We were having a bit of a problem deciding what to do for our fieldtrip package. We considered going to Labrador Park to conduct fieldwork for students, but that idea fell through as we had not much focus on what we wanted to have students learn there.
In the end we settled with Sentosa, where the students can learn about tourism, something that is intangible, something that has always been around us but we don’t see it unless we really look.
Instead of making the fieldtrip one which students just walk around and take notes after the teacher, we decided to make it a little more interesting and incorporate the need to search for the different destinations on the island itself. The pre-activity allows students to piece a jumbled up map of Sentosa up and find on the map the locations in which they are to gather their data.
We wanted to incorporate a myriad of skills for the students to practice; we would have them interviewing visitors of Sentosa near the Merlion, which is a significant Singapore icon. At Siloso, they would be attending to the management of tourists, using their observation skills and also getting them to learn to be investigators by sketching and taking photographs of the area and so on. There is another activity that would take them to Palawan Beach where they would investigate the changes in land use of old Sentosa with the Sentosa of today.
There were other ideas that we wanted to include in our fieldwork package. We did think of trying to make the whole trip like an adventure hunt or race, where students have to use a map and compass to find out where their destinations are by providing them with bearings. This was to aid them in their map reading. However, we thought that we would be losing our focus on tourism if we digress in other areas.
Considering that this fieldwork should be completed within a span of at most 3 hours, we decided against too many activities and factors like the race or adventure hunt idea. But this would be an excellent way to incorporate all type of geography knowledge if we did not have to stick to a particular topic. In fact it would be appropriate if the activities were to be carried out during a Geography Camp.
I think that after piecing this fieldwork together, I realise now that it takes a lot of planning in order to get a meaningful fieldwork up. But I feel that this is one of the best ways to learn geography, as students can see for themselves that geography is relevant to the world around them and that a topic like Tourism can be found at their doorstep.
In the end we settled with Sentosa, where the students can learn about tourism, something that is intangible, something that has always been around us but we don’t see it unless we really look.
Instead of making the fieldtrip one which students just walk around and take notes after the teacher, we decided to make it a little more interesting and incorporate the need to search for the different destinations on the island itself. The pre-activity allows students to piece a jumbled up map of Sentosa up and find on the map the locations in which they are to gather their data.
We wanted to incorporate a myriad of skills for the students to practice; we would have them interviewing visitors of Sentosa near the Merlion, which is a significant Singapore icon. At Siloso, they would be attending to the management of tourists, using their observation skills and also getting them to learn to be investigators by sketching and taking photographs of the area and so on. There is another activity that would take them to Palawan Beach where they would investigate the changes in land use of old Sentosa with the Sentosa of today.
There were other ideas that we wanted to include in our fieldwork package. We did think of trying to make the whole trip like an adventure hunt or race, where students have to use a map and compass to find out where their destinations are by providing them with bearings. This was to aid them in their map reading. However, we thought that we would be losing our focus on tourism if we digress in other areas.
Considering that this fieldwork should be completed within a span of at most 3 hours, we decided against too many activities and factors like the race or adventure hunt idea. But this would be an excellent way to incorporate all type of geography knowledge if we did not have to stick to a particular topic. In fact it would be appropriate if the activities were to be carried out during a Geography Camp.
I think that after piecing this fieldwork together, I realise now that it takes a lot of planning in order to get a meaningful fieldwork up. But I feel that this is one of the best ways to learn geography, as students can see for themselves that geography is relevant to the world around them and that a topic like Tourism can be found at their doorstep.
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