Posts Tagged ‘Overseas School of Colombo’
Sinharaja: The IA Must Go On
OSC’s class of 2021 DP Geography class. Standing from left: Kevin, Satwik, Imandi, Talia, Ashvini, Rukshi and Rika. Kneeling: the author and Rashmi (Class of 2020). Photograph courtesy of Desline Attanayake
In Sri Lanka we have been living through an age of disruption-first with senseless bombing in April 2019 and then with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The impact to the island’s tourism industry has been profound. Flights were cancelled in the spring of 2020 and the country went into lock down. At the time of writing the country was experiencing being called a 2nd wave of the virus. This all had an impact on Sinharaja, the resplendent rainforest that has a thriving, low-impact model of ecotourism at its two major entrances. It has served as a place for exploration and learning both at a personal level and for my students of the Overseas School of Colombo.
The IA Must Go On
In hindsight, the first quarter of the 2020-21 school year experienced a relative lull from the pandemic storm and we ran face-to-face classes. During that time I was able to take my small cohort of seven Class of 2021 DP Geography students to Sinharaja to complete their field work for their Internal Assessment (IA). The final report they produce is an important milestone along the 18-month journey of the course. It normally counts for between 20-25 % of their overall grade but because exams have been cancelled two years in a row, the IA is the only piece of work that the IB has to assess students. This school year it is slated to count for 35% of overall grades but it is likely that it will have a greater impact on how grades are allocated. Many schools have been forced to cancel field work and we were fortunate to be able to squeeze our trip in when the COVID situation was relatively stable.
We had four days based out of Martin’s Forest Lodge. Desline was able to support the trip and we were supported by Rashmi who had just graduated and knew the data collection routines really well. Both of them enjoy birds and other creatures and we were a strong team. During our time the students were able to conduct 59 separate interviews in four teams of two. They used Survey 123 again and were able to explore the impact of COVID on lives and tourism. Over the next few months they processed and analyzed the data, mapped their sites and then produced final internal assessments (IA) reports. The GIS maps that students use to support their data and analysis had to be created in January during a relatively brief period of face to face teaching. Given that IB exams were cancelled this year it is gratifying that they had such rich experiences to build their internal assessments on.
Captions for Above Images
(Upper left) Satwik & Ashvini interviewing a tuk-tuk driver in western Kudawa.
(Upper right) Talia & Imandi interviewing Sunil, one of the most senior guides working at the Kudawa entrance.
(Lower right) Ashvini & Rukshi on the Sinhagala trail as we retreated back to the research station in the rain.
(Lower center) We got caught in a downpour looking for pit-vipers on the trail leading to Sinhagala. Talia & Imandi are prepared with an umbrella and jacket.
(Lower left) Talia & Imandi interviewing a family on the road to the west of Kudawa. They make a living growing tea on a small parcel of land.
(Center left) Thilak, Sinharaja’s talented and well known private guide, clears a tree that had fallen across the road leading to Martin’s lodge.
Captions:
(Top Left Image) Home Garden near Kudawa village showing a mix of tea, coconut and other crops. The ridge above has a mix of Pinus sp. plantation and secondary forest with Alstonia macrophylla.
(Upper right image) Tea fields in a home garden in the area west of Kudawa village. Typically a field of tea is supplemented with a variety of other fruit and vegetable-bearing plant like this papaya tree. The shade tree is Gliricidia sepium, which is nitrogen fixing and used as an organic nutrient supplement.
(Middle right image) Forest Department Map of the Sinharaja Rainforest Complex showing the updated boundaries from 2019. This and several other maps are on display at the Kudawa entrance.
(Lower image) Scrub areas on the Sinharaja buffer near Kudawa being prepared for a new generation of tea plants.
Past Blog Posts on Sinharaja
SELECTED REFERENCES
DeZoysa, Neela and Rhyana Raheem. Sinharaja: A Rainforest in Sri Lanka. Colombo: March for Conservation, 1990. Print.
Lockwood, Ian. “Into the Wet: Field Notes From Sri Lanka’s Wet Zone.” Sanctuary Asia. August/September 2007. 3-11. Print. PDF.
Vigallon, S. The Sinharaja Guidebook for Eco-Tourists. Colombo: Stamford Lake Publications, 2007. Print.
Sinharaja 2019 Geography IA Field Studies
Serendib Scops Owl (Otus thilohoffmanni) on the Sinharaja boundary. Spotted with the excellent help of Warsha and the good company of Desline, Luca and Rashmi.
In April this year the unprecedented attacks on churches and hotels shook the stability and relative peace that Sri Lanka has enjoyed in the ten years since the conclusion of the Civil War. One of the minor impacts of the events was the suspension of field trips for almost all schools, including OSC. That meant a delay in the annual field study that I have been running in Sinharaja since 2005. My students were disappointed but they understood the situation and I made plans to conduct the study in the early parts of the 2019-20 school year.
The students in the Class of 2020 IBDP Geography class are a special bunch: they enjoy each other’s company, love to engage in field work (regardless of leeches and wet conditions) and are not fazed by time away from their mobile phones. The group of eight includes class clowns, aspiring activists, experts in GIS, individuals determined to get good grades and several dedicated birdwatchers. There are five Sinhala-speaking individuals who played a key role in the interviews that are at the heart of the data collection.
In September, after receiving the green light to conduct our field work, the class packed up a bus and headed south to Sinharaja. There we spent four days conducting field research in the home gardens on the north-western edge of Sinharaja rainforest. OSC’s logistic coordinator Desline Attanayake provided support in the interviews and fully took part in all aspects of the study. We hired four Sinharaja guides each day and they were essential in leading us through home gardens and helping the students to better understand the area. Some of them like, Chandra (Sri Lanka’s 2nd female guide in Sinharaja) , have been working with OSC groups for more than 10 years and they know our format and aims well. All of the surveys were gathered on foot in rain or shine. We now have a deep and intimate relationship with the area. The Kudawa village and forest on this side of Sinharaja offer ideal conditions for student learning, inquiry and field work on socio-economic, tourist and land-use themes. Martin’s Wijesinghe inimitable Forest Lodge, was once, again the base of operations. We appreciate the forest access and family-like atmosphere that he extends to our OSC groups.
Nisaetus sp. on the road up from Kudawa to Martin’s Forest Lodge. I’m not 100% sure of the identity of this individual. Most likely a Changeable Hawk Eagle (Nisaetus cirrhatus) but also possibly a juvenile Legge’s Hawk Eagle (Nisaetus kelaarti).
Each of the students explored an individual geographic research question but pooled all of their sub-questions into a single survey that small groups could run. The actual survey of 48 questions could take up to 20-30 minutes with introductions and a look around their properties. The respondents were gracious with their time and several teams were invited to have refreshments. With four different teams going in different directions we collected 55 different interviews. Once again, we collected responses using Survey 123 a GIS-enabled data gathering app that all the students could run off their phones (we also recorded every response on paper). This allows students to map their results and do basic spatial analysis on the findings using ArcGIS, the GIS software package that they are learning to operate.
The view south from Moulawella Peak. I take this composite panorama of Sinharaja rainforest canopy every time I have the privilege of sitting on top of this beautiful mountain. Soon after, the first drops started to fall on us and we headed down.
Another view of the endemic Serendib Scops Owl (Otus thilohoffmanni) on the Sinharaja boundary. Spotted with the excellent help of Warsha and the good company of Desline, Luca and Rashmi.
In addition to conducting the surveys, students got a flavor of being ecotourists in a tropical forest. They walked the different forest trails, encountered birds, snakes and spiders, and soaked their feet in jungle streams. Before returning to Colombo on Saturday we hiked up Moulawella peak to take in the full extent of Sinharaja. It was a challenging adventure and we encountered mid-morning shower that thoroughly soaked the group on the descent. But all members of the team made it up and down safely. A highlight of the trip was having an encounter with the rare and endemic Serendib Scops Owl (Otus thilohoffmanni). It helped round off an exhilarating adventure in geographic learning.
Past Blog Posts on Sinharaja
SELECTED REFERENCES
De Silva, Anslem. Amphibians of Sri Lanka: A Photographic Guide to Common Frogs, Toad Caecilians. Published by author, 2009. Print.
De Silva, Anslem and Kanishka Ukuwela. A Naturalist’s Guide to the Reptiles of Sri Lanka. Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publishing, 2017. Print.
DeZoysa, Neela and Rhyana Raheem. Sinharaja: A Rainforest in Sri Lanka. Colombo: March for Conservation, 1990. Print.
Gunatilleke, C.V.S, et al. Ecology of Sinharaja Rain Forest and the Forest Dynamics Plot in Sri Lanka’s Natural World Heritage Site.Colombo: WHT Publications, 2004. Print.
Harrison, John. A Field Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka. UK: Oxford University Press, 1999. Print.
Kotagama, Sarath W and Eben Goodale. “The composition and spatial organization of mixed-species flocks in a Sri Lankan rainforest.” Forktail. 2004. Print & Web.
Liyanage, L. P. K. et al. “Assessment of Tourist and Community Perception with Regard to Tourism Sustainability Indicators: A Case Study of Sinharaja World Heritage Rainforest, Sri Lanka.” World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Social and Business Sciences. Vol 12 No. 7. 2018. Web.
Lockwood, Ian. “Into the Wet: Field Notes From Sri Lanka’s Wet Zone.” Sanctuary Asia. August/September 2007. 3-11. Print. PDF.
Lockwood, Ian. “Montane Biodiversity in the Land of Serendipity.” Sanctuary Asia. July 2010. Print.
Singhalage Darshani, Nadeera Weerasinghe and Gehan de Silva Wijeratne. A Naturalist’s Guide to the Flowers of Sri Lanka. Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2018. Print.
Sri Lanka Survey Department. Sheets 80_x & 81_x (1:10,000) 2nd Edition. Colombo: 2017. Maps & Spatial Data.
Warakagoda, Deepal et. al. Birds of Sri Lanka (Helm Field Guides). London: Helms Guides, 2012. Print.
Wijeyeratne, Gehan de Silva. Sri Lankan Wildlife (Bradt Guides). Bucks, England: Bradt Travel Ltd. 2007. Print.
Vigallon, S. The Sinharaja Guidebook for Eco-Tourists. Colombo: Stamford Lake Publications, 2007. Print.
Urban Air Quality (AQI) Studies at a Local and Regional Level
Screen grab of AQICN’s Colombo page (based on US Embassy data on Tuesday 27 November 2018)
The issue of air quality has been in the news lately with the destructive Camp Fire in northern California and resulting air pollution in the San Francisco Bay area. Poor air quality is nothing new, of course, and has been a fixture of the less desirable side of urban development and agricultural practices. In our Asian neighborhood, cities like New Delhi and Beijing, have regularly been in the news for their frightening air pollution. South East Asia has faced serious problems from the clearing and burning of tropical forest for agricultural expansion (see the articles below by Adam Voiland). Colombo Sri Lanka, where I am based, has much less of a problem but there are development plans and changes that could contribute to an increase in poor air quality. The OSC IB Environmental Systems class is currently completing their internal assessment on air quality in topic 6 (Atmospheric Systems & Societies). This post considers and shares resources for monitoring air quality at a variety of scales that I have been exploring with the students. The goal is to document resources to understanding air quality measurements and work to reduce causes with interested readers, students and teachers.
MEASURING AQI
Many countries have been monitoring and reporting on air quality for some time.The Air Quality Index (AQI) is a measure used to measure and monitor the quality of air. However, there is not necessarily a common standard scale, even though most are called “AQI” (see Wikipedia’s page for a summary of the different AQIs). For example, India’s AQI is on a scale of 0-500 with eight different components measured (NAQI). The UK is on a scale of 0-10 with five major pollutants (UK AIR). China’s AQI measures six pollutants on a scale of 0-300. Thus, it has been difficult to compare values on a global scale.
For the purposes of our student work we have used the AQI established by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States. It is based on measures of the following five pollutants.
- ground-level ozone (O3)
- particle pollution (particulate matter) (PM2 or PM10)
- carbon monoxide (CO)
- sulfur dioxide (SO2)
- nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
Each of the pollution segments has a standard, set by the EPA. This is used to evaluate the quality of the air based on the measurement. The scale of the AQI runs from 0-500 but, in reality many cities are off these charts and getting close to 1,000! For example, today (November 27th at 2:00 pm) Delhi has an AQI of 492 and several places in China in the Beijing area have an AQI of 999!
Screen grabs from India’s National AQI data portal (Chennai on 29 November 2018).
Screen grabs from India’s National AQI data portal (New Delhi on 29 November 2018).
US EMBASSY DATA
There are now online tools to help students, teachers and other interested citizens become more aware of the spatial extent of the problem using a single AQI measure. The US State Department is recording and sharing AQI data at their global network of embassies and consulates. AirNow (of the EPA) has a website where the current data from these embassies and consulates is layered on an OpenStreetMap. If you click on this link you can input a city with a US embassy/consulate and then access both current and historical data. Many places have yearly data, collected every hour going back to 2015! This is an ideal resource for science teachers looking to find meaningful secondary data for students to use in analysis.
Screen grab of Colombo data showing hourly progression (15 November 2018).
Screen grab from AIR NOW’s US Embassy portal showing AQI in Dhaka Bangladesh (29 November 2018).
Portal to the World Air Quality Index site.
You can also look up global data sets at the World Air Quality Index project’s site at www.aqicn.org . This site, based in China, compiles AQI data from around the world and maps it. Thus far, I have not been able to download historical data from the site. They do have several useful links including an Asian forecast page.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where many people are exposed to dangerously high levels of air pollution, as the links above share. It is hoped that the data and the knowledge of these patterns will help our communities look for meaningful changes in our daily lives such that we reduce and eliminate the cause of human induced air pollution.
Special thanks to students Camille-anh Goulet and Jordan Wright and OSC parent Michael Cragun for sharing links and ideas that have contributed to our understanding of AQI.
REFERENCES
Al Mukhtar, Sarah et al. “Hell on Earth” New York Times. 18 November 2018. Web.
Camp Fire Spreads Foul Air in California. NASA Earth Observatory. 11 November 2018. Web.
India National Air Quality Index Portal. Web.
US Environmental Protection Agency. Air Now. Data Portal. Web.
US Environmental Protection Agency. Air Now: US Embassies & Consulates. Data Portal. Web.
Voiland, Adam. “It’s Fire Season in South East Asia.” NASA Earth Observatory. 1 March 2018. Web.
Voiland, Adam. “Smoke Blankets Indonesia. NASA Earth Observatory. 27 September 2015. Web.
World Air Pollution: Real Time Air Quality Index Portal. Web.
Drone Mapping & Modeling in Pelawatte 101
3D model of the OSC created on DroneDeploy based on data from the April 6th flight (approximately 81 images).
For the last year or so it has been my goal to use drones to better study areas and analyze patterns of land use and vegetation cover. I was first inspired by the work that IWMI was doing to map crops, irrigation and drainage basins using their fixed wing drone (see articles below for references). During the last two years there has been a good deal of excitement of using drones/UAVs for geospatial applications and I am entering the field relatively late. One of the notable highlights of Sri Lanka’s first GIS Users conference held in February 2018 was a presentation on the use of consumer-level drones to map small areas. A Sri Lanka Ministry of Defense Research & Development team demonstrated in real time how easy it was to program a flight path, put a drone up, collect data and then process it so that it could be used for analysis using GIS. Based on their example and the advice of IWMI’s GIS team, I have been working to use the school’s Phantom III Advanced drone to map our campus as well as the nearby Diyasaru wetlands. This post share some of the results as well as my workflow.
Poster of April 6th drone map of the OSC campus, created on ArcMap 10.5.1.
Results from the May 19th drone flights using PIX4D. This is a composite of two different flights, each with about 30-50 separate images that have been mosaiced and geo-referenced here. If you look closely you will see the OSC Class of 2019 DP Geography class on the west side of the field. Also note the missing large mahogany tree north of the pool that was regrettably cut down by the neighbors between the two flights.
A Work Flow for OSC
- Step 1 Having a drone is essential and many of the common consumer models can be programed to fly a set flight plan. We used a DJI Phantom III Advanced model that is the older of our two drones (it has already had several major accidents and gone underwater at least twice). The drone needs to be working properly and the micro SD card should be formatted before running the mapping flight. We have been doing a very short test pre-flight on the DJI app that we control the drone with.
- Step 2 You need an app to establish the flight path and program the drone to fly and take pictures at established intervals. We started with a trial version of DroneDeploy and have now loaded in a trial version of PIX4D. Unfortunately, the licensed copies of both of these software bundles are prohibitively expensive for small non-commercial programs like ours and I will have to work out a long-term solution so that students can continue the mapping that we have started. The proposed mapping area needs to be loaded into the drone using the app. For DroneDeploy I made the flight plans on a desktop computer (in the DroneDeploy website) and then imported them onto the phone app that is hooked up to the controller. There are several parameters to pre-set such as the overlap flap area, flight altitude etc. The higher the altitude, the more accurate and less distorted the stitched imagery but it is coarser (less detailed). For PIX4D I have been setting the flight area on my phone in the field.
- Step 3 At your location you can launch the drone from a cleared area. We use the school field where there is plenty of room and a clear line of sight between the controller and drone (though it is flying by GPS, apparently). When you have got the drone and controller (with a phone interface) unit set up, you are ready for the flight. On DroneDeploy you import the plan, it goes through a number of checks and then asks if you are ready to fly. With the click of a button, the drone hovers and then takes off to run its flight. You can see the images that it takes and the drone’s flight path. Our flights have been set to 75 meters height and they are supposed to be taking approximately 60-90 images for 2 hectares. Unfortunately, we have been having a lot of trouble with good flights but no images being recorded at the end. For this reason, we started using the Trial version of PIX4D and had more success.
- Step 4 After a relatively short flight (5-12 minutes for us) the drone returns and lands and it is time to check to see if the images were collected. If it has gone well, then DroneDeploy will show you a sample mosaiced thumbnail. You need to shut down the unit and then move back to the desktop computer to upload the imagery on to their website where it is mosaiced. It took two hours for them to make the mosaic on the cloud and if you have a license you will also get a 3D model and vegetation map. For PIX4D there is a process where the images are fed from the mini-SD card to the phone and then uploaded online. You can also take the card and load them on to the PIX4D desktop app. All of these steps depend on you having the software and again I am not sure what we are going to do after the trial versions are finished.
- Step 5. In the final step you should have several files to work with. DroneDeploy gives you the orthomosaic and a 3D digital surface model (DSF) as well as a 3D model that you view on the screen. They also provide a KML/KMZ which you can bring into Google Earth (see sample below). PIX4D provides a collection of files (including point clouds, DSFs and more) that can be downloaded. I was most interested in the orthomosaic since I can then pull that into ArcMap where I can use it for presentation and analysis (see above).
Conclusions
Drone mapping offers a new and dynamic way to visualize landscapes on a relatively large scale. Prices of drones have come down and the challenge is to acquire software that allows you to get your work done. Trial versions of PIX4D and DroneDeploy give you a chance to explore the possibilities and map out a few areas of interest. There are open source options that I need to explore once my trial licenses have run out. Anyone who knows my interests will realize that I am now itching to get drones into forest and mountain landscapes where they can be used to better map vegetation and land cover.
REFERENCES & FURTHER READING
Daniel, Smriti. “The Drone Buzz Over Sri Lanka.” Sci Dev Net. 19 September 2015. Web.
Lockwood, Ian. GIS Developments at OSC in 2014.” Ian Lockwood Blog. 26 November 2014. Web. (this post features views of the OSC campus via GoogleEarth and ArcGIS).
Mason, Tony. “Put Your Drone to Work. Arc News. Summer 2016. Web.
Siddiqui, Salman. “Sri Lanka’s Drone Pioneers.” ICT Update. 18 April 2016. Web.
Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands WWW Experience 2018
OSC’s annual Sri Lanka Central Highlands trip, was once again an experience of significance with many important group and individual learning highlights. This choice WWW learning experience is part of the broader secondary school Week Without Walls program that I have had the privilege of coordinating since its inception. OSC’s WWW program was first run in January 2010 as an outgrowth of the MYP outdoor education program (2003-2010) and has now matured into a key experiential learning highlight for all of the secondary school. Through a variety of grade-level and choice experiences there are several goals that define the program:
- Fulfill the OSC mission statement of developing the whole person within a safe environment.
- Expose students to our host country Sri Lanka’s culture and environment.
- Enable opportunities for service learning and outdoor education.
- Use Interdisciplinary Units (IDUs) to support and strengthen existing secondary curriculum (including the DP CAS program) for the benefit of student learning.
Cloud forest at Horton Plains National Park
The five-day excursion into Sri Lanka’s high elevation interior exemplified some of the best outcomes of field-based learning beyond the normal confines of a classroom. The learning focus was on using photo documentation to better understand the ecology and landscape of Sri Lanka’s mountainous interior. This year we had a smaller sized group-10 students and three of us adults to guide them. I was supported by Kamila Sahideen and Desline Attanayake who both played key roles in organization and participating in all of our activities. We also had two veteran drivers from Yamuna Travels who got us to our different destinations safely. The students were enthusiastic and cooperative as we took on new challenges every day. Accommodation for the first three nights was on the cozy-rustic side of things, but on the last night the group was treated to very comfortable rooms in Nuwara Eliya’s St. Andrew’s Jetwing hotel.
The five-day excursion into Sri Lanka’s high elevation interior exemplified some of the best outcomes of field-based learning. The learning focus was on using photo documentation to better understand the ecology and landscape of Sri Lanka’s mountainous interior. All of the students had some sort of DSLR or point and shoot camera where they could learn basic controls and composition as we had different encounters. This year we had a smaller sized group-10 students and three of us adults to guide them. I was supported by Kamila Sahideen and Desline Attanayake who both played key roles in organization and participating in all of our activities. We also had two veteran drivers from Yamuna Travels who got us to our different destinations safely. The students were enthusiastic and cooperative as we took on new challenges every day. Accommodation for the first three nights was on the cozy-rustic side of things, but on the last night the group was treated to very comfortable rooms in Nuwara Eliya’s St. Andrew’s Jetwing hotel.
Weather in the Central Highlands is always hard to predict but this year we were blessed with classic, crisp winter conditions. There had been frost earlier in the month but by the time that we got to the high reaches of Mahaeliya bungalow in Horton Plains it was at least 10-15 degrees C° above freezing. The highlight of the time in Horton Plains was climbing the 2nd and 3rd highest mountains in Sri Lanka. Kirigalpotta (2,388 m) was the focus of a seven-hour round trip hike on Wednesday and Totupola Kanda (2,360m) was a short walk that we did on Thursday morning. For good measure we visited Sri Lanka’s highest peak Pidurutalagala (albeit by van, as walking is not allowed) on the final morning of the experience.
Grasshopper (Orthoptera sp.?) love fest near Lanka Ella Falls on Day 2 of the Highlands experience.
Rhino Horned Lizard (Ceratophora_stoddartii) at Horton Plains National Park on Day 3, views from the same image file.
Encounters with biodiversity were integral to the Highlands experience. On the first day as we hiked along the Belihuloya stream we had sighting of several eagles (Black, Crested Hawk and Serpent). In Horton Plains we appreciated cloud forest flora and endemic lizards (Rhino horned and). On our final afternoon we visited Victoria Park to observe Pied Thrushes and other rare birds. That evening before dinner Ishanda Senevirathna took us on the amazing frog tour behind St. Andrew’s. The students were extra enthusiastic and we were able to see all of the six highlighted endemic species. This has become a real highlight of the highlands WWW experience, something that has been written up in Ishanda’s newly published book The Peeping Frogs of Nuwara Eliya.
2018 Highlands group on Totupola Kanda (2,360m) with view to Ambawella, Pidurutalagala and the north behind them.
The Horton Plains area as seen with a Planet Dove 3m multi-spectral satellite. Imagery acquired soon after our visit and then processed by the author to emphasize vegetation and land use patterns.
PAST WWW TRIPS
- WWW 2013 Sinharaja
- WWW 2014 Dry Zone
- WWW 2015 Sri Lanka Highlands
- WWW 2016 Sri Lanka Highlands
- WWW 2017 Sri Lanka Highlands
EXEMPLARY STUDENT CAS REFLECTIONS (HIGHLANDS)
FURTHER READING & REFERENCES
Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF). Western Ghats and Sri Lanka Biodiversity Hotspot. May 2007. Web.
De Silva, Anslem and Kanisha Ukuwela. A Naturalist’s Guide to the Reptiles of Sri Lanka. Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2017. Print.
De Silva, Anslem. The Diversity of Horton Plains National Park. Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2007. Print.
Pethiyagoda, Rohan. Horton Plains: Sri Lanka’s Cloud Forest National Park. Colombo: WHT, 2013. Print.
Rodrigo, Malaka. “Lanka’s central highlands win heritage battle”. The Sunday Times. 8 August 2010. Web.
Senevirathna, Ishanda. The Peeping Frogs of Nuwara Eliya. Colombo: Jetwings, 2018. Print.
Somaweera, Ruchira & Nilusha. Lizards of Sri Lanka: A Colour Guide With Field Keys. Frankfurt: Edition Chimaira 2009. Print.
Werner, Wolfgang. Sri Lanka’s Magnificent Cloud Forests. Colombo: Wildlife Heritage Trust, 2001. Print.
Sri Pada Field Study 2017
Lights of the Ratnapura and Kuruwita trails from the summit of Sri Pada.
In December of 2017 OSC’s DP1 classes journeyed into the Central Highlands to explore and experience field studies in biology, physics and environmental systems & societies. These excursions are now a solidified and key learning highlight for DP science classes. The physics students looked at and experimented with hydroelectricity near Norton Bridge and the Biology class did field ecology exercises on Castlereigh Lake. Once again, I took the Environmental Systems & Societies (ES&S) group up to Peak Wilderness for a study of biodiversity and human impact. It was a very small group (three students), supported by Kamila Sahideen who was on her first visit to the sacred mountain. We enjoyed three days of learning, basic accommodation and an overnight stay at the summit of Sri Pada (this is only the second time that I have taken students on the overnight component -the last time was in December 2012).
As usual, we focused on four broad themes related to the Environmental Systems & Societies syllabus.
- Theme 1: Land Use Variation (anthropocentric vs. natural ecosystems, plantation agriculture etc.)
- Theme 2: Forest & Vegetation Types (lowland, montane tropical forests, cloud forests)
- Theme 3: Vertical Zonation
- Theme 4: Biodiversity in a ‘Biodiversity Hotspot’
Composite view looking north of Nalathani (Delhousie) and the Hatton Trail at dawn from the summit of Sri Pada. Pidurutalagala is on the horizon above clouds in the right corner. Wolfgang Werner’s book on Cloud Forest uses a view of the forest and falls to the left.
Because the group size was small this year, I consulted with the team and then made the decision to bivouac up at the summit. This meant carrying larger backpacks with food and sleeping gear on the hike up. In the past carrying loads has been a challenge for OSC students unaccustomed to backpacking and ascending altitudes after being at sea level. Our hike on December 12th was in persistent rain that lasted all day. The wet conditions and abundant leeches made it difficult to stop to conduct field observations and we pretty much walked straight up to the summit at a slow, but steady pace (see Google My Map below with metadata from Strava). At the top, we were not able to get one of the few rooms that are sometimes available and instead bedded down in the pilgrim’s shelter. We were at the summit by 1:30 and so the class got to spend the afternoon taking in the rhythms of the temple in season. There was a slow stream of pilgrims and pujas but for the most part it remained relatively empty all the way until the next day.
There were several important highlights from this trip. I was treated to a 10-minute observation of a solitary otter (presumably the Eurasian Otter Lutra lutra nair) at the Fishing Hut. I had observed a group of them at twilight a few years back so it was good to see that the species still visits the area. At the summit of Sri Pada there were more moths at lights than I have ever witnessed before. Many of these would eventually perish but hundreds were hanging out on walls, rock faces and sacred cloth. Birds included Blue Magpies at the Fishing Hut and then Yellow Eared Bulbuls, Dull Blue Flycatchers, Great Tits at the Sri Pada summit. No SL Whistling Thrushes on this trip (see 2010 post for my notable encounter) but another pilgrim posted a photograph of a male on Facebook shortly after our trip. On the way, home the group enjoyed a good sighting of a Legge’s hawk-eagle in a tea plantation on the edge of Peak Wilderness.
Mosaic of moths on the summit and slopes of Sri Pada.
On the morning of December 13th I was thrilled to see the clouds clear to reveal misty valley below. The view to the east was free of clouds and when the sun came up it provided the right atmospheric conditions to produce the magical mountain shadow that is a rare, ethereal phenomenon to experience. As usual, the shadow dropped as the sun rose and soon merged with the conical mountain that had cast the light. We lingered beyond the time that most pilgrims stay on the summit,
Composite image of the mountain shadow seen look to the west from Sri Pada’s summit. We were blessed with a fine sunrise and a clear shadow-an awe-inspiring phenomenon that is not guaranteed to pilgrims at the summit of Sri Pada.
PAST SRI PADA STUDIES
- OSC Class of 2010 (Sri Pada 2008trip)
- OSC Class of 2011 (Sri Pada 2009trip)
- OSC Class of 2012 (Sri Pada 2010trip)
- OSC Class of 2013 (Sri Pada 2011trip)
- OSC Class of 2014 (Sri Pada 2012trip)
- OSC Class of 2015 (Sri Pada 2013 trip)
- OSC Class of 2016 (Sri Pada 2014 trip)
- OSC Class of 2017 (Sri Pada 2015 trip)
- OSC Class of 2018 (Sri Pada 2016 trip)
FURTHER READING & REFERENCES
Atmospheric Optics. “Mountain Shadow.” Photograph by Ian Lockwood. 2010. Web.
Fernando, Sarala and Luxman Nadaraja. Sri Pada. Colombo: Vijitha Yapa, 2011. Print.
Pethiyagoda, Rohan. Horton Plains: Sri Lanka’s Cloud Forest National Park. Colombo: WHT, 2013. Print.
Werner, Wolfgang. Sri Lanka’s Magnificent Cloud Forests. Colombo: Wildlife Heritage Trust, 2001. Print.
Google My Map showing our trail (collected on Strava and then exported as a GPX file)
GIS Developments at OSC in 2017
GIS as a tool for teaching and learning in the DP Geography program (the field, Survey Department and in a final Geography EE map).
November 15th marked GIS Day, a time set aside to recognize the important role of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in our lives. With a theme of GIS as the “science of where” it seems like a good time to look at ways in which we are using GIS as a tool for teaching and learning at OSC. Ten years ago, I put in the first proposals to adopt a GIS program at OSC as a part of our MYP and DP Geography courses. Since then the school’s small program has grown steadily while there have also been enormous leaps in the technology. This post reviews the newer applications and data sources that I am using as a tool for geospatial teaching and learning in the OSC environment.
Curricular Links in the International Baccalaureate DP
As far as I know, there are no explicit requirements that GIS skills be taught in any IB course. There are references made to GIS in the revised DP Geography, First Examinations May 2019 syllabus though they are not required (unfortunately, from my perspective). On page 19 it says “it is recognized that the ability to use GIS as a tool is a valuable geographic skill that goes beyond many of those listed below. Where GIS is accessible and practical, its use is encouraged.” Of course, there are many geographic skills listed in the guide that can be taught using a GIS platform. The Environmental Systems & Societies, First Examinations 2017 syllabus in the Investigating Ecosystems (2.5) section mentions GIS as a tool to use when tracking land use change (see p. 38).
At OSC I take time to teach several basic GIS lessons in DP Geography that allows students to use it as a tool for case studies and work on the internal assessment. In the past, I have worked with MYP students to introduce them to skills and methods for using our ArcGIS software. This year we are once again introducing GIS skills for MY 5 so that they can map spatial patterns from their Galle socio-economic survey work.
Mobile Data Collection & Tracking
The advent of wide spread use of smartphones and improved 4G cellphone networks has opened up opportunities to use mobile data gathering apps on phones. There are a variety of options including open source apps (Open Data Kit, etc.). I am using ESRI’s Survey123 which comes with our ArcGIS site license. For the first time this year we recorded all of the DP Geography Sinharaja field surveys on Survey123. The class set up a common survey with questions about gender, housing, water access, land use and other variables. Before we went to the field we trialed a simpler version in Colombo. In the field, every student had a phone but we also backed it up with paper copies. At times, there was no cell phone access. We were able to upload the data later when we had cell phone connectivity (this worked quite well although photographs attached to the survey slowed down the uploads considerably). It was a much better way to tabulate the data (there were more than 70 individual respondents in total) and the class could map the data points since each had a spatial reference.
At the same time, I have been experimenting with using phone apps to track and record hikes and trails that we walk on CAS experiences. Strava, a fitness oriented app, offers an excellent way to record tracks. I am exporting GPX trails and then putting them onto Google my maps and sharing them with participants. I’ve taught students how to use them as a way to record key paths on their CAS blogs (see Maha’s Off the Grid post or my Mannar account for an example of this). We are currently using Google My Maps for this and layering the GPX trails onto a map that we make public. I would like to use an Openstreetmap for the base layer but this requires a WordPress plugin and $$$.
Hardware & Online Software
In terms of hardware we are operating a basic system with a server/desktop and then four lab desktops (each with decent specs-16 GB RAM, fast processors, graphics cards, large (2tb) drives and wide HD monitors. Geography students have access to ArcGIS Online on their laptops (both Apple OS and Windows platforms). When it comes to working with imagery I find it easier to use the desktops where I have spatial data stored for specific class assignments.
There are a variety of software options for using GIS as an educational tool. The most widely used open source GIS software package must surely be QGIS. It has an OSX version and the interface is quite similar to ArcGIS. At the school we continue to use the industry-standard, proprietary ArcGIS group of applications and have maintained an advanced license for over the last eight years through GIS Solutions here in Colombo. I am able to get technical advice from IWMI’s GIS lab when there are new operations or application that we want to put to test. I have also developed relationships with other major GIS users who are working on environmental issues in Sri Lanka.
Openstreet Map Contributions
In the last two years we have been using Openstreet Maps and have made minor contributions in our neighborhood and areas of interest. I value the idea of an open platform wiki space where users can contribute spatial knowledge. It is also an excellent source for downloading shapefiles of houses, building, roads, and other features in our Sri Lankan study areas. This data is often more update to shapefiles that are commercially available. We have had students download OSM data and then use the shape files to design studies of land use in the Colombo CBD (see attached image).
Recent OSC Student GIS work
Support from Local Contacts
OSC’s GIS initiatives continue to enjoy support for several key Colombo-based players. The International Water Management Institute’s (IWMI) GIS lab has been our main resource. They provide us with technical guidance and share public data that can be used for student learning. Their Water Data Portal is an important source of publically available spatial data.
Dr. Ajith Gunawadena at the Central Environment Authority’s Research and Development (GIS) unit has become a good friend. He has helped me understand the ways in which the CEA and other government agencies are using GIS to tackle a range of national challenges. He helped guide the production of district level spatial databases (resource profiles).
I have developed good relations at the Sri Lankan Forest Department. Their GIS unit is working on updating the forestry map of Sri Lanka (last completed in 2010) and I have had a chance to see how they are using remoted sensed imagery to inventory different types of forest cover. The best way to access their basic forest data is on the FAO-sponsored REDD+ National Forest Monitory System portal. At the invitation of Anura Sathurasinghe, several of our DP2 students and I participated in the recently held 27th Asia Pacific Forestry Commission meetings here in Colombo.
Colombo is now growing rapidly and this has given students an opportunity to study process of urbanization and urban environments first hand. The port city project, still controversial but speeding ahead, is moving at a rapid pace. While the Urban Development Authority used to be the key agency for getting urban data, the Western Region Megapolis Planning Project now seems to be the main agency with data and information about Colombo’s urban projects. Master plans are available on their website for download.
SL Survey Department Developments
The Sri Lankan Survey Department continues to be a remarkable government agency that supports geographic teaching and learning in the country. I have always appreciated their open view to public access to maps and spatial data. At the GIS Day 2017 event several of their team members spoke about developments at the SLSD. Sarath Jayatilaka and N. Wijeyanayake, traced the historical development of mapping at the department. Mr. Sivanantharajah bought the audience up to date with new developments in remote sensing including the use of lidar to generate highly accurate elevation models. The Survey Department is at work on a National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) platform but this is expected to be another six months or a year before it is unveiled to the public. Meanwhile some of their maps and data can be viewed on an interactive portal and their land information system. What would be nice is if Sri Lanka’s larger neighbors would be willing to learn from the island nation’s open approach to making spatial data and maps available to the public to improve overall geographic knowledge and understanding!
Accessing Population, Development, Environmental, Energy & Poverty Data
When addressing core concepts of the Geography and ES&S syllabi there are now an amazing variety of map-based data portals to access up-to-date statistical data.
- I have been using the Washington DC-based Population Reference Bureau data tables to study and analyze population patterns for nearly 20 years in my teaching and they now are accompanied by interactive map portal.
- World Resources is sponsoring a useful Data portal on deforestation called the Global Forest Watch. Their data is built on a Google Earth Engine
- World Bank data, a leading source of data on economic development and poverty, can be found on their data portal. DP1 students made an important discovery when they accessed the Interactive Bangladesh Map. We were able to download the GIS-ready data and then view and manipulate it in an ArcGIS environment. I understand that they will be doing similar sites for country and global data.
- For data on the Himalayan region ICMOD maintains the Mountain Geoportal.
- The Sri Lanka Census & Statistics department has always been a good source of data. They now have an interactive geoportal to access some of this data. It is layered on an Openstreet base map.
PAST GIS BLOG POSTS
- GIS Developments at OSC in 2015 January 2015.
- GIS Developments at OSC in 2014 November 2014
- Using Remote Sensing Imagery for Teaching & Learning in the IB August 2013
- GIS Developments at OSC in 2012 December 2012
- GIS Developments at OSC in 2011 January 2012
- The Home & the World: GIS Developments at OSC in 2010 November 2010
- Using GIS in the OSC Geography Curriculum March 2010
REFERENCES FOR GIS TEACHING & LEARNING (2017 Update)
Bolstad, Paul. GIS Fundamentals: A First Text on Geographic Information Systems, Fifth Edition. Acton, MA,Xanedu, 2016. Print. Web Resource Link, (GIS lessons).
Brown, Clint and Christian Harder Eds. The ArcGIS Imagery Book: New View. New Vision. Redlands, CA: ESRI Press. 2016. Print (Web version).
ESRI. Advancing STEM Education with GIS. Redlands, CA. 2012. Web.
ESRI. K-12 Education portal. Web.
Harder, Christian and Clint Brown, Eds. The ArcGIS Book, 2nd Edition. Redlands, CA: ESRI Press. 2017. Web. PDF.
Jensen, John R. Introductory Digital Image Processing: A Remote Sensing Perspective, 4th Edition. Glenview, IL: Pearson GIS, 2016. Print.
Keranen, Kathyrn & Lyn Malone. Instructional Guide for the ArcGIS Book. Redlands, CA: ESRI Press, 2016. Print (Web version).
Kimerling, A. Jon. et al. Map Use, Eighth Edition. Redlands, ESRI Press, 2016. Print. Web Link. Review by Daniel G. Cole.
O’ Connor, Peter. GIS for A-level geography. Geographical Association/ESRI, 2008. Print.
Mannar: Far Corner of Sri Lanka
Baobab on the north shore of Mannar.
Off the Grid (OTG), OSC’s outdoor and adventure club explores different corners of Sri Lanka seeking adventure, new destinations and fresh opportunities to learn from our host country. In October we took a three-day visit to the island of Mannar on Sri Lanka’s west coast. The low lying, bone-dry island is steeped in myth but distant from the well-worn tourist track of most visitors. Mannar is most often visited by birdwatchers looking for flamingos and wintering birds (see my post from March 2017). On this trip, OTG was looking for opportunities to build a relationship with a local NGO engaged in mangrove and coral reef conservation.
We originally had a large group signed up but, in the end, only three students joined the trip. Theo from DP2, Madeleine from DP1 and MYP3 student Lenny. Kamilla Sahideen, the other OTG faculty leader, joined us and we were driven by Anthony who is fluent in three languages and one of the best drivers that the school hires. The Recycling & Sustainability service group (represented by Lenny and myself) and Reefkeepers (represented by Madeleine) were particularly interested in how a small community was dealing with solid waste management and coral reef conservation.
Tantirimale Buddha.
Getting to Mannar was a significant part of the adventure and we had stops at Negombo, Tantirimale, Madhu, and Vankalai sanctuary on the way up. On the island we had an opportunity to visit the historic fort, the grave site of Adam & Eve, Talaimannar pier and the last point of land before Adams bridge. Each of these places is interesting in their own way-for me it was the living mythology of the location that stood out. In Mannar we stayed at the Four Tees guest house, a place well known to birders. They have reasonable rates and the owner Laurence is friendly, hospitable and surely one of the most knowledgeable hoteliers on the island. Our meals were simple (but scrumptious) and mostly taken at Mannar’s City Hotel and other road- side eating joints. Out visit coincided with the onset of the North East (Winter) monsoon and the showers that we experienced were beginning to fill up tanks and ponds that are dry for most of the year. In this arid, near desert part of the island, the relief for people and wildlife was palatable.
In Vidataltivu
The focus of our trip was to spend time in a small village, Vidataltivu, located off of the Mannar-Jaffna road. Vidataltivu’s location in an area once trapped in the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and LTTE is still haunting. Many of its buildings, built with generous quantities of cement in an art deco style during the 1960s, lie abandoned and empty. There are signs of normalcy returning in the active fishing harbor but the town seems far short of full recovery. The Vidataltivu Ecotourism Society (VETS) is a small organization that was started to help protect the area’s mangroves, sea grass beds and coral reefs from unsustainable fishing practices. They are composed of a handful of young people who have worked with their neighbors to protect the area. UNDP has helped to support their efforts and worked with the community in fixing up the fishing harbor’s docks, providing VETS with a boat and sponsoring various capacity building exercise. Santhiapillai Augustine was out contact from UNDP who helped try to line up the permissions. Edison, one of their leaders now works with the DCW while working on a graduate degree in Ruhuna University and worked to help facilitate our visit.
Because this was formerly in territory controlled by the LTTE there is a strong SL Navy presence in Vidataltivu. Their base at the edge of the Vidataltivu harbor blends in with the surroundings and it is a non-threatening arrangement from the point of view of a visitor. The harbor is active with fishing boats who specialize in catching crabs just off shore. However, the Navy’s concerns about security have made it very difficult for tourists to take short rides into the water from the harbor. The jurisdiction of the coastal area has recently been transferred to the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC). I had worked in the weeks before our trip to get the necessary permissions and we came with written permission to conduct a study tour from the DWC. We thought that our group might be allowed to visit both the mangrove and the coral reef. In the end, we were only able to see the mangrove and will have to wait to visit the reef on a future visit.
Our trip was much too short but it did allow for us to get a sense of Mannar, Vidataltivu and the surrounding area. In general, I think all of us were impressed with the serene beauty of the low lying island, the palmyra trees, lagoons and infinite horizons. People were friendly and gracious in our interactions. We were, however, dismayed to observe large quantities of plastic waste on the roadsides, lagoons and beaches: it is clear that issues of non-biodegradable solid domestic waste pose a serious challenge for the citizens of Mannar. Some of this waste may be coming over the sea but most of the waste that we saw (broken buckets, plastic bags, shoes, wrappers and water bottles) that was on roadsides and near to Mannar’s human settlements. It is of course a problem felt at a national and global scale and Mannar is not alone in this challenge. On the positive side, I was happy that Laurence the proprietor of Four Tees welcomed us and then politely reminded us not to bring any plastic whatsoever into his premise.
As we were heading back to Colombo we stopped by the Mannar salterns and were treated to a sighting of the Greater flamingos-about 60 of them who are apparently resident all year long. OTG looks forward to returning to Mannar to build on the relationships that were started on this visit.
Greater flamingos taking flight near Mannar town. These are apparently a resident group of about 60 individuals.
Google My Maps showing trip route and significant points.
REFERENCES & FURTHER READING
Gnanam, Amrith. Discover Mannar Sri Lanka. Colombo: Palmyrah House, 2017. Print.
Experiential Education Across the Length & Breadth of Sri Lanka: OSC’s Week Without Walls Program
Week Without Walls Exhibition Poster 2016
The Overseas School of Colombo’s annual Week Without Walls (WWW) is a high point for many of our students and teachers. With collective inputs of faculty members, some who have moved to other schools, the program continues to grow as a model of experiential education in a small school. I’ve had the privilege to be involved with the program from its inception. In addition to running one of the groups I coordinate the program and help to give it direction. We have now developed several distinct goals that guide the way it runs and continue to look for ways to improve the experiences. One of these key goals is the focus that is put on the host country (rather than on exotic foreign locations) and how the program fosters a better understanding of Sri Lanka. In recent years the focus has been on integrating units of study from classes with the different WWW learning experiences. In this post I’ll go back in time to review the origins of the program and then highlight some of the outcomes this year.
Looking Back, Looking Forward
Experiential education is an approach in teaching and learning with roots in the writing of John Dewey and other education thinkers of the 20th Century. It is defined by the Association of Experiential Education as “a process through which a learner constructs knowledge, skills and value from direct experience” (Ibid 91). Kurt Hahn was an early practitioner of experiential education in founding the Outward Bound program and motivating the IB’s Creativity Action & Service (CAS) program. David Kolb’s 1984 publication Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development provided a theoretical basis that has underpinned the CAS program. His cycle or model of goal-setting, action, observation and reflection is a key part of the CAS learning process, and similar models are used in other areas of learning.
OSC’s WWW program had its roots in an ambitious outdoor education (OE) program that was integrated into the school’s Middle Year’s Program (MYP) in the mid 2000s. The OE program was envisioned by Elliot Bowyer, supported by Ray Lewis (MYP/DP teacher), Paul Buckley (Primary Principal), Laurie McLellan (Head of School) and several others in 2003-04 and implemented with the support of Borderlands Pvt. Ltd. Each of the middle school classes took a three-day experience and skills were built up to a culminating adventure in MYP5 that was used as a moderated sample in the PE classes. In its original design, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award program was planned to be integrated alongside the PE units. This didn’t happen and we are now reconsidering it as an add on to our program. The OE ran into difficulty when there was a change in staff and the PE department lost interest in using the program to design their moderated assessments around. As it happened, other developments at school helped the OE program evolve.
An overnight trip to the summit temple on Sri Pada in January 2007 with the MYP geography students from the class of 2009 was a key event that paved the way for the WWW program as we now know it. I was leading the experience as a part of my MYP5 geography study of culture and ecosystems. There were 12 enthusiastic students from nearly as many countries. One was the daughter of an ambassador who had a security guard shadowing us discretely. We hiked up in daylight hours and spent the night in the summit temple. Oli Toore Hancock, OSC’s secondary principal was the female chaperone. Our observations of student engagement and learning sewed the seed for what would then develop into the Week Without Walls. (an account of the experience was published in IS Magazine in 2007)
At the same time OSC was supporting eight tsunami-affected community primary schools in the south of the island. Karu Gamage, the school’s legendary service coordinator for many years, was our link to these institutions and their hard working teachers. Students groups from OSC had visited the schools for short service learning trips and these experiences were woven into the initial avatars of the WWW program. Oli presented a WWW proposal to the board in March 2007 and it was approved for the 2007-08 school year.
Evolution in Experiential Learning
As the WWW took shape we worked to establish clear goals to guide the trips as experiential learning experiences rather than visits to exotic locations. Aside from incorporating the outdoor education and service learning goals, the WWW program was designed to better expose OSC students to our host nation Sri Lanka and its varied natural and cultural treasures. The ideals of the WWW were rooted in more fully realizing the OSC mission statement, which seeks to “develop the whole person as a responsible learner, striving for personal excellence within a culturally diverse environment.” It was initially only three days and all learning experiences were single (rather than mixed) class trips. By this time Anthony Coles was the secondary principal. Laurie McLellan was still the Head of School and would soon be succeeded by Areta Williams. It was a crucial time as the conflict and violence that had engulfed the country came to an end in May 2009.
The WWW program ran parallel to the OE program for the first two years. But with OE not being used in MYP classes it was decided to integrate the learning with the WWW into a single five day-long program in 2009-10. Costs were incorporated into tuition around this time (parents had paid a subsidized fee for their children in past years). MYP 1-3 (grade 6-8) trips focused on themes of culture, history and ecology in Kandy, Galle and the Cultural Triangle. MYP 4 (grade 9) kept the full outdoor education emphasis-something that was enabled when Borderlands established a permanent camp in Kitulgala. Grade 10 combined both outdoor education at Uduwalawae with two days of service work in Hambantota. DP1 (Grade 11) did a full service trip to the tsunami-affected community schools also in Hambantota.
I found that the large class trips were difficult to manage and advocated for smaller groups where students had choice in what they did. I had seen this model work extremely well on the two “project weeks” that I planned and organized while working at MUWCI. The idea was supported by other faculty members and Eileen Niedermann, who had become OSC’s secondary principal in August 2010. In January 2013 we offered the first choice “microtrips” for the MYP5 and DP1 students. The experiences were organized around themes from the Creativity Action and Service (CAS) program. Two of the four trips emphasized physical activity, one had a strong service element and a third was arts focused. These experiences also provided unique opportunities to visit once conflict isolated locations such as Jaffna and Arugam Bay as well as known places such as Sinharaja and the Cultural Triangle.
One of the key developments during Eileen’s tenure as principal has been the development of a detailed learning continuum (scope and sequence) for experiential education at OSC. The goal of this document, is to provide a framework for experiential learning in a variety of areas at OSC. It divides the learning into three broad learning areas (Knowledge & Awareness, Skills and Attitudes) across the three IB programs. With Eileen’s leadership, OSC adopted the document in 2012-13 and we continue to use it as a guide for the learning in the WWW and other experiential learning exercises.
IDUs in WWW
This year the WWW learning experiences were grafted to the recently introduced MYP Interdisciplinary Units (IDUs). The motivation for this comes from the publication Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning in the MYP. As stated in the guidelines MYP classes are expected to run at least one IDU a school year. Veronica Boix-Mansilla from Harvard’s Project Zero was the author of the first draft of the document. She writes in the opening paragraph:
“Quality interdisciplinary education invites students to integrate concepts, theories, methods and tools from two or more disciplines to deepen their understanding of a complex topic. In so doing, interdisciplinary instruction enlists students’ multiple capabilities (aesthetic, social, analytical) and prepares them to solve problems, create products or ask questions in ways that go beyond single disciplinary perspectives” (Boix Mansilla 1).
I had to the opportunity to work with Veronica and a group of stellar IB educators on the World Studies Extended Essay (WSEE) pilot process in 2009-11. This experience, as well as my background as an Environmental Systems teacher (one of the IB DP’s few interdisciplinary subjects) puts me squarely in the IDU cheerleading stand.
The idea being the IDU is to have two subject areas integrated into the learning goals and to address questions that can be best answered using a broad-based interdisciplinary approach. This year OSC decided to graft this requirement on to our WWW program with mixed, though mostly positive success. It works very well where the subject area teachers are also involved with the planning and implementation of their WWW. It also helps when teachers have been in Sri Lanka long enough to develop suitable learning that is closely tied to their units of study. Because we are a small school where teachers teach across grade levels this is not always possible.
There is also the issue that DP1 students mixed with MYP5 students on the WWW microtrip (choice) experiences. In my original design of learning I used the CAS umbrella and its learning outcomes to guide learning objectives. This still seems to make sense to me as the best option for them. What we tried doing this year was to fuse this with the need for MYP IDUs. To make meaningful connections between the IDU and their regular learning is still a challenge that needs to be realized.
In mid-February we hosted the culmination of the program in the annual WWW Exhibition. This is designed to be a celebration of the learning experiences that students share with the broader OSC community. I am now reviewing feedback for students and teachers as well as the finances as we get ready to start planning the 2017 WWW. One of my ideas is to rename the program to make it more reflective of our program’s unique attributes. We’ll revisit the scope and sequence and see how we can better incorporate the IDUs. I look forward to many more years of experiential learning here in Sri Lanka…
REFERENCES
Boix-Mansilla, Verónica. MYP guide to interdisciplinary teaching and learning Middle Years. Geneva: International Baccalaureate Organization, 2010. Print.
Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning in the MYP. Geneva: International Baccalaureate Organization, Print & Web.
Itin, C. M. “Reasserting the Philosophy of Experiential Education as a Vehicle for Change in the 21st Century.” The Journal of Experiential Education,.22(2), 91-98. 1999. Web.
Kolb, David. A. Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. 1984. Print. Web Link.
Lockwood, Ian. Experiential Education in Sri Lanka: OSC’s Week Without Walls Program. 2016. Web.
EXEMPLAR DP1 STUDENT REFLECTIONS FROM THE 2016 WWW
Cultural Triangle
Jaffna Narratives
Sri Lanka Highlands
GIS Developments at OSC in 2015
Screen shots of a Storymap utilizing base layers from National Geographic, simple annotations and layers of vector data from Sri Lankan sources. The bottom map utilizes the Stamen Water color tint and is layered with an urban areas layer sourced from IWMI ( see the links to actual story in the text).
The GIS program at the Overseas School of Colombo continued to evolve and adapt to broader technological changes in the school and world in 2015. The most significant development has been the school’s move away from campus-based servers to cloud-based applications and online data.
For the past seven years we have been running a small, but robust, GIS introduction program for students using desktop applications on computers in common spaces such as the library. Instruction has been based on using ESRI’s ArcMap desktop applications that are bundled with extensions as part of an annually renewed license. This represents a significant investment of the school in the software, provided locally by GIS Solutions Pvt. Ltd. I have also explored using QGIS and regularly utilize Google Earth, MyMaps and other freely available software. At the moment I am the only teacher providing the skills so it has been difficult to get all classes on board but I have been evangelizing colleagues to get them to weave GIS into their science and humanities units. In the 2015-16 school year students had to have their own laptops as a part of a 1:1 tech program and most of the desktop computers were phased out. One clear benefit of this is that all students can access ArcGIS Online regardless of their platform (ArcMap desktop was never available for Macs). Loading the desktop software on multiple machines is cumbersome and so the online options save time and hassle. Necessity being the mother of invention, I have been adjusting many of the DP Geography exercises that I had developed on ArcMap desktop to ArcGIS Online. Bandwidth and Internet speed is still an issue and for my own mapping and remote sensing work I prefer to use ArcGIS desktop. In the last two years I have refined my cartography with maps on Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands, the southern Western Ghats and Landsat imagery over the Pune Sahyadris.
Screen shot of Maptia story on Kukkal (created by the author in 2014). This is not a spatial platform but Maptia offers a dynamic way to share digital stories that emphasize fine photography.
New Opportunities in Digital Storytelling
One of the dynamic tools that has been introduced by ESRI alongside ArcGIS Online is StoryMaps. This online software allows users to create visual story lines that incorporate narratives, images, videos and maps. There are a variety of templates to set your Storymap up and you can utilize a treasure trove of online maps to illustrate your story. You can also load up your own spatial data and overlay this raster and vector data on the base maps to help tell a compelling story. Storymaps has excellent potential for teaching and learning and I have deployed it in the DP Geography classes to give students an alternative way to create case studies that are a key part of their course preparation ahead of the IB exams. To model this potential I have built a story around OSC’s Experiential Education program.
StoryMap table of contents showing layers and projects.
While story maps is ideal for sharing narratives that have spatial aspects there are other options for sharing visual narratives. Maptia is one free service that I have experimented with to tell a visual story. It offers impressive visual opportunities to share high quality images and a meaningful story. The numerous examples emphasize epic adventures and fine photography but could also serve as a vehicle for students to share learning from school trips and learning experiences. I used a story that I had written up about hiking in the Palanis for my first project entitled “Kukkal: Beyond the Last Ridge.” Maptia would be an ideal platform for students to share learning from experiential education – something I am trying to promote with colleagues at OSC.
ASB Unplugged Workshop
In February 2016 I will be giving a workshop at ASB Unplugged in Mumbai entitled “Geospatial Teaching & Learning: Opportunities, Applications, and Ideas.” The aim of this workshop is to help educators understand some of the developments and opportunities for geospatial learning in middle and high school programs. There will be some direct sharing of my experiences but will have hands-on opportunities to try out some of the free web-based applications. Here’s what I have written up in the workshop description:
In the last decade huge advances have been made with making remotely sensed (RS) images of the earth available to the public. Google Earth helped popularize and introduce Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to the wider public as a free web-based application. While GIS software once had a reputation for being both expensive and cumbersome to use, developments in commercial software (ESRI’s ArcGIS platform) and freeware such as Q-GIS now make it accessible to anyone interested. The cost of remotely sense imagery is now within reach of organizations and much of this is in the public realm. At the same time growing concerns about changes on the planet associated with rapid economic development have provided a real need for better analytical tools. GIS and remote sensing helps us to better understand and address these changes.
International Schools are beginning to use GIS in their secondary school curricula following on the heels of North American schools that have geography standards that incorporate GIS (see AAG links below). Given the rapid change in software and hardware options it can be a daunting program to add on to a school’s already packed curriculum. GIS and RS offer ideal opportunities for inquiry-based, interdisciplinary learning in international schools settings.
The workshop will highlight examples from the IB Middle Years and Diploma Programs. A unique part of the presentation will share details on developments in South Asia and ways that the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is sharing data through its Bhuvan platform.
PAST GIS AT OSC Posts
- GIS Developments at OSC in 2014 26 November 2014
- Using Remote Sensing Imagery for Teaching & Learning in the IB 26 August 2013
- GIS Developments at OSC in 2012 15 Development 2012
- GIS Developments at OSC in 2011 22 January 2012
- The Home & the World: GIS Developments at OSC in 2010 25 November 2010
- Using GIS in the OSC Geography Curriculum 1 March 2010
REFERENCES FOR GIS TEACHING & LEARNING (2015 Update)
Clarke, Keith. Getting Started with Geographic Information Systems, 5th Edition. Upper Saddle River, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2011. Print. Companion website (password required)
Fox, Lawrence. Essential Earth Imaging for GIS. Redlands, CA: ESRI Press: 2015. Print.
Heywood, Ian, Sarah Cornelius and Steve Carver. An Introduction to Geographic Information Systems, 4th Edition. Essex,Pearson Prentice Hall, 2011. Print. Companion website. Instructor’s Resources.
Harder, Christian. The ArcGIS Book: 10 Big Ideas About Applying Geography to Your World. Redlands, CA: ESRI Press: 2015. Print & Web.
Horning, Ned et al. Remote Sensing for Ecology & Conservation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.
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Jensen, John R. Remote Sensing of the Environment: An Earth Resource Perspective. Upper Saddle River, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. Print.
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Keranen, Kathryn and Robert Kolvoord. Using GIS and Remote Sensing: A Workbook. Redlands, CA: ESRI Press Academic, 2014. Print. Web link.
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Palmer, Anita et al. Mapping Our World Using GIS: Our World GIS Education. Redlands, ESRI Press, 2009. Print & Online Resources.
