PETALING JAYA, 7 July 2018 – The Sg. Penchala at Taman Persekutuan Bukit Kiara was transformed into an outdoor water laboratory for 21 students from SMK Sultan Abdul Samad through physical, biological and chemical river water experiments via the Salcon Smart Water Programme (SSWP).
SSWP is an educational programme for primary and secondary school children which is organised in collaboration with Water Watch Penang (WWP) which advocates hands-on science learning. The aim of the SSWP is to move the lab from the school to nature so that the students can enhance their understanding of lessons from textbooks to applied and practical learnings.
Students were taught to conduct hands-on water experiments during the programme. Amongst the interactive activities carried out is physical water testing, which is the process of monitoring the water flow rate, clarity, color and smell.
Apart from that, students also get to apply various scientific theories which they had learned back at school. For example, the chemical experiment where students were guided on monitoring the alkaline and acidic levels within the river water and identifying different kinds of organisms living in the river which is an indicator of the river’s health level.
Pn. Suhaila, teacher of SMK Sultan Abdul Samad said: “We are truly impressed by the programme as it brings to life the knowledge which the students learn in school. I believe this platform has certainly provided a clearer picture for our students on the importance of water conservation.”
Ms Chern Meng Gaik, General Manager of Salcon Berhad said, “This programme has been running for 8 consecutive years with the objective to inculcate awareness on water conservation amongst youths. Through our hands-on educational approach on water savings and keeping our river clean, the programme becomes more impactful to the students and we hope that they will in turn, pass through the message to their friends and family members through positive changes in their daily life with regards to smart water use.”
Meanwhile, Fatin Batrisya Bt Ibrahim, 17 years old student from SMK Sultan Abdul Samad had fun in learning in-depth knowledge about water testing methods and had a chance to see and touch the living organisms caught by herself from the river for the first time.
Salcon measures the effectiveness of the programme through a pre and post water knowledge evaluation. The evaluation result has shown that the students’ understanding on water knowledge has increased significantly after conducting the activities by themselves.
To ensure the sustainability of this programme, Salcon launched the Train-the-Trainers(TOT) programme since 2012 which involves teachers from different schools coming together to learn to conduct the river programme by themselves. Since the inception of TOT programme, the number of students benefiting from this programme has significantly increased. To date, the programme has benefitted more than 40 schools and 2,300 children and has garnered good support and response from teachers and students. The next Train-the-Trainers Programme will be conducted on 28 July and 17 November this year.