The team from University Otago with SMK Balleh students and teachers. Warrens is seated in front at seventh left.
KUCHING: ‘Chemistry Outreach’ strives to ignite a passion for science, particularly chemistry, in schoolchildren.
According to chemistry professor at University of Otago in Denudin, New Zealand, Dr Dave Warren, the programme aims to show children that science is not just about passing tests, but it is also an enjoyable and fascinating field through hands-on, fun-filled activities.
The programme covers a range of topics such as chromatography, acids and bases, as well as a short ‘show-and-tell’ fire presentation.
Warren, who is a professional practice fellow of his university’s Department of Chemistry, led his team of six students – Marina Roxburgh, Jacqui Kao, Geoffrey Weal, Sage Robinson, Sam Sutherland and Sean Mackay – for a visit upon the invitation of Batu Lintang Teachers Institute (IPG).
“The programme has been running for over eight years, and is extremely popular in Otago. The students are all volunteers, and they describe this ‘outreach’ as using specialist knowledge to carry out voluntary work with school communities,” said the professor.
The University of Otago team conducted activities as part of the annual ‘Towards a Scientific Community (Kemasains) programme, funded by Yayasan Sarawak. They also visited SMK Balleh as part of the the school’s ‘Education Transformation Programme’ – a strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) collaboration between IPG Batu Lintang and Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB).
“IPG Batu Lintang provides consultation and expertise to SMK Balleh in their school enhancement programme, including provision of consultation and expertise on school management and pedagogical, as well as professional development for the teachers.
“SEB provides the financial support. This partnership took off last year and will continue for the next three years,” Warren explained.
He pointed out that the idea for such collaboration came after a teacher, Alisya Abdullah, visited University of Otago as part of an ongoing collegial relationship between the university and IPG Batu Lintang, as well as for fulfilment of the Bachelor of Education programme last year.
“Alisya came with a group of 20 students and during their visit, she saw us conducting our science programme in the school and said it would be very good for Sarawak. I agreed to her proposal and said: ‘Well, why don’t we come and see if for ourselves?’ So this is a result of that.
“Being on the same wavelength, we came together with Kemasains this year to run activities based around the things that we had been doing in New Zealand,” he said.
According to Warren, the emphasis on education in New Zealand is far less ‘teaching-oriented’ than that in Sarawak.
“Science, in particularly, needs to bring more enjoyment to the children, I suppose. That is what we are trying to do in our programme through this collaboration. We do teach, but it is more aimed at making them more interested in learning as opposed to just telling them all about chemistry,” he said.
The outreach programme, which focused more on rural students, proceeded to Balleh after the team spent a day at IPG Batu Lintang.
Before their arrival here, Warren’s team presented workshops at the Madame Curie Chemistry Camp for senior high school students in Taipei, Taiwan.
“Throughout the three-week trip, the team worked with 600 students of all ages and about 40 teachers, delivering 12 activities. It was a tiresome trip, but we’re all very happy – impressed even by the friendship of the teachers and students we met,” said Warren.
Another school that the team visited in Sarawak was SMK Muara Tuang, where they received encouraging response.
“The students are great – they are different from those in New Zealand. I’d say they have different styles of learning. That was a challenge for us all as well, and as such we learned a lot on how to deal with such a situation.”
One of the major differences between students in New Zealand and Sarawak, said Warren, was their skill in asking and answering questions.
“Sometimes, we deliberately make the questions vague, because we want the students to think. In Sarawak, we see that teachers in classrooms tend to ask questions with the right answers. The students here were shocked to know that there were no right or wrong answers for questions that we asked them. To me, what’s really important (is) for them to know that science is not just about learning facts; it is also about continuously thinking and coming up with explanations,” he said.
On ‘Chemistry Outreach’, Warren hoped that this year’s pilot trip, largely funded by University of Otago, would be the first of many future visits to Sarawak – provided the team could obtain external funding for further growth of this successful partnership between IPG Batu Lintang and University of Otago.
“We want to be able to bring the New Zealand teaching ideas and work culture to Sarawak, so that the teachers here could learn new teaching skills.
“It is a good opportunity for us to know the teachers and students (here) really well and to be able to talk to them without barriers, as they are also open about asking questions.”
Warren’s team members also got the chance to meet the locals and indulge in the fascinating culture.
“We have learned a lot and get to love lots of things during this trip, including the language and food. We managed to visit several longhouses and were fascinated by the local culture. It has been a fantastic experience,” he said.
“We aim to bring significant changes to existing teaching and learning methods here, and also to raise the standards of rural schools in Sarawak, especially when it comes to learning science.
“We really hope that the teachers and students got to learn something out of our trip – that is what really matters to us,” he added.
Kemasains was set up in 2002 as a programme by IPG Batu Lintang to nurture interest for science in primary school pupils.