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youth beat<br />
Long-tailed Macaque<br />
20 pure<br />
Nature makes for a conducive and highly<br />
effective learning environment. Just ask<br />
these students from Hwa Chong Institution!<br />
TEXT BY FAIROZA MANSOR<br />
PHOTOS COURTESY OF HWA CHONG INSTITUTION<br />
By students, for<br />
students — that’s<br />
what the ecoRitch<br />
Trail is all about.<br />
To be launched on World<br />
Water Day on 24 March,<br />
this learning trail for primary<br />
school students has MacRitchie<br />
Reservoir as its classroom.<br />
And for Hw Hwa<br />
Chong<br />
Institution In I st stit it i student<br />
Ja JJarel re r Tang and three<br />
ot oth other schoolmates<br />
wh wwho<br />
volunteered to<br />
de des design and develop<br />
th the<br />
three-kilometre<br />
bi biodiversity trail<br />
la last year, it was six<br />
mmonths<br />
of letting their<br />
im imaginations run wild.<br />
“This is the fi rst<br />
ssuch<br />
learning trail so<br />
th tthere<br />
was no precedent<br />
fo for us to follow. But it<br />
al aalso<br />
meant that we were<br />
free e to imagine from<br />
scratch what we wanted it<br />
to be like, and develop our ideas<br />
into reality,” says Jarel, 17.<br />
The trail begins at the<br />
Prunus Trail on the eastern<br />
end of the reservoir. From<br />
here, participants will proceed<br />
along the boardwalk, learning<br />
about the different trees and<br />
plants found in the area along<br />
the way. So instead of sitting<br />
through a lesson in a classroom<br />
on a species of plant with<br />
a multi-syllable, mouthful<br />
name like the melastoma<br />
malabathricum (the Singapore<br />
Rhododendron), the pupils<br />
can spot, touch and feel this<br />
fi ve-petal pinkish fl ower in its<br />
natural habitat for themselves.<br />
On the Petai Trail, which<br />
follows after the Prunus Trail<br />
and takes the pupils inland,<br />
participants will be able to spot<br />
native forest creatures like the<br />
common sun skink, clouded<br />
monitor lizard, orange-bellied<br />
and slender squirrels, as well as<br />
the long-tailed macaque. If they<br />
are lucky, they may even catch<br />
a glimpse of native birds such as<br />
the white-bellied fi sh eagle as it<br />
soars across the sky.<br />
“Most pupils would rather<br />
spend their Saturday morning<br />
sleeping in or watching<br />
television than walking around<br />
at a reservoir,” says Jarel. “So<br />
White-bellied<br />
Fish Eagle<br />
we hhad d tto make k sure our ttrail il iis<br />
both educational and enjoyable<br />
— to pack in as much as we<br />
could without making it too<br />
long or boring.”<br />
Jarel and his three fellow<br />
volunteers have also put<br />
together an activity book<br />
which will be given to each<br />
participant. These have been<br />
designed to be used together<br />
with the information that<br />
can be found at the seven<br />
stations along the two trails.<br />
At each station, there is<br />
information about the impact<br />
of weather and climate on<br />
nature, the classifi cation of<br />
plants, how their leaves adapt<br />
to the environment, and even<br />
how to distinguish between<br />
similar-looking insects like the<br />
dragonfl y and the damselfl y.<br />
“I have never done<br />
anything like this before<br />
— taking part in creating<br />
an interactive educational<br />
package,” says Chong Kai En,<br />
15. “But through this process, I<br />
experienced fi rsthand the sights<br />
and sounds that MacRitchie<br />
Reservoir has to offer.”
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