Saving Gaia

Act Now. Save Our Planet!

Each year, the Earth’s temperature continues to rise, and our natural resources are carelessly exploited. Everyone has a responsibility to act now. We can play a part in helping the climate, preserve and care for Mother Earth.

Saving Gaia begins with each one of us. I pledge to…

• Reduce
Green tip: Reduce plastic bags – they deplete our natural resources. Bring a cloth bag instead at your next shopping trip.

• Reuse
Green tip: Reuse old envelopes by pasting an address label on or striking out the previous addressee.

• Recycle
Green tip: Collect rain water to water the plants, or laundry water to wash the floors or to flush the toilets.

Please go to this website to make your pledge. http://www.savinggaia.sg/

Learning Journeys by the Staff and Students

On the 13th of July, the Humanities Department Staff went on a learning journey to the National Museum of Singapore.



The Singapore History Museum showcases some of the most valuable displays concerning Singapore's history, from Sang Nila Utama to Sir Stamford.
It has very important information on our history as a nation. It was an eye opener for us Humanities teachers when we discovered that Raffles might not be the founder of Singapore but another person. (Hint. He is also an English man with the name William)




Here, Mrs Selva and Mrs Nathan are examining some historical artifacts from the exhibits entitled :Orgin of Street Food Culture















Meanwhile, Ms Ng and Ms Faridah are examining some historical photographs about families in Singapore.














For more imformation please visit the following website

http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/








Battlefiled Tour

Meanwhile, our students visited the The Kranji War Memorial. Dedicated to the men and women from United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Sri Lanka, India, Malaya, the Netherlands and New Zealand who died defending Singapore and Malaya against the invading Japanese forces during World War II, it comprises the War Graves, the Memorial Walls, the State Cemetery, and the Military Graves.




The War Graves are the final resting places for 4,458 Allied servicemen who died during world war 1 and 2. Over 850 of these graves are unknown. The Memorial Walls have over 24,000 names of Allied servicemen whose bodies were never found.



Towards the north end of the cemetery grounds is the State Cemetery and burial site of Inche Yusuf bin Ishak and Benjamin Henry Sheares, the first two Presidents of Singapore.

Pupils learnt more here than they ever did through books. The field trip touched both their hearts and minds.

Teach Less, Learn More (TLLM)

What is it about?
Teaching better, to engage our learners and prepare them for life, rather than teaching more, for tests and examinations.


What do we as Humanities Teachers in Mayflower do to promote TLLM?
Remember why we teach.
Reflect on what we teach.
Reconsider how we teach.

What is the aim of TLLM in the Humanities Department?
To touch the hearts and engage the minds of our learners and to prepare them for life.

How is this achieved?
The teachers shift the focus from “quantity” to “quality” in education.




“More quality” in terms of classroom interaction, opportunities for expression, the learning of life-long skills and the building of character through innovative and effective teaching approaches and strategies.








“Less quantity” in terms of rote-learning, repetitive tests, and following prescribed answers and set formulae.

EXAMPLES OF TLLM IN THE DEPARTMENT.

MOE Excel Day 2006

In 2006, a group of Secondary 3 students taught visitors to the MOE Excel Fair how to use Goggle Earth to study Geography.







They also shared their studies on Urban Heat Island to visitors.




The Living Space Project allows students to collect data to support their hypothesis that they have about Urban Heat Island.






By teaching the public how to use Goggle Earth, students reinforce what they themselves have learnt about Goggle Earth.

By interacting with the public, students gain confidence and enhance their public speaking skills.








An example of a TLLM lesson

Students are given tourist maps of Singapore and Penang during a lesson on Tourism. They have to extract information from the maps. With the information they have collected, they can make an informed decision on the quality of tourist attractions in Singapore and Malaysia.










Students learn to develop team work when they work together to answer questions provided by teachers.

Engaging Mind

The department is constantly seeking opportunities for our students to apply what they have learnt in class to real life situation.



For examples, these students took part in the NUS Geography Challenge held on the 26th May 2007. Ms Faridah prepared the students which provide them with additional opportunity to apply what they have learnt in class.

Here, students are given an opportunity to discuss with grassroots leaders from the Central Community Developmental Council (CDC)on ways to controlling the littering problem in Central CDC.



Students are regularly given opportunity to present their work to the class.

Reflection for 2007

The Humanities Department has been organizing several activities that support the Teach Less Learn More Initiative of MOE.


1. Field Trips

Field trip on Good Governance



Sec 4 Express pupils participated in this field trip conducted by the Singapore History Consultants. Through the field trip, pupils explored the Civic District, tracing its significance in Singapore history. Pupils studied various colonial buildings and other structures and they also learnt how Singapore was ruled under different eras, taking it from a colony to a nation.












Visit to the URA

Some of the Secondary 4 Geography students visited URA where they made a detailed study of the future development of Singapore.










Singapore River

As part of the TLLM, students from the Secondary 2 Normal Technical stream did a project on the Singapore River. After they had completed their research on -line, they proceeded to the Singapore River to see first hand the sites that they had virtually visited.
















2.Youth Environmental Guardians

The year 2007 started on a good note with the formation of the Youth Environmental Guardians in collaboration with the National Environmental Agency.

The YEG was formed in November 2006.



Several road shows were conducted in 2007 by the YEG to spread the message that we have to keep the environment clean.





The YEG helped to gather feedback for the NEA from the residents of Serangoon Garden on how they can help to keep their environment clean.












At the 3rd Environmental Regional Workshop for the Central Singapore District, the YEG shared with the Mayor of Central CDC their views on what students could do to help keep the environment litter free.









The YEGs also presented a skit on 'Clean Up, Bin It, Don't Breed It ' at the Teck Ghee Community Club.




3. Action Research and Learning circle

The department is currently conducting a learning circle on how to use acronyms to teach social studies. The Geography teaches are working on using structured scaffolds for answering structured essay questions.

Meanwhile another group of Humanities teachers are doing an action research on how to improve the performance of our students in the GCE 'O' level examination.


4. Weather Station Project Challenge 2007

This project was done by a group of sec 3 pure Geography pupils under the able guidance of Ms Cheng and Ms Faridah. The project was evaluated by members of Senoko power station and the local polytechnics. The pupils had to think on the spot and answer questions related to the project. They did a good job at giving good, quality answers.

5. Department Bonding Sessions

The Humanities family takes time to celebrate its successes, including the birth of each and every member. The photograph on your right shows Ms Faridah's birthday celebration. Together, we achieve even greater heights. 'Happy Birthday Faridah!'

6. N6 Cluster Workshop on answering structured essay questions for Social Studies.

This workshop was organised by Mrs Selva and all the teachers in the department attended the session. Photographs below show Ms Tan Shu-Wei from CHIJ St.Nicholas sharing strategies to help pupils master answering of Structured Essay Questions(SEQs).

Reflection for 2006

2006 was a milestone for the Humanities Department, with many new initiatives and participation in various school and national events such as the National Weather Study Project, the Living Space Project and the MOE Excel Fest.

Semester 1 was particularly eventful. The department hosted a group of educators from Hong Kong. They came to observe our learning circles and were impressed with Mr Gana’s sharing on how cultural awareness was brought about for pupils through a learning circle project.

Hong Kong educators at the Learning Circle sharing.


The department also hosted the first N6 cluster sharing entitled “ Talk less, teach more” where the use of Socratic dialogue to bring about thinking learners was shared by Mrs Frances Ess, our Subject Head for Geography. The session was very well received by the cluster teachers. Pupils who were at the session impressed the cluster teachers more with their quick thinking and confident speeches.

N6 Cluster Socratic Dialogue workshop





N6 teachers were also active participants as they were required to ask questions and challenge the presenter.

The Living Space Project

The last major activity of semester 1 was the Living Space Project, a collaborative project between ETD and Mayflower Secondary School. On 7 April, the school hosted the final presentation of the Living Space Project and a total of 12 schools participated. The question and answer session at the end proved to be particularly useful where students were effectively able to voice out any queries and seek clarification from other schools.




Confident pupils sharing their projects.






Ms Faridah with her team.












Mrs Selva with the ETD representative.










Question and Answer session











The National Weather Study Project gave the school a set of weather instruments. These were placed on the rooftop of the school building in order to measure the weather conditions around the school. The data captured was then transferred electronically into a computer based in the Humanities Room, where students and teachers would have access to it. Using the data, teachers and students were able to draw conclusions about the weather conditions around the school.



Semester 2 saw the department taking part in the MOE Excel Fest. Socratic Dialogue was shared with the teachers and there was a static display of the Living Space Project. One Action Research on the use of Socratic questioning and templates to bring about quality thinking was also completed and the paper was published in the North Zone AR Symposium in November. The department also embarked on work attachment programmes for pupils. Pupils were attached to the National Heritage Board and the Asian Civilisations Museum.



To add value to pupils’ academic performance, the following were also introduced:
· Social Studies mass lectures for graduating classes
· Social Studies workshop

• Blogging on NE and Social Studies topics
• Benchmarking for Source-based questions and mark schemes
  

Other activities organized by the department were:

Racial Harmony Day Commemoration

Students having fun.

Students learning how to work together.


Living in Harmony


The Speakers’ Corner


Students expressing their views at Speaker's Corner.



Students listening to students' views on issues.