Taking the ‘school bus’ to a high-tech level

P15-M mobile bus to pique interest of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Take a luxury tourist bus, and re-purpose it for something that can take young minds on a potentially grander ride to their future. That’s what this NuLab mobile science laboratory classroom can do.

The NuLab bus may look like your typical luxury 45-seater on the outside. Inside, however, it’s equipped with a 55-inch interactive smart board at the rear, and 12 computer monitors at the sides (replacing the windows), complete with laptops, power outlets and USB ports, wireless sensors, and other laboratory-grade equipment.

The setup, equipment, and modules were planned and executed by an astrophysicist, marine biologist, entomologist, and engineers. NuLab offers a modern mobile learning environment that can help pique students’ interest in the
sciences.

The NuLab mobile science bus can accommodate 24 students in one session and can hold two sessions per day. Laptops are available that serve to further connect students to the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) program the mobile lab is using. Emerson Electric Asia Ltd, a private company that also promotes STEM to the youth, donated 30 laptops to make possible a one-to-one student-computer ratio during STEM sessions.

The advanced STEM modules feature topics such as nanotechnology, aerospace engineering, nuclear science, earthquake risk analysis, science media literacy, programming, oceanography, robotics, entomology, and environmental science. The modules are specially designed to help students discover their potentials in the various STEM fields and to encourage them to take tertiary courses where they are most inclined to succeed and excel. In NuLab, students are also encouraged to apply for the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) Undergraduate Scholarships, the agency’s flagship program.

NuLab will first visit the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Iloilo City and Bontoc Mountain Province.

This P15-million NuLab mobile classroom bus will roll onto the provinces and give senior high-school students, even in far-flung places that do not have internet connections, a glimpse of the nano, aerospace, robotics, and oceanographic technologies. The experience will also hopefully encourage them to apply for DOST scholarships in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

NuLab’s pilot road tour will take the bus to Ilocos Norte from September 17 to 19, then head south and board an interisland ferry to Iloilo province from October 21 to 24. It will end the year by visiting students in Bontoc, Mountain Province from November 18 to 22.

During NuLab’s launch at the National Science and Technology Week (NSTW) 2019 last July 17 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City, DOST-SEI Director Dr. Josette Biyo expressed hope that NuLab would be as successful as the Science Explorer bus in reaching out to target beneficiaries. NuLab conducted sessions in the duration of the NSTW.

Astrophysicist Dr. Rogel Mari Sese, marine biologist Dr. Aletta Yñiguez, entomologist Dr. Aimee Dupo, Engr. Myra Ruth Poblete and other top young scientists, engineers, and science communicators facilitated the modules they developed with curriculum experts to senior high school students from various schools in Metro Manila.

DOST-SEI’s science research specialist Ma. Cristina Mae S. Ilaw told this writer July 18 that the NuLab bus at the NSTW is one of just two such buses of DOST. Ilaw described the computer monitors as showing lectures and instructions of the facilitators during the modules. That day, this writer was showed the ICT Arduino programming module for students.

Inside nuLab bus

The NuLab bus follows the success of the Science Explorer bus, which has served around 32,000 elementary and high school students in more than 100 municipalities across the country since 2010. While the Science Explorer bus caters mostly to younger students, NuLab is primarily intended for senior high school students.

The Science Explorer bus—the country’s first mobile science learning facility launched in 2010 that could accommodate 30 students per module—goes to underprivileged schools in the provinces, as well as in Metro Manila. The Science Explorer bus is a 30-seater Daewoo converted into a mobile laboratory. NuLab, on the other hand, is a Hyundai Universe, a left-hand drive 4×2 bus offered in Noble, Luxury and Classic variants, and with a seating capacity that ranges from 42 to 50 (including the driver). The Hyundai Universe bus has engine models D6AC, D6CB, D6CB, D6AV and with engine displacements of 11 and 12.3 liters.

The modules inside this science bus were created by an astrophysicist, marine biologist, entomologist, and engineers.

The NuLab and Science Explorer buses aim to bring to students of schools, that lack the equipment for their own science laboratories, a fun experience in learning science through cool and interactive experiments in the hope of inspiring them to pursue S&T (science and technology)
careers.