Creating a fake wound worthy of an action movie may seem like it is simply about the make-up, but a lot more goes into it than you think.

For one thing, you need to know about the different layers of human skin. This is so that you can accurately depict how much blood there is in an " injury".

This was the challenge posed to Normal-stream secondary students in the ignITE Skills Challenge last Tuesday - to use household materials to create a fake wound.

Some 360 N-level students from 43 schools participated in the competition, held at the Institute of Technical Education's (ITE) College West, to spur young people to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The contest, which is in its second year, allows students to apply their learning of these subjects outside the classroom.

They were given 12 challenges with real-world implications and were asked to solve them using information learnt from subjects such as maths and science.

Challenges included mixing mocktails by checking the densities of each liquid, and creating nutritious and affordable meals.

"Once students see how these subjects can be applied in real life, they will be inspired to pursue them," said Mr Tan Kay Chuan, 61, chairman of the competition's organising committee.

A training workshop in March, organised by ITE, drew 1,388 students from 63 Ministry of Education schools who learnt the skills required for the competition.

They then went through preliminary rounds before some went on to the finals.

"It's a very good platform for students to do something fun as well as to prove that they can use the skills learnt," said Ms Thor Yanlin, 44, a teacher at St Margaret's Secondary School, which came in second in the Creative 3D Modelling challenge.

Ms Low Yen Ling, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education, and Trade and Industry, was the guest of honour.

She said: "I think what this challenge has achieved is to ignite the interest and imagination to really discover the potential out there, and to show our N-level students the many possibilities they can achieve as long as they apply what they have learnt from these subjects."

Indeed, the challenge did spark the interest of students.

Nur Irnyza's team won the fake-wound challenge. "I want to learn more about human skin types and how chemicals work together," said the 14-year-old student from Christ Church Secondary.

She added that her interest in the human skin was sparked by what she learnt in the competition. Her ambition is to become a nurse and help people, she said.