WRS parks (Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari and Singapore Zoo) take a proactive stand in the area of education, intensifying efforts to become the best living classroom especially in recent years. Offering the lure of nature as teacher and a total immersion in park surroundings as the classroom, it was no surprise WRS managed to record a school attendance of 171,500 visits in 2007.
The education department takes a studied approach to the programmes it rolls out, ensuring there are activities which would engage students at all levels and by different means.
It also pushed broader campaigns undertaken by WRS in innovative ways, through its key role in organising activities such as the launch of the Year of the Frog and the inaugural Asian Zoo Educators Conference. Through this last event, we succeeded in taking the lead to help develop zoo education in Asia and capitalising on the Singapore Zoo’s resources in a meaningful manner.
Singapore Zoo also works closely with Singapore’s Ministry of Education (MOE) through retreats that facilitate networking with key decision-making personnel responsible for all aspects of primary and secondary schools and junior college curricula.
Deepening this partnership with teachers further, the education department has collaborated with Teachers Network to produce several mother tongue curriculum based on subject matters at the Zoo. These story book sets typically consist of a teacher’s guide, activity books and storybooks in English, Mandarin, Bahasa Melayu and Tamil allow lower primary school students to enjoy non-traditional experiential learning in an outdoor classroom setting.
In addition, WRS parks have a host of educational in-park activities such as enrichment programmes, behind-the-scenes tours for school going children, overnight camps for students and families, and activity trails.
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