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[Session 1] Treasures in Our Backyard - Rediscovering Singapore's Natural Heritage
- 1. Look longer. Look harder. Look closer. Raffles Ecological Literacy Programme
- 2. Raffles Ecological Literacy Programme • Elective enrichment • Non-core curriculum • 2 periods on Monday mornings
- 3. Classroom Learning Talks - Discussions - Videos
- 4. Experiential Learning Bishan Park - MacRitchie Reservoir
- 5. Field Trip - Cyrene Reef
- 6. Field Trip - Pulau Ubin
- 7. Field Trip - Kranji Countryside
- 8. Overseas Trip - Tioman
- 9. Overseas Trip - Taiwan
- 10. Journal Writing
- 11. Journal Writing
- 12. Journal Writing
- 13. Journal Writing
- 15. Book Launch @ NLB
- 16. Takeaways
- 17. Pedagogy “Experiences are what make you fall in love.”
- 18. Pedagogy
- 20. Pedagogy • Place-based education –Exploring various perspectives
- 21. Pedagogy "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." - John Muir
- 22. Children’s Storybooks Tools for place-based learning for kids
- 23. Book Launch @ NLB
- 27. Nparks
Editor's Notes
- Sleeping in vs having lessons Interviews Picture: Bishan Park sitting in 1 row
- Pokemon (mudkip and mudskipper/axolotl) Picture of talk XX’s pokemon
- EcoLit induction: walking in the ‘canal’ which is now a naturalised river No one usually will walk in our monsoon canal Combine Bishan Park and Macritchie
- Fully Submerged reef flats near Jurong Island, only appears during low tides (3-4 times a year) For us: 6am Not easily accessible *Angle – despite Singapore’s development, we still have quite a handful of pristine habitats. And more often than not – do not know about until the media reports it or just simply too late
- Cycling to sites such as the german girl shrine Talking to Ubinites *Angle - Focus more on culture and people (Ah Ma and Ivy in the news)
- Goat, frog, bollywood veggies *Angle: going to places that we never knew existed, challenging ourselves
- *Angle: Exploratory trip - Tioman resort vs history/culture/lifestyle - Link to triangle (human nature relationship) Hill picture + batik painting
- Aboriginal village archery, mushroom, guide *Angle: exploring different cultures (bigger scale of tioman) Using tioman as fundamental/foundation, apply to taiwan context
- Immersed in the environment Non prescriptive, up to our own imagination (direction of the journal) Each journal reflects our own journey and thought process Put words onto the slide (short points)
- Macro overview + photos
- Expanding on 1 point (reflective) Explain the triangle
- Map, storyboard, printing 3 rows
- Left + kids + books Popular, kino, lkc natural history museum, all primary schools and national libraries
- No title Make sure people know you are ending Talk about how ecolit has ended but we no longer require a field trip to learn Final statement: link to ecolit alumni
- Our learning in ecolit is centered around first-hand experiences which take place beyond the walls of our classroom. We focus on place-based learning which is rooted in what is local – the unique environment, history, culture, economy, lifestyle and people of a particular place. A batchmate of ours once said, ‘Experiences are what make you fall in love’. Indeed, these first hand experiences were what made us fall so deeply in love with nature and opened our eyes to the things around us. For example, this photo here was taken during our trip to Cyrene Reef, an offshore reef submerged during high tide and accessible only during low tide. It is the size of 14 football fields, yet it remains relatively unknown except to marine researchers, environmental interest group and fisherman. It sits amidst a busy shipping lane, surrounded by oil refineries (as can been seen from the backdrop of smoking chimneys).
- But at the same time, it houses a very pristine marine habitat. It is the home to a rich diversity of marine flora and fauna, including Knobbly Sea Stars, sea cucumbers as well as the rare pentaceraster sea star, previously known only to exist in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea.
- The experiential learning model by David A. Kolb (with Roger Fry) is very tightly incorporated into our ecolit curriculum. For example, for our week long Tioman trip, we were broken into groups beforehand to research on the history, culture, social sector, economy and environment of Tioman. In Tioman itself, we chatted with the locals, trekked through the nature trails and snorkeled to learn about the underwater marine life. We compared our observations derived during these experiences to our pre-conceived notions of the place, and also formulated new impressions about the place. Each of us carried along our own journal in which we would write down our thoughts or findings about the day’s experiences. The process of reflecting would lead us to fresh insights on the place, and often led us to ask more questions too, which we would again look into, thereby fueling the process of continual learning and discovery. The other field trips that we embarked on are structured using this learning cycle as well. Many of us enjoyed the field trips so much that we went on our own field trips, our own journey of self-discovery. [Experience is the activity itself reflection is about what you saw (what?) Your further thoughts; making sense of the what (so what?) Now what further action can I take?]
- Ecolit also encouraged us to think about places and issues from various perspectives, and how one thing is always related to something else in the real world. Ecolit allowed us to experience the complex interdependence between natural and social systems not just as an intellectual idea, but up close in real life. It impressed upon us the importance of sustainability and environmental conservation. This, here, was our field trip to Pulau Ubin. We talked to some of the villagers there to find out about their lifestyle, the history of Pulau Ubin, as well as their dependence on nature. Pictured here is Ah Kok, who has this rustic old hut at the other end of his plot of land for people from mainland to experience staying a night out in the woods. His income very much depends on that. Ah Kok also shared with us about his family, his daily routine, and past issues Ubin villagers had with land authorities. We also cycled around the island and explored the flora and fauna. We learned that a place is never independent of its history, people, environment, economy and culture, but more so an amalgamation of these aspects interacting together.
- If we had to sum up everything we’ve experienced in Ecolit in ONE word, it would be INTERDEPENDENCE. The historical, social, cultural, economical and environmental aspects of a place are very intricately intertwined. They all play a part in the society we call home, or one that someone else calls home. If one aspect is affected, or not given due regard, it is just a matter of time before the other aspects get affected as well. Take the case of our oceans. Oceans are an important food source and it’s the safeguard of the livelihoods of many. However, because of overfishing, marine life are not allowed to regenerate at a sustainable rate and communities in the world have started to face a shortage of fish lately. This goes to show that if we focus on pure short-term economic gains at the expense of our environment, it will eventually lead to a host of problems that may even be counterproductive. This is very nicely summed up in a quote by John Muir – "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”
- Having gleaned so much from our meetings and field trips, we were encouraged to share our insights with the community at large. This has taken the form of children’s storybooks. The books were intended to fill a missing market; most of the nature storybooks for children were written in the overseas context, which made it less relatable for local children as they would not be able to spot the animals in the book nor identify with the place. Our books are based on our very own natural heritage. Our books are set in a local nature setting, such as Pulau Ubin, MacRitchie and Lower Pierce Reservoir, and features animals commonly found there. They range from place-based books to species-based books, or sometimes even both! They serve as companion books for children when visiting those places with their families. This would definitely be more exciting for them, than just reading about, say, a redwood tree in California, which they cannot see for themselves. [The stories are told from different perspectives – from the perspective of a young boy (U been to Ubin?), a young pulai seed (Paddy the Flying Pulai) or even a water droplet (I will be clean). Through this, we aim to get children to view the world around them through a different lens, and see the importance of nature not just to themselves, but also the many species of plants, animals and water resources around them.]
- Our programme also partners with the National Library Board for our books. We previously held our book launches at Bishan Library, but lately we’ve launched our books at My Treehouse @ NLB. This new location is really helpful for us. Firstly, the treehouse playground itself attracts a lot of kids, and holding our book launch there will allow us to reach out to a larger audience. The stage, which is not too elevated, allows us to connect with the kids through our very own storytelling sessions, which the younger kids enjoyed very much. [You can see that the kids are having lots of fun during the storytelling session. ]
- We also work closely with Nparks. Through this partnership, we had the opportunity to showcase our work at the Festival of Biodiversity, which is held in the period of June-July every year. The Raffles Eco-literacy Programme had a booth to showcase our books and share about our programme. In addition, we conducted several storytelling and craft sessions for the children.
- Shown here is a cloud puppet used in the storytelling session of the book Paddy the Flying Pulai.
- Through the Festival of Biodiversity, many of us were able to interact with Nparks personnel, and 3 of our batchmates actually went on to join Nparks as temporary staff during our post A Levels break. These batchmates pioneered Biodiversity Week for schools, which consists of a series of activities lined up for students to learn more about our rich flora and fauna. As 2 of them co-wrote Paddy the Flying Pulai, it was selected as one of the books to be used for one of the activities. The story was made into an animated video along with an accompanying craft and brought to preschools.
- [We are very fortunate to have Nparks as our partner, for it has indeed provided lots of opportunities for us to impact the wider community. This would go a long way in correcting the nature deficit disorder, characterized by an increasing disconnect between people and nature, particularly in our younger generation these days, myself included. Many of us associate with urban areas for the greater part of our lives and have limited contact with natural habitats and biodiversity. In the long-run, a disinterest or distaste for natural settings may develop, which, as shown previously, is also of great importance to our society. Thus, we hope that through our efforts, we would be able to bridge this gap.] This is a picture of pre-school children with their finished craft from the storybook Paddy the Flying Pulai which we mentioned earlier. This activity was part of Biodiversity Week organised by Nparks.
- Through Nparks and NLB, we were introduced to the National Book Development Council of Singapore (aka SG Book Council). Our book launch coincided with the period of the Asian Festival of Children’s content, an annual conference for educators, illustrators and authors to showcase and discuss about writing books for the young. Thus, our book launch was included in their programme as part of their teacher’s congress programme.
- To end off, we would like to leave you with a quote. As William Wordsworth, a famous 18th Century romantic poet, once said, “Come forth into the light of things. Let nature be your teacher.” I think it’s time for us to take the education of our younger generation beyond the classrooms, and let us be facilitators for nature to be their teacher.