Science Centre Singapore’s UNTAME Returns Bigger and Better to Spotlight the Power of Multidisciplinary Learning in a Post-Covid World

For the year-end holiday period, Science Centre Singapore (SCS) has rolled out UNTAME: Rebooting Our World – an immersive, blended learning festival boasting a series of phased initiatives from now until 5 December.

Returning for its second run, UNTAME 2021 is designed to empower an edutaining discovery of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines, and how their convergence with Arts and Humanities helps drive critical solutions for navigating a post-pandemic world.

The second edition of UNTAME is a four-part extravaganza, featuring UNTAME STEAM Festival, UNTAME Online, UNTAME Day and UNTAME After Dark.

Evolving from its digital-first approach in 2020 amid the pandemic, this year’s UNTAME is a hybrid festival hosted both online and on-site, where guests can expect a multi-dimensional experience including STEM-themed quests, sensory shows, tinkering workshops, a pop-up farmer’s market and even an after-hours event.

The festival theme – Rebooting Our World – mirrors the great reset brought about by the pandemic and mankind’s role in rebuilding a sustainable future.

Through festival activities, guests will embark on missions that encourage us to rethink ways of
living, understand the influence of STEM-related disciplines in reshaping the world for the better,
and see how we can help to take this movement forward.

To further rally the public to take action towards a sustainable future, a key highlight this year is CAPtivate, a record-breaking event to create a meaningful upcycled art piece – Singapore’s largest bottle cap mural involving local artist and eco-enthusiast Edmund Chen. He has also been appointed Creator-in-residence at SCS as part of this project. The bottle cap mural will subsequently be on display at SCS’s kinetic garden.

SCS’s UNTAME: Rebooting Our World unfolds in four stages:

UNTAME STEAM Festival
2 to 10 October 2021

Organised by KidsSTOP, UNTAME STEAM Festival seeks to showcase creative approaches to STEAM-based teaching and learning with a host of educational and sensorial experiences for children. Open to the public online from 1 October, and on-site from 2 to 10 October via timed sessions, young learners explored ways to build a more sustainable world, through engaging hands-on STEAM activities.

At the Centre, children, parents and educators got their hands dirty at the STEAM Play Yard, where they got to reimagine fun with various hands-on activities; festival-goers also learned about renewable energy, decorated a reusable tote bag with natural pigments and programmed a robot to clean up trash.

UNTAME Online
29 October to 5 December

UNTAME Online kicked off via #UNTAMEreboot, a gamified platform designed exclusively for the virtual event. Drawing a parallel to this year’s theme, guests entered a dystopian and desecrated digital world, representing the dire state of our planet as a result of mankind’s unsustainable practices. Through a series of missions across six habitats, players get to go on an adventure to restore ravaged environments and discover how small but conscious decisions can have a big, positive impact on the planet.

In partnership with local landmarks like Gardens by the Bay and Sentosa, and sustainability-focused brands including Green Monday and Uniqlo, missions can be completed via videos and on-ground at these collaborators’ sites. The missions will also comprise mini games as well as activities complementary to hands-on learning kits. As players progress through the platform, they accumulate in-game currency which can be used to redeem attractive prizes.

UNTAME Online was facilitated via three types of passes that ranges from a free pass, $45 and $80, each allowing access to a different range of activities.

UNTAME Day
20 to 28 November

New to this year’s UNTAME is an on-site experience, featuring a series of workshops, over 10 hands-on activities and a Farmer’s Market.

Hosted at Science Centre Singapore, families get to participate in a slew of sustainability-themed activities to turn trash into treasure with the memory frame making workshop, bottle upcycling workshop and snack pack making workshop.

Guests could also participate in activities to transform old CDs into exquisite dream catchers or contribute to the Centre’s record-breaking ambition with CAPtivate to form Singapore’s largest bottle cap wall mural.

Exclusively on 27 & 28 November, UNTAME Day was home to a pop-up Farmer’s Market, organized in partnership with Singapore Young Farmers, Kranji Countryside Association and the Singapore Food Agency.

UNTAME After Dark
3 to 5 December

Reaching out to all night explorers, SCS extended its opening hours till 10.30pm for three special evenings featuring a myriad of activities and performances. Experience science coming to life after dark at fan favourite exhibitions like Phobia2: The Science of Fear, and Professor Crackitt’s: Light Fantastic Mirror Maze and be awed by the Dazzling Light Installation – a project in collaboration with Very Small Exhibition – that promises a brilliant kaleidoscopic spectacle of lights and colours.

The twilight experience will feature four specially curated zones:

o Flea Zone – Indulge in a bout of shopping therapy with booths featuring eco-friendly products and vendors that champion sustainability
o Activity Zone – Step back into the past with classic arcade games like skee rolls or put your knowledge and skills to the test with our sustainability quiz and neon maze sowing activity
o Lifestyle Zone – Chill out in an immersive virtual environment featuring a 360-degree wall projection that will take you on a journey out of this world
o Food Zone – Feast on a gourmet selection of fair favourites that are both Instagram able & delectable

Keep your minds active and hands busy by registering for premium experiences, such as the BlasterNight Battle, a high adrenaline foam blaster battle to test the teamwork and skills of friends and families. Alternatively, register for the premium experience supported by Building and Construction Authority as part of the iBuildSG initiative – Magic in a Bottle Workshop to give materials a new sustainable lease of life and learn about resource optimisation in the Built Environment sector.

Guests will also be entertained by a series of live programmes, including musical performances by the young talents from NUS & NTU bands, showcases by the winners of the Singapore Science Buskers and premiere of “The Electrified Show”, a spectacular high-tech special effect show set featuring lights, lasers, multimedia and robotics created by local artist Kiki Tay.

UNTAME After Dark will be facilitated via three types of passes with ticket prices ranging between $29.90 to $65, each allowing access to a different set of activities.