Bringing forests to life
BRIDGING the gap between classroom and reality can sometimes pose a challenge to educators. Conducting practical, interesting and relevant classes can be time-consuming and often involves the highest level of dedication.
However, as Associate Professor Catherine Yule from Monash University Sunway campus can profess, the rewards in conducting such courses can be truly exceptional.
Dr Yule, who is the School of Science (Education) deputy head, introduced and has been conducting a unit called Tropical Terrestrial Biology for third-year students since 2001.
The course is essentially about the ecosystems and the different types of forests in Malaysia and elsewhere.
“There are many different types of tropical rainforests here, such as peat swamp forests, mangrove forests, and cloud forests.
“If you travel across Indonesia, you get savannah ecosystems which are also present in Africa. So I teach the students about different tropical ecosystems around the world,” says Dr Yule during an interview recently.
While the course itself is highly interesting, the highlight of the unit is undeniably the one-week field trip that students take as a culmination of their studies.
Each year, Dr Yule leads her students, which include their third-year compatriots from the Australian campus, to Mulu National Park in Sarawak.
“What we teach them in the lectures, they can understand much better once they go out in the field and see for themselves because it’s not just dry information any more. It makes it come alive,” she says.
“With Discovery Channel, it’s all very well to see it on TV, but when you’re actually out there you’re not only seeing it, you can smell the animals and hear them and sometimes even get the chance to touch them.”
Dr Yule says that apart from the thrill of “doing real science”, the opportunity for cross-cultural learning between students from the Sunway campus and the Australia campus has also proven invaluable.
“They just have so much fun together, it makes learning really exciting and they learn so much more.
“The students are actually working together with discussion boards even before they come together. They have to do power point presentations, and write their studies up as proper scientific projects.”
Dr Yule, who received a letter of commendation from Monash University deputy vice chancellor (Education) Professor Adam Shoemaker congratulating her on the unit’s exceptional performance and evaluation, says the experience of living and working in one of the most beautiful places in the world has been awe-inspiring for some students and life-changing for others.
Dr Yule recalls that one student surveyed described the trip thus: “Amazing and essential to fully understand the concepts we had learnt in class. Along with reinforcing what we learnt in class through practical experience, I learnt how to collect and analyse data out in the field and laboratory and undertake thorough experiments.”
Another student says visiting Mulu was one of the most impactfilled field trips ever taken while another says Dr Yule taught teamwork and life skills.
Dr Yule says the students are also armed with scientific skills such as collecting data, analysing data, and then writing it all in the form of a scientific report that can be published.
“That is really important, because that’s one problem in Malaysia where there is a lot of work done but not that much is published in international journals.”
The next trip is on Sept 22 for a week, where students will be looking at bats, frogs and all types of plants.
“I want to make the students see just how wonderful Malaysia is, so that not only do they love it and want to protect it, they also have the skills to protect it, to conserve their heritage for the future.”
Judging from the recognition from students and the university as well, Dr Yule seems set to achieve that.
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