MOE Adventure Centre

October 2015 GET OUT THERE! Outdoor Education Newsletter Amazing Caves!Exterior of Caving System There is a “new kid” on the block at the the Artificial Caving System will provide MOE Outdoor Adventure Learning Centres opportunities for students to solve problemIssue 4 (OALC)! and help each other manoeuvre through the tunnels. Students can discover if they An Artificial Caving System was installed at have a fear of darkness and learn to work MOE Changi Coast, Jalan Bahtera and Lab- together to overcome this challenge. rador OALCs. The new facility consists of maze-like tunnels installed within steel con- Activities in the ACS can last between 30 to tainers. 60 minutes. Teachers or instructors can monitor the progress of the participants Groups of 4 to 5 participants will attempt to and ensure safety through the closed-circuit find their way out through the tunnels in cameras which are installed throughout the darkness or near-darkness (depending on ACS. Facilitators will also be able to tap on programme) either by crawling or walking. their observations to guide participants in They will have to decide on the route they their reflection later. want to take and how they can overcome obstacles. Make caving part of your camping pro- gramme now! In our continual efforts to provide schools with options in their camping programme, Interior of the caving system Images from closed-circuit camerasWe are on the Web …. Pilot Programme @ Dairy Farm OALCwww.moeadventurecentres.sg Come April, MOE will pilot having our own officers to conduct cohort camps for schools at Share Your Story Dairy Farm Outdoor Adventure Learning Centre (DFOALC)! Have an OE story to share? A group of Education officers (EO) and Allied Educators (AED) will be based at DFOALC to Send your stories to run camp programmes for schools. EOs will serve as Outdoor Programme Managers (OPM) and work with schools to design suitable camp programmes, while the AEDs will take on [email protected] role of Outdoor Adventure Educators who run the programmes. This group of personnel will be equipped with a wide variety of skills in the areas of outdoor adventure learning, including conducting challenge ropes courses, journey-based pro- grammes, facilitation of learning, environmental interpretation, wilderness first aid, risk assessment and management and emergency response. With this pilot, we hope to move away from mere activity-based camps and improve the camp experiences and learning of our students. More details will be released in January 2016, so do look out for it.

Outdoor Education is a means of achieving the Desired Outcomes Outdoor Education Newsletter of Education through guided direct experience in the outdoors. Place-responsive Outdoor Education for a Changing Landscape in Singapore Global warming, climate change, environmental degradation, Two potential frameworks can be considered. The first is poverty and social inequality are just some of the buzz -words “The Landfullness Framework” by Molly Baker1. It focuses on we unfortunately hear all too often these days. How then can four key levels: outdoor educators take on the responsibility of developing a sense of value for the natural environment and encourage 1) Becoming deeply aware (of our place) sustainable practices? One potential approach is to shift the 2) Interpreting Land History focus away from personal mastery of skills to a more place- 3) Sensing place in the present responsive outdoor education. 4) Connecting to home They are plenty of theories that support the importance of our The other pedagogical approach is by Wattchow Brian and schools in playing a part in fostering a sense of place and Mike Brown2 who advocated the “Four signposts to place- rootedness to our land through a more place-responsive out- responsive education pedagogy.” They are: door education. The question then arises if this is truly possi- ble for students living in highly urbanized areas like Singa- 1) Being present in and with a place. pore? Are they able to learn as comprehensively and deeply 2) The power of place-based stories and narratives. about the ecology as their counterparts living in the country? 3) Apprenticing ourselves to outdoor places. 4) The representation of place experiences. The answer is optimistic for as long as there are still pockets of “green” in Singapore that have historical, social, cultural Both approaches focus on the need for students to be sensi- and natural heritage that the educator can explore. One of tive to and aware of land and space, and more importantly, to the key elements of place–responsive education is that the integrate their whole selves into the environment in their educator becomes the creator of the curriculum as opposed learning. It is evident that holistic learning in outdoor educa- to merely dispensing it. This creates endless possibilities as tion must include a conscious effort by all educators to em- long as the educator can seize the opportunities and circum- power our students not just physically but to prepare them for stances available. This learner-centred pedagogy provides an uncertain future that they must negotiate, elevate and ample opportunities for students to create their own learning. create sustainable alternatives. So how can this be done? Recommendation: 1 Baker, M (2005). Landfullness in Adventure-Based Programming: Promot- Besides utilising adventure activities in our local outdoor ing Reconnection to the Land. Journal of Experiential Education, 27(3), 267 space, teachers can enthuse, engage and enable students to -276. ’respond’ to these places so that they can take concrete steps actions for a more sustainable future. 2 Wattchow, B., & Brown, M. (2011). A pedagogy of place : outdoor educa- tion for a changing world. Clayton, Vic.: Monash University Publishing.ANNOUNCEMENT Professional Development Courses (October 2015 - January 2016) NEW PESEB is coming up Course Title TRAISI Code Duration Course Dates with a Camping Re- Refresher Course for Instructors 90214 1 day 7 Jan 2016source Guide for Schools. This on MOE Adventure Facilities 8 Jan 2016guide will provide ideas and 11 Jan 2016resources for running cohort 12 Jan 2016camp. Look out for it in OPAL. 13 Jan 2016P5, P6 and S3 lesson plans will Caving Instructor Training Course 1 day More detail will be given after thebe up in OPAL in December. (Priority will be given to schools camping at the booking exercise.Log onto OPAL and look under MOE OALCs in Semester 1, 2016)Subjects → PE → Resources → 1 day Look out for it in TRAISI NEWPE Curriculum → Syllabus → OE Facilitating Learning Experience for Cohort CampBooking of MOE OALCs (Phase1), OBS and MOESSC will com-mence on 5 October 2015.Check your balloting slot fromour website.