Reflection | CHONG BOON HONG's Profile

Another month passed. I had class for my chemical engineering subjects in Japan for one month and I had some shallow comparison about Japan’s Sensei’s (“teacher” in Japanese) teaching style and learning style of the students with Malaysia Style.

I spent my whole life to learn in Malaysia and this is the first time that I encountered the way of learning of another country. First of all, I would like to say that the gap between the lecturer and student is very small in Japan. Sometimes, you can even feel that the lecturer will treat his students like his friends. There are no priority for teacher as the teacher uses the same toilet, same cafeteria as the students, and the teacher also has to queue too to buy his food. Sometimes, the teachers will even have their meal side by side with the students. This is probably due to the country’s culture that everyone is the same and stand an equal chance with no exception. Because of this, the facilities for disabled person are well developed in Japan for their rights to live independently like any other people.

Furthermore, the teaching style and learning style are different too in Japan. The Sensei as Malaysia style, he will prepare the teaching material printed for us. However, it is just a brief information of the syllabus and most of the theory will be written on the blackboard. Besides, the sensei will concentrate on elaborating the theories and relate it to the industrial uses because most of them have rich experiences in the field and research. Unlike our education system, we stressed on doing the exercises from the text books. There are always pros and cons. At Japan, we have to look into the problems in the book and learnt by ourselves (because the sensei gives too few of examples) to be prepared for the quizzes and tests which concentrates more on self-learning.

On the other hand, the learning style of the students in Japan is totally different with Malaysia too. As I mentioned in front, the sensei expects a lot of self-learning by the students. Therefore, the students here have to acquire the learning skill of “trial and error”. They will have to discover the knowledge itself by themselves and the sensei will not correct if you are wrong unless you approach him and ask him. By this, the students learn from mistake and failure. Though sometimes I feel that this is kind of time consuming but I feel that it is a very effective way of learning as the students able to acquire the spirit of never give up. This can be one of the reason that Japan is one of the leading country in the development of technologies as they produce graduates with strong research ability.

It is a little bit different here. I would say it is a life of producing a perfectionist. I think I really like Malaysia.

~A few photos of the month~

~Welcome party at the living room of the sharehouse that we are living. Residents from Japan, Korea, US, France, Vietnam..... A little left out though cause we can't speak Japanese but it was still fun! hehe~

~typical Japanese lunch that we had in the cafeteria of the TUAT~

~a visit to the water purification centre for the Tokyo Metropolitan City with our beloved Terada Sensei (left 2 with sweater) and Hosomi Sensei (left 5 with light blue shirt)~

~Halloween Celebration at Shibuya Streets. I wonder why Japanese so into this celebration as it should be a celebration by the western country only right?~

~Visited the Kawagoe-Shi, an heritage town since the Co-Edo Era with Thailand friends. ~

By Ben.  

• Introduction

On 30th of August 2015, 4 of my friends and I boarded a plane to join the Asean International Mobility Student Exchange Programme 2015 and our host university will be Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology which is located at Tokyo, Japan. Although the name of the programme itself explained that it should be involved between the candidates from the Asean countries, the Japan Government joined this programme to improve the knowledge sharing between Asean countries and Japan.

We were really fortunate to be selected to represent UTM to join this student exchange! 

--> from behind-left are James and Luqman. from front-left are Farzana, Adibah and myself. All of us are from Faculty of Chemical Engineering, UTM.

 

• Place we lived!

We lived at a sharehouse which is located about 40 minutes of train trip away from our university. Although it is a bit far from the university, the price of the sharehouse is reasonable and the facilities are good. The sad thing is we have to travel about 1 hour per trip to go to attend our classes.

--> on the way to university. The Japanese told us that it is normal for them to travel like this every day as the price to rent a room at the downtown could be double or triple compared to our rent for now.

• Orientation

We were well welcomed by the Sensei from TUAT and AIMS buddies that assigned to help us for the starting to live at this land for the next 4 months. The Japaneses are really polite and discipline. Although some of the buddies cannot speak English very well, they are willing to step out their comfort zone to start a conversation with me. I really like the spirit and this is the quality that I hope I can acquire along this exchange, to be brave to walk out form my comfort zone.

 

--> 5 of us again. We were doing the documents to study and stay at Japan.

---> welcome party! Friends from Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and UTM-MJIIT.

• Common subjects & Seminar

For this month, we will have common subjects for our class rather than our specialize subjects. This is to encourage the interactions between students of different aspect like Engineering, Agriculture, Town Planning, Computer Science, etc. Besides, TUAT also designed a seminar for us that gave us an opportunity to visit the field factory and come out a solution to solve social problem. The Hachioji Seminar's aim is to improve the sustainability of environment. 

--> from the left are Fajar (ITB), Takanori (TUAT), me, Kengo (TUAT), Yuki (TUAT), Junya (TUAT), Nisa (UDB). All of us are from different studies and the product that we created is called as HUM-OZONE!

We had fun throughout the seminar and field trip!

 

~to be continued~

PCP 2 Test 3 marked the last test for this semester. This time the topics that included were heat engine and entropy.

Actually I was kind of confused and slow when we entered those topics in thermodynamics as I didn't take physics during my form6. So, sometimes I was kind of dazed of during the class because I didn't know what was happening. I just copied the answers and solutions to study back later. Luckily, I can still catch up the classes.

When we entered the topic Entropy, it was really a disaster. I could not catch the concept of it as its so abstract. There were really moments that I felt that it was really too hard to understand and I wanted to give up on it. However, the dedication of Dr. Aznizam made me to carry on and after browsing through the internet for videos of the topic and read the chapter again and again, I finally caught a little bit of the concept.

The test 3 was considered as easy as the questions were similar to our exercise. However, I am still worried that I didn't master the concept of entropy so I will do more exercise before the final paper. While, I felt a bit guilty to myself when I got back my paper for test 3 as I didn't do well for question 1. I thought it had flaws so I didn't even try hard on it while it actually just a simple mathematics question. This incident gave me a lesson that I should not judge a situation too easily without analysing deep enough as everything is possible to happen. I will be a careful and wise engineer in the future.

To conclude, semester 1 of 2014/15 ended. It was really a fortune to attend the class of Dr. Aznizam to see his dedication and passion in his career. Without his sharing of knowledge, it would definitely ruin my base to be an engineer to think critically in the future. I wish Dr. Aznizam will always be so cheerful, energetic and passionate to cultivate more and more future engineers that are interesting. Thank you very much.

A while ago, we had our PCP 2 Test 2. This time the test included question from topic physchometric chart and heat of reaction.

Before the test, I had gone through all the questions that we did for exercise. I looked and remembered all the mistake that i did and made sure i will not repeat it especially on the reference condition and basis. I also practised and mastered both the method of heat of formation and heat of reaction. Thus, I was kind of confident for the questions of it. However, I was kind of lost for the physchometeic chart. I kept on forgetting how to get the data and I will easily confused when the question was twisted. Thus, I did more practises for it to make sure I was ready for the question.

That night, when I opened up the question paper, I was kind of relieved as I glanced through the questions because it was quite similar to the exercise that we did. I started to do slowly and carefully from the last question to the first question. It went very well, I thought. When I encountered question 1, I was kind of shocked because it was so hard with the basis given and I didnt even realise this was due to I read the basis wrongly. I became very panic and shaky after that. I can't even concentrate myself to think critically for that question. I tried to calm myself down and it just made the things worsened. In the end, I finally calmed down but the time was almost up and I just realised the huge careless mistake that I did. That moment, I really gave up totally because I knew that I would not have enough time to finish it. So, I just answered a few parts that was easy and made sure I scored for C01. Then, it ended.

After this test, I learnt a few lessons. Firstly, I should not have over confident in doing things especially when we are engineer that are dealing with big, dangerous machine or plants that can easily get a life away. We should always cautious and calm. Thus, I will have to learn to overcome the weakness of me that feel panic easily when I face stress. Besides, I also learn that I should not give myself too much of pressure and want everything to be perfect. Everyone is not perfect and I should not give myself too high of expectation until it drowns me and make me to perform badly. Maybe I should learn to let go and be free and easy. I know it is hard to be cautious and casual in the same time but I believe it is a great quality that an interesting engineer will posses.

I didn't do badly for my test but I learnt many lessons from the test. We fall and we gain. I glad that I did the mistake in my university but not in my future career which will cause even bigger consequences to me.Last but not least, thank you Dr.Aznizam for your teaching. I will learn the knowledge by heart and perform better in the coming test and final.

Time flied. Holidays ended and it was the beginning of my second year.  Just a blink of eyes, I already had all my Test 1 for 4 subjects while I am revising for my Test 2 on this Wednesday. And this is the subject that I’m going to write a reflection journal for my Test 1, that is Principle of Chemical Processes 2 @ (Old Name: Energy Balance), the continuity of Principle of Chemical Processes 1. This time I met a handsome, tall lecturer that is very knowledgeable, caring and passionate on his work, Dr. Aznizam. He is very energetic in his class and thus I am very alert and learning fast in his class.

We had this Test 1 at N24 DK7 on 1^st of October 2014 in a cozy night. The papers consisted of 4 questions and were divided into Part A and B like usual. This was the first test that we had as a second year student and thus I might be not so ready for it. My results are okay, but I think I can do better than it, if I can get rid of my careless mistakes.

Question 1 was similar to a question from our past exercise but I didn’t even realize and felt that it was the toughest question in the whole test. Luckily, I didn’t screw it up completely and still tried my best to do it. Question 2, 3 and 4 were all quite okay for me, except need to have some creativity and thinkings because it was not like the normal question that we encountered in the classes. Unfortunately, due to my carelessness of forgetting to add a heat of fusion, I lost 15 marks in Question 3 which was a waste because I got every steps and methods correct. However, it is no point to regret or being sad on it, because we should always move forward. Taking it as a lesson will strengthen and make me to be more careful in my coming every test. Besides, I also lost mark due to not writing Basis and Reference Condition which I felt very angry to myself too. I should always be in mind that the important steps in answering a question.

To conclude, although my result is quite okay, I am still not satisfied with it because I feel that I only understand the knowledge and do not really master the skills of it yet. So, I will work harder and do more exercises to make sure I really master the knowledge of energy balance for my future working. 

Beginning from semester 2 of year 1, Principles of Chemical Processes 1 (SKKK1113) is a compulsory subject for all the students of Chemical-Bioprocess Engineering. The main study of Principle of Chemical Processes 1 included the study of mass balance and energy balance. It can further divided into unit conversion & process variables, single unit mass balance, multiple unit mass balance, reactions such as combustion, single phase, multiphase and energy balance.

It was an enjoyable and informative learning experience throughout the lessons with Dr. Nazlee. I didn’t take physics during my pre-university program (STPM) and I was actually kind of worried before the class. However, Dr. Nazlee is very knowledgeable and he put the knowledge from the book in his own words with related and clear examples. I sincerely felt that it had been enjoyable lectures with him. This attracts me to possess more interest to go deep in this subject. I always paid full attention during the lessons and focused on the important points. For me, this subject is a platform for me to gain better understanding on the scope of a chemical engineer.

In the beginning of classes, I learnt to carry out unit conversion & process variables. Though we had learnt this in Semester 1 in Introduction to Engineering, we are exposed to more questions and practises to master the skill of it. Knowledge that gained without using it will be easily forgotten so I think practises is very important in the process of learning as the saying practise makes perfect. Besides, in single unit mass balance, it was the first time that I was being exposed to the word “Basis”.  We learnt to identify, find or assume the basis in single unit system and also the equipment identification. These skills are the fundamental skills of an engineer to formulate a systemic approach to cope with the engineering problems. All problems must be solved from the basics. Besides, in multiple unit system, I also learnt the importance to use degree of freedom analysis to identify the approach for the question. In multiple unit system, we were exposed to chemicals that can undergo reactive reaction. Thus, we were taught the skill of molecular balance, atomic balance, and extent of reaction which I felt that it was one of the important skill for a chemical engineer. I felt glad that Dr. Nazlee put it in an easy way that we can understand it in a blink of eyes. The exercises in classes facilitated the understanding of us.

The next part of the syllabus came the single phase and multiphase system. I felt that this is the part that everything gets harder although we had learnt about ideal gas equation and vapour pressure too in our pre-university program. In single phase system, we learnt about the ideal gas law and only consisted the gas or gas mixture. However, in multiphase system, we learnt about gas and liquid which reach equilibrium when the partial pressure of the gas equal to the vapour pressure of that gas at that particular temperature. We were exposed to the different table in the back of our books and taught the ways to use the table efficiently which I think it’s very essential in our future studies. In single phase system, we also learnt different ways to solve the problems rather than ideal gas equation only because the gas might not be ideal by using several equations of state, Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK) equation or compressibility factor (z) equation of state. Then, later in multiphase system, we were taught to find the dew point temperature and boiling point temperature by using the Txy diagram or trial and error method. We were given an assignment on using the Excel to form a spreadsheet for the trial and error method. I think this part of the syllabus is slightly harder than the early part because the answer that we got for the questions are uncertain unlike the mass balance part which we can test the answer that we got.

In the last part of the subject, we were required to learn about energy balance. From my understanding, it was an essential skill for our later Thermodynamic subject. I had been introduced to the first law of thermodynamics and also the formulas for every term. By mastering the knowledge on the first law of thermodynamics, I believe I can master this knowledge that will serve as the basic for more complex and tougher questions. Besides, I was also exposed to different meaning of words in the question which indicated different situation such as opened and closed system.

To conclude, it was really a pleasure to meet Dr. Nazlee that is really passionate to share his knowledge with the students. I hope that I will not let him down and I will make sure I master the knowledge that I learnt from him for the future use of my career. I will try my best for Test 3 and also the Final for PCP. Last but not least, I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Nazlee. Thank you very much, Dr. Nazlee.

 

On 19of April, I had my Test 2 for my Principle of Chemical Processes (PCP) at N24 DK6 from 8pm to 10pm. This test was the second test for PCP out of a total of 3 tests. The test will carry a total of 10 marks for our final and this test consisted 4 questions which were divided into part A and part B.

This test included both single unit system and multiple unit system. This was the main difference between test 1 and test 2. Since we were facing more units in the question, it was important for us to identify where to start off to solve the questions. With the technique that I learned during the class, I was able to identify the ways to solve the question. However, unfortunately, my presentation for my labels and degree of freedom still lack of systematic. I kind of lack of confident in labeling the substances, this might be due to I still didn’t master the skill to carry out degree of freedom analysis. Due to this weakness, I lost two points for it. Therefore, I will be more precise in labeling in the future cases.

Next, the systems that we were facing now also included recycle stream, by-pass stream, and purge stream unlike in the question that we had in Test 1. These had increased the level of the questions. Thus, we had to be more careful when deal with the questions because the systems can further divided into many units. Besides, some systems can involve reactive substance such as combustion process. The three ways that we learned to solve these types of questions are molecular balance, atomic balance, and extent of reaction. I found myself master the skill to use extent of reaction better than the other two. Although we can use the method that we are familiar with, I felt that I should master all of the ways so that it can give me a better understanding for the problems that we were encountered.

Last but not least, the pride of me caused me to lose two more marks in this test. I should not be too confident when sitting for the test. I should always remember to check my solutions and answer when I had free time, but I didn’t. This had caused me to give the incomplete answer for the last question without knowing. I should always highlight the important words or instructions that are given in the questions so that I will not miss out the task or final result that are requested by the question. I should also have good time management so that I can finish the test and revise the solutions to score this subject.

To conclude, my test 2 result showed some improvement from test 1. I am happy that the measures that I took to repair my previous weaknesses had shown me some good results. I will still remember the weaknesses and be really careful when I solve the question as this is one of the core subjects for chemical engineer that we should really master the knowledge in it.

 

On 12^nd of March, I had my Test 1 for my Principle of Chemical Processes (PCP) at N24 DK6 from 8pm to 10pm. This test was one of the tests for PCP out of a total of 3 tests. The test will carry a total of 10 marks for our final and this test consisted 4 questions which were divided into part A and part B.

This PCP test 1 was the first test we had in Semester 2. Thus, I was kind of nervous and uneasy because I wasn’t mentally prepared myself. I should have trained myself to be fast to adapt to the surrounding as this is one of the important criteria to survive in this competing world. If you are slow and not fast enough, many precious chances will be taken away by the others. Therefore, we must always be alert and ready to face all the challenges. Saying you performed weakly due to lack of time for preparation is actually an irresponsible excuse. What has done cannot be undone. The next time, I will be more calm and clear to answer the questions.

Secondly, my weakness in my emotions has caused me to have a relatively poor presentation of answer in this test. I had gone through a few past years and also the example questions that being discussed in the class. However, I was still weak in the way of presenting of my answers. My weakly labeled answers had created much confusion to my lecturer and also myself. Thus, I will start to prepare myself in the way to present my answers in a clear and neat way so that I do not cause any troubles to my lecturer and also easy for myself to do my revision starting from my daily exercise.

Next, the reason that caused me to get such results was due to the misunderstanding of the question. I misunderstood the last equation as the other meaning. I actually knew the meaning of it, but I carelessly didn’t differentiate the meaning of both of it. Therefore, to prevent misunderstand of me, or any confusions, the next time I should try to label all the information again to give a better picture to answer the question so that I can make sure I am on the right way to get my answer.

To conclude, I should have did better in this test but due to my carelessness and weak way in presenting my answer, I got a final results that is lower that what I should have scored. However, I will take this test as a lesson and always remind myself to be careful and also practice the technique to answer for the paper. As I know, it’s important have a proper way to present our knowledge too so that the people can understand us better and this is an essential skill for our daily life too. I will make sure I will do better in my next coming test. 

An engineer pays an important role in the society because they are the one that connects the knowledge of science with the benefits of social by using their problem solving skills and analytical skills. Without the existence of engineer, the development of our human civilization certainly will be laid back for many years. Thus, an engineer must be alert to the present issues that encounter by the world and be proactive to try their best to solve it for the better future of human civilization. In this case, we are having an energy crisis around the world nowadays. The fossil fuel is depleting and we have to find a new source of renewable energy and fully develop it for various uses before it is too late. This is an important task that has to be done by us for our future generation and this mission drops to the hand of chemical engineer.

The dream of mine becoming a chemical engineer came closer when I was enrolled in Universiti Teknology Malaysia for Chemical-Bioprocess Engineering. However, it is still far away from my final destination that is to discover and generalize the use of renewable energy. This will be a harsh and long road because the use of fossil fuel to generate energy is still monopolized the world. However, I believe with the persistent and discipline of mine, I will definitely reach the dream of mine one day. Besides being excellent in my academic, I have to equip myself with a lot of experiences. By taking part in this Green Energy Program that organized by the FCU International Summer School, I will be able to expose to the experience and knowledge that are essential for my future research. Thus, I decided to apply for this Summer School Program because it might be a life time experience that will change my life. 

Furthermore, although I’m a Chinese from Malaysia, I also wonder about the differences of culture between the Taiwanese and the Chinese in Malaysia. As the saying of St. Augustine, "The world is a book, and those who don't travel only read one page." Exposing ourselves to the world is one of the most important experiences in life. Thus, this time, I want to take the risk to leave my country for 3 weeks and live in a country that is so far away from my home. I want to meet people from around the world and befriend with them to know their country and their culture. This is the chance for me to see and feel the world. I will show them the hospitality of a Malaysian and welcome them to my country, the Pearl of the world at the South East Asia. I believe it will definitely be a very wonderful experience.