modification questions
The team will answer questions on what modifications they will make to the experiment based on the scenario(s) given.
Section C – Design and explain
The team will design their modified experiment based on Section B and explain their modifications.
Students will be separated into teams based on their grade. The team divisions will be as follows:
Middle Primary
Primary 3-4/Grades 3-4
Upper Primary
Primary 5-6/Grades 5-6
Lower Secondary
Secondary 1-2/Grades 7-8
Upper Secondary
Secondary 3-4/
Grades 9-10/11
Within their own teams, participants will answer one paper and perform an online experiment provided to them. Participants are strongly encouraged to discuss with their team members during this component. All answers will be entered and saved on a Google Document that will be given to the team on the day of the competition. Diagrams and drawings are to be drawn in the Google Drawing links provided in their paper.
Syllabus
VANDA reserves the rights to change the syllabus without any prior notice.
VANDA Global Final Awards
Individual Awards – Round 1 (Written Paper)
Team Awards – Round 2 (Team Challenge)
Award
Gold award – Top 10%
Silver award – Next 15%
Bronze award – Next 25%
VANDA Overall Championship Awards
Vanda Overall Championship awards are given to the top 3 winners per grade level from grades 3 to 10/11 based on the VANDA Individual Score (must be Gold award) and team score. They will be announced during the award ceremony.
Awards (Cash)
Overall Champion – SGD250
Overall Runner-up – SGD150
Overall 2nd Runner-up – SGD100
In the event of any ties, we will give the winners the same position. For example, if two contestants score 90 points and the third contestant scores 87 points, we will grant 2 overall champions (with the prize money split between them, giving each S$200) and an overall 2nd runner-up.
About DrCT Global Final (DESIGN THINKING with robotics and COMPUTATIONAL THINKING GLOBAL FINAL)
We are delighted to bring you, Design Thinking with robotics and Computational Thinking Global Finals (DrCT). We are the team that brought BEBRAS Computational Thinking to Singapore and now offer BEBRAS as a free training platform for all students in Singapore joining DrCT. BEBRAS is the world’s leading community which develops CT questions for schools.
We invite you to sign up for DrCT and open the doors to free CT training using our internationally acclaimed BEBRAS tasks and breaking down problems solving, analyzing the validity of solutions and spotting patterns in data – all essential skills for the workplace.
We hope to create a platform that can allow the neighborhood schools’ students to have an opportunity to learn about informatics in a more creative way and compete with the rest of the world. Using Computational Thinking also allows the students to have a systematic approach to learn programming and our methodology of combining design thinking and robotics will provide an intuitive first introduction to programming, as well as infinite opportunities for gradually building more advanced projects using an
electronics platform fulfilling a standard loved and tested by millions of people who use informatics for real-world application projects across the globe.
DrCT will get students to improve in Coding and Programming and help them to prepare for the National Olympiad in Informatics (NOI), the highest national contest for Informatics in all countries before the best 4 students are selected to represent their country for the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI).
Objectives
To cultivate students’ creativity, logical reasoning ability, algorithmic and computational thinking skills. By solving our contest tasks and using design thinking methodology to develop solutions for a problem statement, we will facilitate a deeper understanding of the world around the learner and enable them to solve everyday problems by leveraging the power of computers and information technology. Students will pick up the finer points of programming, solution focus and be action oriented which is not merely writing a piece of code but involves useful algorithmic techniques and problem-solving skills.
Pre-Requisite for the Competition
Candidate needs to obtain the following award before qualifying for DrCT Global Finals:
• Gold, Silver or Bronze award winners for DrCT International Local 2021 from each country are selected annually to represent their country.
Format
DrCT Global Finals (Individual) – Will be hosted on our Online Contest System (OCS) (https://simccocs.org)
There are 2 parts of DrCT contest paper:
Part 1 – Questions related to computational thinking and NOI.
Part 2 – Questions related to Block programming and it’s open book. The students are allowed to go to the Microbit website to try to solve the problems.
The following is the url for some sample questions:
https://simccocs.org/#!/
More tutorials are available on the microbit website and students are encouraged to practice the questions.
https://makecode.microbit.org/
Syllabus
DrCT reserves the rights to change the syllabus without any prior notice.
The syllabus for all grades will include all topics from previous grades. (e.g. Primary 5-6/Grades 5-6 syllabus includes topics from Primary 1-2/Grades 1-2 and Primary 3-4/Grades 3-4.)
PRIMARY 1-2/GRADES 1-2 (PREPARATORY COMPUTATIONAL THINKING)
• Pattern recognition
• Sequencing
• Loops
• Binary representation of numbers
• Representation of text and images
PRIMARY 3-4/GRADES 3-4 (COMPUTATIONAL THINKING 1)
• Debugging
• Conditionals
• Variables
• Functions
PRIMARY 5-6/GRADES 5-6 (COMPUTATIONAL THINKING 2)
• For Loops
• While Loops
• Nesting code
• Sorting
• Searching
SECONDARY 1-2/GRADES 7-8 (PROGRAMMING 1)
• Introduction to input and output, lists, Strings, and iteration
• Creating and accessing variables for storing and manipulating data
• Making simple decisions with conditions like if-then-else statements
• Repeating instructions through loops like the while statements
• Using simple functions
• Principle of Algorithms and Abstraction
SECONDARY 3 – JC 2/GRADES 9/10/11/12 (PROGRAMMING 2)
• Data structure
• Modularity
• Analysis
• Divide and conquer: Search
• Divide and conquer: Sorting
• Principle of Decomposition and Patterns
DrCT Global Finals Awards
Individual Awards – Written Paper
DrCT Overall Championship Awards
DrCT Overall Championship awards are given to the top 3 winners per grade level from grades 2 to 10/11 based on the DrCT Individual Score (must be Gold award) and team score. They will be announced during the award ceremony.
Awards (Cash) *Lower cash prizes due to low number of contestants in DrCT local an d global round in 2021
Overall Champion SGD100
Overall Runner-up SGD50
Overall 2nd Runner-up SGD25
In the event of any ties, we will give the winners the same position. For example, if two contestants score 90 points and the third contestant scores 87 points, we will grant 2 overall champions (with the prize money split between them, giving each S$75) and an overall 2nd runner-up.
Overall Champion Awards – President’s Award for
Excellence in STEAM (PAExS) and Award Badges
PAExS awards are given to the top winner from each grade who has scored the highest across all individual competition categories (IJMO, Vanda Global Finals – Individual and DrCT – Individual).
For Grades 3 to 10/11 (1 winner per grade)
• Trophy
• Certificate
• IJHS induction
• YALA Platinum Scholarship (for grades 5 and above
worth $520)
• PAExS Medal with winner’s name and grade
