January

Read about how five students from 3E5 built "RainPower," a prototype that converts energy from raindrops into electricity, as part of the NXplorers 2.0 challenge.

Last updated 7 September 2026

NXplorers 2022 Write-up

The NXplorers 2.0 journey is championed annually by Shell and Science Centre Singapore, to enable students to explore, develop and present ideas that could benefit the local community and school. It is a platform for young people to develop sustainable solutions to food, water and energy challenges. Through the process, students learn systems thinking, scenario planning, and develop change management skills – all highly relevant skills sets that inspire and equip students to be positive agents of change.

In January last year, 5 students from 3E5 comprising Mundru Tejas, Vaith Ng Rong, Isaiah Kelvin Tan and Reuben Yeo En Ci participated in this challenge and proposed a problem statement targeting two nexus elements, water and energy. The team was one of twenty schools shortlisted based on the submissions of the problem statement framework.

Students in uniforms and face masks sit on a red carpet floor, writing on large sheets of paper.

Students working on their problem statement using the NX tools at the NXplorers camp at Nanyang Polytechnic

Over the course of nine months, our students were involved in workshops, camps and project sharing day where they used various NX tools to evaluate different solutions, exchanged ideas with students from other school and constructed a working prototype to solve their proposed problem. Their prototype, RainPower, aimed to harness kinetic energy from rainwater droplets using piezoelectric plates and convert it to electrical energy. They concluded the journey by showcasing their prototype to representatives of Shell and Science Centre.

Students in uniforms present at a screen in a hall while seated peers watch, with a slideshow showing presentation order.

Team sharing project proposal to other selected school teams at the NXplorer Project Sharing Day at Science Centre Singapore

Students and adults gathered in a classroom around a lab table with a project model and laptop, with a presentation on screen.

Team showcasing their prototype to representatives from Shell and Science Centre at the project showcase day

This process helped them broaden their views, including changing the way they see themselves and the community, established meaningful connections, discussed and researched their identified energy problems and explored ways to solve them. This journey has also helped our students to understand the complexity of problem solving in the community and they have learnt to become better learners who are active, collaborative, and confident to make a difference.