Dominic Chua
The Time Machine
The reaction of half of the class was one of incredulity— they asked her questions like‘ How is this possible?’ and‘ What’ s going to happen to the Periodic Table?’
Shanti’ s New Element
Mrs Shanti Sundram was a Chemistry teacher, and one of the first few teachers to teach the first batches of the Gifted Education Programme’ s( GEP) secondary programme when it started. She had an MSc, and very few teachers had a Masters in those days.
So she went and told her class, one April Fools’ Day, that a new element had been found and discovered. The reaction of half of the class was one of incredulity— they asked her questions like‘ How is this possible?’ and‘ What’ s going to happen to the Periodic Table?’ The other half of the class never asked any questions and just copied whatever she was telling them.
At lesson’ s end Shanti( Mrs Sundram) flashed a transparency with the words‘ Happy April Fools’ Day!’— but there was a bigger point to her prank: those who questioned had thought critically while those who didn’ t had a long way more to go.
Rafflesian Times
24