On 22 August 2022, 12 teams of students from six secondary schools competed against one another to win the Earth Alive Inter-School Challenge. The team from Kent Ridge Secondary School emerged as the winner. Teams from Commonwealth Secondary School and Westwood Secondary School came in second and third, respectively.
The winning team received a 3D-printed trophy from Science Centre Singapore, as well as gift bags from the Earth Observatory of Singapore, presented by Dr Savita Sharma, Senior Manager at Science Centre Singapore.
The Earth Alive Inter-School Challenge 2022 is an initiative from the Earth Observatory of Singapore, Science Centre Singapore, and Commonwealth Secondary School that took place at Science Centre Singapore. 48 students took part in the Challenge, which was split into two segments.
Teams discussing strategies for tackling the Earth Alive missions (Source: Cheryl Han/Earth Observatory of Singapore)
During the first part of the challenge, the students, in teams of four, had to use the exhibition content to complete a series of missions. These included answering written questions and producing a short video, all of which required creativity, knowledge in geography, presentation skills, as well as a competitive mindset.
Participants had to complete a series of missions using content from the Earth Alive exhibit (Source: Cheryl Han/Earth Observatory of Singapore)
For the excellent creativity of their video and best performance in Earth Alive missions, the team from Bukit Panjang Government High School won an Honourable Mention Award.
The second part comprised station games from the EOS Dynamic Earth Games. These games, which involve role-play, encourage players to experience the complexity of managing hazard crises. During one game, players had to decide on a course of action when presented with the probability of a hazard happening. Another game was about evacuating safely, which required complex thinking and the consideration of needs, resources available, and the role of the community.
The Challenge aimed to provide an enrichment and development opportunity for budding geographers that focused on the Earth Alive exhibition and topics of the secondary school geography curriculum taught in Singapore.
Through this challenge, the organisers hope that the students would learn about Earth sciences and discover they can have fun while doing so. "We were happy to see that the students enjoyed themselves in the challenge and discovered the Earth Alive exhibition in a new way," said Ms Mok Li Hui, Manager at Science Centre Singapore.
Ending off the Earth Alive Inter-School Challenge with a group photo (Source: Cheryl Han/Earth Observatory of Singapore)
The Earth Alive Inter-School Challenge was well-received amongst the secondary schools. “The students were able to apply some concepts of disaster risk management they have learnt in the classroom to solving authentic situations, with the addition of fun and competitive elements,” said Ms Nur Ezzati, a geography teacher at Commonwealth Secondary School who proposed and co-organised the event, “We noticed that the students were highly engaged in solving the missions, yet also helpful to fellow competitors who needed help.”
Following the success of the competition, we hope to open the challenge to more schools in the future.