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“Solicitude Towards Oceans” Becomes one of the Credit Courses in The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

“Solicitude Towards Oceans” Becomes one of the Credit Courses in The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

January 5th.2016---Solicitude Towards Oceans,one of the service learning courses in Shantou University,has been held every semester since 2012. Solicitude Towards Oceans also has a co-operative program between Shantou University and universities from Hong Kong, which takes place in winter.Starting from Dec.23 rd to 31st,a Solicitude Towards Oceans winter program was jointly hosted by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,University of Hong Kong and Shantou University in Shantou.It was short yet very successful.

New Study:mapping APP invented by Hong Kong Polytechnic University is used to the protection forThe degradation of serious

On Dec.27th and 28th,the curriculum group went to Suai Bay and Niu Tian Beach to pay an on-the-spot visit and started making respective ecological maps for Suai Bay and Niu Tian Beach.This time, is quite different from the ones held before.The curriculum group used the mapping APP invented by Hong Kong Polytechnic University to survey and mapped the acreage of mangrove area, observed mangrove forest on a rubber dinghy at short distance as well as used aerial photography to complete the task of boundary surveying and mapping.

The curriculum group found that the acreage of mangrove area of Suai Bay and Niu Tian Beach are much larger than expected and the wild mangrove forest still maintains its particular features,like the well developed root systems, vivipary and so on.However, they also found that a large area of mangrove plants are separated with seawater completely.What’s worse,plant density is too high for mangrove plants to grow and the mangrove forest is suffering from serious degradation.

Mangrove forests is of great significance to purify water, protect the coast and maintain biodiversity in the surrounding areas.Thus,it is urgent for us to takes immediate actions to protect and recover the ecological environment of mangrove forest in  Suai Bay and Niu Tian Beach.Through this field trip,students joining this program got to know more about mangrove forest,including its species,growth habits and its importance for human being.Students also got a chance to learn how to make ecological maps and use them.

New Exploration:ocean protection should start from children

”I’m afraid of children all the time.””I don’t know how to get along with them.””Will they cooperate with us?”......When students from this program were assigned a task of arranging classes for children in a kindergarten,many of them felt anxious about it.It was the second time that the  curriculum group  undertook their activities in kindergarten as a way to educate children and promote the idea of protecting oceans.The  curriculum group did a very good job last time,adding more pressure to students who are responsible for activity planning this time.

In the afternoon of Dec.29th,  the  curriculum group started their educational activities at Oxford Wangde kindergarten in Chenghai District,Shantou. The  curriculum group introduced 4 interesting marine animals,penguins, sharks, starfishes and sea turtles,to kids by using a funny PPT and a short clownish play.And then,students of the program guided the kids to paint various color on blank paper-cuts cutting in the shapes of marine animals.The painted paper-cuts were tacked to a background plate decorated as an ocean.The final works was named as “colorful ocean world”.

Finally,  the  curriculum group gave every kid a certificate as a reward.On the back of the certificate,it is a brief introduction to  tachypleus tridentatus.Hopefully,when the kids shared their experience of joining the activities with their parents,they also can convey some information about protecting  marine animals.With a relaxed and pleasant educational atmosphere,the  curriculum group gave them a lesson of marine protection,guided the kids to appreciate amazing marine animals and encouraged them to explore the natural environment around them  actively and independently.In that way,kids tend to be interested about the world around them and have a strong desire to know more about world by forming the habits of using their sensitivity and their hands.Hopefully,kids would realize the close and mutual-dependent relationship between human beings and nature preliminary and form their love towards oceans,nature and living space for all.

The educational activity to promote the ideas of ocean protection has been greatly supported by Oxford Wangde Kindergarten.Right before the curriculum group went there,teacher in that kindergarten had rehearsed a dance accompany with the theme song of our course,Love Is Full of Beautiful Ocean,and taught kids who were supposed to take part in our activity.Ms Zheng Yanhe,the principal of Oxford Wangde Kindergarten,helped the curriculum group to plan their activity,giving our students a lot of information about the characters of young kids and what they should pay attention to.The curriculum group’s hardwork was recognized by the kindergarten.On the sharing session at the end of the program in the evening of Dec.31st,Ms Zheng attended the sharing session surprisingly to give her gratitude to all the students,

New  Pattern:From classes to orienteering

On Dec.30th,the curriculum group set out to Yunao Junior Middle School in Naoao Island to continue their educational activity.Before they went to Yunao Junior Middle School, the curriculum group paid a visit to Guangdong Shaohe Pearl-cultivated Center and World Shellfish Pavilion,Nan Peng Islands National Nature Reserve for Marine Diversity Collection.Students only got the opportunity to feast one's eyes on numerous rare shellfishes and marine animals,but also learned about how to cultivate pearls and the situation of Nan Peng Islands National Nature Reserve.

On Dec.31st,the educational activity for Yunao Junior Middle School was launched officially.All the students from Yunao Junior Middle School,more than 300 students,joined the activity.During the class,the curriculum group gave a brief introduction to students from Yunao Junior Middle School on the general situation of marine territory in China,the maritime consciousness of Chinese,the endangered marine lives,general situation of marine ecological protection and its countermeasures.Classes are varied.Some taught the students to sing the theme song of the curriculum,Love Is Full of Beautiful Ocean,some broadcast the documentary,Ocean,directed by Jacques Perrin,a French director, and some guided students to have a group discussion and extensive interaction on ocean protection.After classes,all the students took part in the  orienteering designed by  curriculum group.Every game in the whole orienteering weaved with the knowledge they were taught in the classes.Students had a lot of fun and had a review on what they had been taught during  the whole process.      In that afternoon, as a special guest,the curriculum group participated in the New Year's Day Gala hosted by Yunao Junior Middle School,The theme of the New Year's Day Gala was"Solicitude Towards Oceans,Caring About Seas, Showing Our Talents and Celebrating New Year" .Students from the curriculum group carefully prepared a quick-answer game,dancing,duet,group singing,chorus etc.,as a way to celebrate the New Year’s Day with teachers and students of Yunao Junior Middle School.Meanwhile,led by the curriculum group, teachers and students of Yunao junior middle school joined an oath-taking ceremony to show their determination to protect the oceans around them.

New Start:Cooperation and Gaining Credits

In the evening of Dec.31st,students and teachers of the curriculum group came back to Shantou University from Yunao Junior Middle School and had a sharing session at Room 406 of building E.”I think Solicitude Towards Oceans did do a very good job in teaching students about service learning.We not only serve for protecting our oceans,but provide educational services to kindergarteners and middle school students as well.We are learning when we are serving.We learned a lot of knowledge about ocean,learned about how to convey our knowledge to others,learned more about teamwork and learned about how to accomplish something meaningful.”What our students talked most are the fresh experience they had in kindergarten,the amazement of the excellent performance of the middle school students during the orienteering,the self-examination about the lack of full preparation because of the limited time and unwillingness to say goodbye to each other. .Wendy Chen,a student from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,said,” This curriculum deepened my impression on ocean and gave me r more experience on all kinds of activities,like one should use different kinds of communication towards different people.What matters most is enthusiasm and devotion.Only when you devote yourself into the activity then others will know about your kindness.All of them are precious experiences.In addition,I  gained precious friendship during the program.Though it is extremely tried when we planned and prepared,we were also very happy!

It is the third time that the Solicitude Towards Oceans is jointly hosted by universities from Hong Kong and Shantou University.Under the great  support of  the Ministry of Education and following the trend of revolution and innovation of service learning courses in Shantou University,universities from both sides can have a deeper cooperation and create a better cooperation mechanism by much.This co-operative program introduced the mapping APP invented by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and moreover,it has been adopted by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University as a credit courses accounting for 1 credit,in common with Shantou University.

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