Reported by Radiance Tan, Teo Yi Ting Joy, Lee Yan Yi Celeste
Key takeaways
Students gained an understanding of marine plastic pollution & its severity:
This was done through a ‘treasure hunt’ themed event as well as a final informative section conducted by the Project Visualised members. The first event emphasised on raising the awareness of how plastic pollution harms the environment, leaving students more informed as well as more passionate to make a change to the environment. The latter helped to relate the information of the severity of the issue into their daily lives, leading them to be more interested and further engaged with the issue.
Students learnt more about what they can do now to reduce marine plastic pollution: During the information session, students were taught of various ways they can do as a student to help reduce marine plastic waste pollution. Some examples include: This allowed students to gain a better understanding on what they can do to support the ocean instead of only having an awareness about plastic pollution but not knowing what are the steps to take next. The information given was specifically curated to ensure easy implementation into the student’s lives as well.
Students gained a deeper appreciation of the environment: As our activities such as the treasure hunt and information section were targeted towards the entire student body of Hwa Chong Institution, many students were able to actively engage and participate in our events, allowing many students to learn more about marine plastic pollution. Our next event, the information session, enabled us to gather the students that participated in the treasure hunt, and allowed them to further their knowledge about marine plastic pollution by teaching them actionable steps that they can take to combat the issue. Through the two activities, students were hence able to learn and apply knowledge about marine plastic pollution, enabling them to gain a deeper appreciation of the environment.
Main highlights
a. Date: 8-18 October 2024
b. Venue: Hwa Chong Institution (College)
c. Participants: Year 1 Students from Hwa Chong Institution
d. No. of participants: 687
Activities implemented
1. Build-up
For publicity, we did a post on the school messaging platform to students, as well as an announcement to the school during morning assembly. Beyond that, we also created a video and blasted into the batch chat to increase awareness of the project. Generally we think more could be done to introduce the activity to students and to increase engagement.
2. Scavenger Hunt Activity
For this activity, marine plastic pollution facts (which highlights the severity of the issue), as well as the upcoming events were tied to ducks and hidden around the school compound for students to find. The aim of this was to increase awareness of our project as well as to increase empathy towards the issue of marine plastic pollution within the student body in Hwa Chong Institution. This activity was well-received by students as there were nearly 0 ducks left after the Seen competition. Students learnt more about the severity of marine plastic pollution and are now more conscious of their actions and whether they are detrimental to the environment.
3. Finale event
On the final day of the event, we held an informative session for students to engage with the organising team and to discuss further about what could be done to manage the issue of marine plastic pollution. Slides about marine plastic waste pollution were prepared, including the ways to combat marine plastic pollution. We believe this section could be done better as students seemed rather unengaged and were not motivated to participate. However, in the section where the organising team utilised the website ‘Kahoot’ to quiz students about what they have learnt from the activity itself, the students participated eagerly and many scored well. We believe that the students were more likely to be interested in hands-on activities with an element of competition, especially with prizes involved.
Also, there was a small section which involved the students to take a pledge to do their part for the environment. We believe this solidified the commitment in students to do their part in changing their lifestyle to reduce the amount of plastic usage as well as to care for their plastic disposal. A photobooth was also set up at the event to encourage students to attend the event and make memorable memories with their friends while learning about marine plastic waste pollution. We saw this to be rather effective as this served as a reminder to be a part in the effort to tackle marine plastic waste.
Feedback
With reference to the figures above, the event was successful in raising awareness and encouraging students to step up. We believe that students most enjoyed the scavenger hunt activity due to the freedom it had. The pledge-taking was voted the least favourite, and we believe that it is due to the mundane nature of the activity, this could be better managed by shortening the time allocated to it and making it more lighthearted (perhaps switching it for signing a petition instead.)
Certain quotes that stood out from the form includes
We believe that through this feedback, the event can be made more engaging, better facilitating discussion and building habits to reduce plastic waste. Other feedback that were noted includes
Undeniably, the time for the event could be selected better to ensure higher turn-up rates, and further engagement to promote habits within the school community would lead to a higher impact.
