Some lessons I enjoyed conducting - leaving them here for the memories!
Geography
Pure Geography - Coasts
I started off the lesson by sharing with students about my FYP, introducing the issue of sand mining in Cambodia. This was an extension to a previous lesson where students learned about land reclamation in Singapore. I thought it would be meaningful to help students realise that though land reclamation is beneficial to Singapore's development, this development comes at the expense of others. I elicited this point by showing them a video narrated by a Cambodian villager whose village was facing the consequences of excessive riverbed dredging.
The key guiding questions that I planned enabled a very fruitful class discussion. Multiple perspectives were raised by students about Singapore being complicit in causing hardship to the vulnerable communities in Cambodia - one student shared very passionately about how he feels that Singapore should turn to alternative methods to reclaim land (e.g. using incinerated trash), while another student felt that Singapore should not be faulted for importing sand from Cambodia if Cambodia is willing to sell the sand to us. I then highlighted the corruption that goes on in the sand mining industry, to help students gain a deeper understanding of this prevalent environmental issue.
When teaching about coastal processes, I also conducted a class activity using digestive biscuits to exemplify the 4 erosional processes (Corrasion, Attrition, Solution, and Hydraulic Action). Students really enjoyed this activity, and the video demonstrations were also useful in helping students visualise erosional processes.
Lesson Slides:
Video Demos:
Erosional Process - Solution
<<< Click the image or press on the link HERE to access the video!
Erosional Process - Hydraulic Action
<<< Click the image or press on the link HERE to access the video!
Class Activity:
Erosional Processes - Corrasion & Attrition
<<< Click the image or press on the link HERE to access the video!
Social Studies
Chapter 3 - How Can We Work for the Good of Society?
In this lesson, I used America as a case study, sharing with students the issue of pandemic-related hate crimes committed against Asian Americans.
The questions posed allowed students to gain a deeper understanding of the issue at hand. The visual stimulus shown (i.e. video and interactive NYTimes article) also left a strong impression on the students. They allowed students to appreciate the gravity of the situation, i.e. how rampant racism and violence was in the US, and how they can be attributed to Donald Trump's reckless and irresponsible language.
Ultimately, links were also drawn back to the SS syllabus, in terms of getting students to identify which role(s) of the government were not fulfilled in the case of the US government/specifically Donald Trump, one of which being to safeguard the interests of Asian Americans.
I also used this opportunity to remind students of the power of words - how they can either destroy or create - and the importance of thinking before they speak, and reading before they think.
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