Abstract
This proposal from the Earth System Science Programme (ESSC) consists of two parts:
(A) teaching and learning development, and (B) sustainable enrichment of student’s experiential learning.
- The current syllabus of most local schools descriptively introduces Earth System but lacks an interdisciplinary pedagogy, which is crucial for studying landscapes, natural disasters, environmental change and the mechanisms beyond. ESSC emphasizes a multidisciplinary approach to understand the Earth System. Many university first-year students thus take a long time to adapt to the new learning format, and some may lose interest gradually once lagging behind. Implementing e-learning modules in various ESSC courses have been shown to construct a positive influence on a student’s self-learning initiative. For the teaching and learning component, we thus further propose to develop a range of teaching materials, with a new production of 10 Virtual Reality (VR) apps, one series of Augment Reality (AR) apps, and one 3-D printed teaching kit. To further support intensive field studies and advanced ESSC courses, we suggest reforming the Minerals and Rocks Gallery that we developed earlier. All the teaching aids will not only raise students’ interest and awareness of the Earth System from a scientific perspective, but also provide quick and 3-dimensional illustration of complicated processes and structures of our solid Earth, as well as different aspects of natural disasters.
- Besides, inadequate exposure to the scientific contents of the Earth System in the traditional education system results in a vast knowledge gap to understand the potential risks of natural disasters and environmental change. The current situation hinders the new generation from readily joining the environmental planning and consulting industry. To fill the gap, we hence propose (a) a Geoscience Ambassador Training Scheme; and (b) an Internship Networking for sustainability enrichment of students’ experiential learning. ESSC students can be equipped with sufficient knowledge background and skills to guide high school students to explore geology and geophysics via the Geoscience Ambassador Training Scheme. Meanwhile, in an Internship Networking, junior students can gain targeted advice about sustainability-related fields from the senior peers who completed the internships and ESSC alumni now working in relevant fields.
Given both internal academic support and external service learning, we believe that the project greatly benefit science students, and also contributes to part of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by allowing our students not only to gain industry-relevant experience in sustainability work, but also to actively engage themselves in awareness advocacy and education of the secondary school students and general public.
Brief write-up
Project objectives
(A) To raise students’ interest and awareness of the Earth System from a scientific perspective and provide support for intense field studies by
teaching and learning development in producing 10 Virtual Reality (VR) education apps, a series of Augmented Reality (AR) apps, one 3D printed teaching kit, and reforming Rocks and Minerals Gallery; and
(B) To encourage students to self-equip with geoscience knowledge and acquire experiential learning
sustainable enrichment of student’s experiential learning via (B-1) Geoscience Ambassador Scheme and (B-2) Internship Networking.
Activities, process and outcomes
A1. 21 VR scenes in 6 different field locations
A2. 18 AR models of mineral products
A3. a new and user-friendly interface of the Rocks and Minerals Gallery (25 minerals and 41 rocks)
A4. one 3D model and printed geological structure
B1. trained 26 Geoscience Ambassadors
B2. established an Instagram page geoguy_HK
B3. initiated the Secondary Students Geology Pilot Programme (SSGPP)
B4. set up Geoambassador Outreach Programme (GOP)
B5. formed a Teaching Kit Production Team
B6. delivered 36 educational events and 5 public talks
B7. 3 Internship Networks, consisting 92 mentees, 20 student mentors and 4 ESSC staff
B8. 21 training and sharing activities in collaboration with internal and external professional parties
Deliverables and evaluation
The overall evaluation reflects that students are satisfied with the outcomes and our project is able to sustain continuous quality enhancement in teaching and learning. The new products and the student-initiated activities set up a platform to demonstrate the integration of Earth System Science and Environmental Sciences, which aligns with our Faculty’s recent integration. Our team has been collaborating with both internal and external professional parties, setting up an example of diverse collaboration in education.
Dissemination, diffusion, impact and sharing of good practices
Face-to-face and online meetings were held with other parties from time to time to provide updates of the development of our teaching kits and to gain first-hand user feedback. Overall, the project has been a collaborative effort among ESSC (the Earth System Science Programme), ELITE (the Centre for eLearning Innovation and Technology), and MoCC, leading to diverse cooperation among different units. Our project outcomes meets 6 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) #4, 7, 11, 13, 15, 17, raising the public awareness in urgent actions to combat climate change and being responsible for global environmental changes, as well as connecting with environmental sustainability industries by building partnerships with professional units.
Impact on teaching and learning
Application of our projects to public outreach and class delivery sets a breakthrough in pedagogy as they enhance teaching and learning under the impact of COVID-19. 70-85% of the responding students agreed or strongly agreed that the materials are academically helpful. Comments and suggestions from both the students and the professional parties could be the key factors to reform the pedagogy, best fitting the needs of the current globe.
