Why go so far? Science is everywhere around us. Even when grandma is preparing 'sambal belacan' for her special 'nasi lemak', there is plenty of science involved. Grandma places spices like dried chilli, onion, garlic and ginger together with pieces of 'belacan' in a mortar and pound them with a pestle. The fast movement of the pestle coupled with its heavy weight produces a big momentum. As both the pestle and the mortar are made of hard stone, the impact of the pounding is high (big impulsive force) and the spices are crushed easily. Very soon the delicious 'nasi lemak' will be ready for serving.Teachers, unless we quote daily examples in our science teaching often enough, students may not be able to see the link between what they learn in science with things happening around them. In this example, pounding something using a pestle and mortar in the laboratory is certainly more effective than using the notebook computer and LCD projector. (Please do not misunderstand me, this is true as far as preparing 'sambal belacan' is concerned.)
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