Term 2 ACE (2)

Reflection on Science Sabbatical, Term 2 Week 9 by Benedict Chin. 2A2 (06)

The sabbatical held in Term 2, was about ecology, to explore the fauna and flora of different various habitats. Through this sabbatical I indeed learnt more on the environment, and gained extra knowledge and interest in animals! This sabbatical is different from the rest, as the rest were all activities, sports and musical. This involves hands-on interesting activities and trips, and even includes a cool presentation by the seniors! This is an alternative fun way to learn science, and is neither boring nor mundane. I became more gregarious through this sabbatical as there was a circle of friends outside the consortium and I had made more friends. There were a bountiful of notes and abundance of extra information given out; interestingly it will help out in my science test in term 3 which includes of ecology. Although I am a sporty person and prefer sports sabbaticals to informative ones, this sabbatical sparked my interest in the ecosystems, and biospheres.

My group and I had learnt a lot, from swampy and mangrove ecosystems, to prehistoric museum organisms. There are different organism relationships we had learnt : commensalisms, predation, mutualism and parasitism . In commensalisms, between two organisms or parties, one organism benefits from the other, while the other organism does not benefit, or benefits insignificantly. On such example would be the crabs and the mangrove aerial roots. In swamps, when there is a high tide, the crabs would flee to the aerial roots as shelter and cover. Similarly, from predators, the crabs run to the roots for shelter and protection. However, the aerial roots do not benefit significantly. Through this sabbatical we identified several alternative relationships, like mutualism and more. I could remember the relationship on commensalisms very clearly as it was a senior who explained it to me, and it was crystal clear!

I had a very high fever on Thursday and therefore I missed the opportunity to go to the underwater world. I felt very disappointed with myself. But I was replenished when I arrived at the museum the next day. The Raffles museum kept several, or should I say many, old prehistoric artifacts. They were all clothed in a chemical and we were warned not to touch them. I heard Miss Nada said it was arsenic. Anyway, I the museum was awesome and fantastic, albeit a short trip. The museum was enticingly interesting, with all the ancient bones and animals which were preserved over time, and found in Singapore. I actually wanted to visit a place like this before, but little had I known I would be going to it in the sabbatical. I appreciate the trip to the museum, though it was the last day of the sabbatical. I also learnt about the evolution, like how monkeys got limbs and stuff, from Miss Tan.

After the sabbatical, I feel rather empty, as the waterfall of knowledge and information was gone. I became more and more interested in animals, and studied the way the moved, and adapt to the different environments. This sabbatical has taught me many, and changed my mindset on science. I hope my friends have enjoyed this sabbatical as much as I had; there were many memories formed through this sabbatical as well!