Getting to Zero: Workshop Takeaways
Joined Dr Seow and Melissa in conducting 2 Getting to Zero workshops this term at CHIJ Secondary School and Tampines Meridian Junior College (TMJC). Always happy to witness the card game being used to spark conversations on climate policy making and the implications of human (in)action in tackling climate change!
It is interesting to hear the questions posed by students as they played the game, and it is through these questions that we can deepen their understanding of the complexities of climate governance. One common question raised was why countries are not increasingly imposing a carbon tax, given that it is both environmentally-friendly and a source of revenue for the government. It is important to get students to consider the unique context of individual countries, e.g. state of governance, and whether they have the 'bargaining power' -- less developed countries may be at the mercy of large corporations, in that they do not wish to tighten environmental regulation for fear of driving foreign direct investment away. This allows them to appreciate the fact that there is no one-size-fits-all approach for all countries in tackling climate change.
I particularly enjoyed the discussion on the influence of geopolitics in countries' decision making with regards to their energy mix. This discussion stemmed from a TMJC student's curiosity about the Singapore government's decision to build a new coal gasification plant (2018) rather than pursuing cleaner forms of energy. Melissa (currently with NUS Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions) shared that this is partly due to the government's desire not to rely too heavily on the import of natural gas via pipelines from neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia. This is since the over-reliance may post threats to our energy security should our neighbours decide to halt exports/the pipelines are damaged due to sabotage.
Another question posed was on the limitations of solar energy in fulfilling Singapore's energy needs. One main factor is intermittency -- solar PV panels are unable to generate electricity at night and, even during the day, the availability of sunlight in Singapore fluctuates due to frequent changes in cloud cover.
The limited land space in Singapore also does not allow for the introduction of large solar farms. Furthermore, under the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint, there are plans for 200 hectares of skyrise greenery on Singapore’s buildings by 2030. This goal may compete with the deployment of rooftop solar PV.
As a result, Singapore presently is unable to generate solar energy at utility scale, hence solar energy is unable to displace fossil fuels in our energy mix.
Exciting Developments! |
The Getting to Zero game has captured the interest of The HEAD Foundation and the Singapore Science Centre, who are working with NIE to distribute it to teachers across SEA and among STEM teachers in Singapore respectively. 🥳 |
Nuggets on teaching
Figuring out how to structure learning to better cater to the needs of the students has been an ongoing endeavour. In other words, I have been trying to get into the minds of the students, to figure out how to guide them through the thinking process (teaching them how to think).
One observation I had after marking 4/5's SS MA1 was that many of them struggled with interpreting pictorial sources. One thing that Ms Tang pointed out some time ago was that our N(A) students can be quite 'literal' people, and may need more guidance in making inferences/detecting irony and sarcasm. Exposing them to more sources would also be helpful in honing their inference skills.
The above graphic organiser was hence birthed to give students a step-by-step guide in interpreting pictorial sources. As a class, we first noted down the key details of the source (in the 'literally...' column), before moving on to consider, figuratively, what each character represented.
The students were also introduced to some common representations in political cartoons and what they mean to help them unpack the sources with greater ease.
Fast forward to MA2, many of the 4/5 students struggled with the comparison question, and I suspected that their language ability could have hindered them from making sense of the sources. Ms Tang's nugget was to get them to match keywords from the 2 sources so that it is easier to identify the basis of comparison (see annotations below). I tried it with the class when going through the sources with them post-MA2 and it worked well! Yay to new nugget in the pedagogical bucket.
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