Amy CHOONG Mei Fun
Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science (FOS)
Choong, A. M. F. (2023). Collecting, documenting and researching about the effects of litter on biodiversity with team mates [Lightning talk]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/collecting-documenting-and-researching-about-the-effects-of-litter-on-biodiversity-with-team-mates/
SUB-THEME
Interdisciplinarity and Education
KEYWORDS
Waste and our environment, group project, Natural Heritage of Singapore, biodiversity, protecting the environment
CATEGORY
Lightning Talks
ABSTRACT
GES1021/GESS1016 “Natural Heritage of Singapore” is a course that showcases biodiversity in Singapore and how development threatens local biodiversity. Undergraduates can take the course from any level. Owing to a lack of manpower, the LSM1307 “Waste and Our Environment” had to be put on hold and since I took over GES1021/GESS1016, I decided to incorporate LSM1307’s key topics, such as litter and pollution, into GES1021/GESS1016. The course LSM1307 focusses on environmental sustainability, particularly on waste and health concerns while GES1021/GESS1016 focusses on biodiversity, specifically on the natural heritage of Singapore. Students who enrolled into this course came from all faculties thus rendering this continual assessment (CA), titled as in this abstract, highly interdisciplinary.
This CA was a group project. In the CA instruction given, students were taught how to collect the trash, what to avoid, how to practice safety, how to document the waste and categorise it. The instruction also named the students as heroes to motivate them to do good as their litter removal helps local biodiversity. They were graded on aesthetics of the poster (2%), accuracy of information about the organisms (12%), detailed research on waste (5%), good referencing (1%), as well as the pictures and categories of waste collected (3%).
Out of the class of 125, the students formed their own groups of 3 to 5 members. Each group focussed on one natural habitat (may be at different locations in Singapore), documented three native plants and three native animals that lived there, and picked at least 50 pieces of litter from the habitat and documented them in their group poster. Based on what they had picked, students researched on the category of litter, their effects on the flora and fauna in general (need not be specific to their organism, as few such studies had been carried out locally). For instance, there were different types of plastics, and information on how they affected plants or animals could be obtained from studies done (need not be limited to Singapore). Finally, students submitted their work in the form of a three-page A3 poster in PDF. The first page described the team’s chosen habitat and organisms. The second page listed the types of litter collected and how these affected plants and animals, and the final page listed the references.
This CA was a form of experiential learning (Kolb, 1984). Students were taught in the course what a habitat is and what are considered native organisms. These background information form the intellectual origin (Kolb, 1984). As they carried out this assignment, students must be able to apply the concepts and correctly identify as well as photograph three native animals and plants. From the litter picking component, students could see for themselves how their six organisms were living amongst litter. From their desktop research, they would discover the harmful effects and might feel for their organisms’ plight. The research involved many disciplines, from biology and ecology of organisms, pollution chemistry affecting organisms’ growth and physiology (D’Costa, 2022; van Bijsterveldt et al., 2021; Zdunek & Kolenda, 2022), heavy metals (Buhari & Ismail, 2016), soil structure or aquatic quality, ultimately affecting human health (although students are to omit this in their poster). These experiences thus influence their overall learning.
When the students first started GES1021/GESS1016, most were clueless about local biodiversity and Singapore’s natural habitats. Subsequently as they attended lectures, worked on this assignment, encountered interesting plants and animals and recognised that these organisms were at risk from litter, students gained cognitive growth and their understanding changed. Their ideas about the environment and biodiversity were formed and reformed with each experience (Kolb, 1984).
The assignment was effective in bringing across the seriousness of litter’s harm to wildlife. The hard work required to pick up litter, the encounters with wildlife would be memorable. Students enjoyed the experience as they mentioned this in the module feedback (see comments in the next two paragraphs) and from conversations I had with them. During the “get to know you” online poll conducted on Mentimeter, my current student (2023-24) said they selected this course because of the litter-picking assignment.
Comments from two students:
- “Very fun module with a very passionate Dr Choong! She instils values in us such as the importance of not wasting food, or not littering. Our project is very unique where we get to explore our natural habitat in Singapore and pick rubbish that pollutes these habitats.”
- “It allows me to understand nature more and inspires me to make some changes in the future to protect our natural environment.”
REFERENCES
Buhari, T. R., & Ismail, A. (2016). Correlations between geo-chemical speciation of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd and Ni) in surface sediments and their concentrations in giant mudskipper (Periophthalmodon schlosseri) collected from the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 4(1), 28-36. https://doi.org/10.4236/gep.2016.41003
D’Costa, A. H. (2022). Microplastics in decapod crustaceans: Accumulation, toxicity and impacts, a review. Science of The Total Environment, 832, 154963. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154963
Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Prentice-Hall.
van Bijsterveldt, C. E. J., van Wesenbeeck, B. K., Ramadhani, S., Raven, O. V., van Gool, F. E., Pribadi, R., & Bouma, T. J. (2021). Does plastic waste kill mangroves? A field experiment to assess the impact of macro plastics on mangrove growth, stress response and survival. Science of The Total Environment, 756, 143826. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143826
Zdunek, P. & Kolenda, K. (2022). The threat of discarded food and drinks containers to monitor lizards. Herpetological Bulletin, 161, 28-30. https://doi.org/10.33256/hb161.2830
