Raising Awareness on Endangered Amphibians Lite

Our first meeting

Our first meeting with the zoo was on January 30th. We discussed many things at the meeting. There, we met the 2 Assistant Curators of the Education Department who were Ms Maggie and Ms Heather.

Firstly, we discussed the leap day of the year, which was for announcing the commencement of the International Year of the Frog activities. We made an agreement to get Raffles Voices, the name of the choir of our school, Raffles Institution, to croak a song to the tune of “The Rainbow Connection”. This was a novel attempt for the Raffles Voices. Therefore, we had to seek the approval of the teacher-in-charge before being able to give a definite answer.

Next, we discussed what we could do during the March holidays to raise public awareness to save the frogs. There were some March holiday events and we could get some people from our school for roles as facilitators. All of us agreed readily to help out on the spot and agreed to ask the teacher- in-charge of the Interact Club to find some additional manpower for manning the booths for the March holiday activities. The names of the booths were Frog Origami, Face Painting, Call of the Frogs and Salamander Dance. We were supposed to help to find 10 people for each of the 4 booths. The services of the Art Elective Programme students of our school was also requested, as one of the booth require face-painting and we need ‘professional’ painters to help us. Of course, these games were not only for fun. These games aimed to teach and educate the public about amphibians and the dire situation that amphibians are in now.

Frog origami - we tried to show that frogs can jump very far
Face painting - frogs can be in different colours
Call of the Frogs - varied croaking sounds for different species
Salamander Dance - there are other amphibians other than frogs such as the salamanders

Finally, we discussed a frog kit that the zoo had requested us to help them out with. It will include Frog games, and animations for use in classes, as well as the following:

A video consisting of interviews we have done
An educational game named “Bob the Frog Hop”. This is played in the same way as a renowned game “Breakout” where the player is supposed to move the lily pad to prevent the frog from falling into the water, thus making it to the next level by eating all the flies at the top of the screen. The main objective of this game is to prevent the frog from dropping into the water and being eaten by the deadly fishes.
A short video animation in the style of a comic/manga which can appeal to youngsters and grab their attention. The main objective is to teach them about the situation amphibians are in through
Educational worksheets to raise the awareness on the plight of amphibians

Leap Day

After the meeting with Ms. Heather and Ms. Maggie, we decided to collaborate with the zoo to help out in LEAP Day. LEAP Day is the zoo’s launch of the “Year of the Frog”, whereby a short programme was planned and carried out. We were to help by putting up a performance—A Croak Chorale. The croak song had totally no lyrics and it was croaked to the tune of “The Rainbow Connection”. Hence, the five of us decided to get help from our school choir, the Raffles Voices. As a short amount of time was given, we had to seek quick approval from the choir teacher with assistance from our teacher-mentor.

The choir got organized and split themselves according to the pitch and tonality of their voices. The pianist and guitarist for the performance were chosen, and seniors were consulted. Despite our attempt to inject an element of beat-boxing, the idea was soon scrapped, as the song was not appropriate for such an element to be introduced. Our rehearsals turned out to be one fiasco after another, but we slowly pieced the pieces of the puzzle together like a jigsaw falling in place. A day before LEAP Day, we headed for the zoo for a rehearsal there and then. However, after barely one rehearsal could be completed, the rain came. Our spirits were not washed away though, as we continued out practice indoors back in school.

On LEAP day, during the performance itself, we croaked out hearts out, avoiding making flaws and learning from past mistakes. All went well. It was certainly a silly experience for us and the choir, but what we had just done was to further spread global awareness on the plight of amphibians through this little performance put up. It was certainly enriching for everyone.

We have managed to spread the message to save amphibians through a short and silly performance so isn’t it time for everyone to do something?

March Holiday Activities

The March Holiday activities were extremely fun for everyone. We requested for help from our school interact club, a club that consists of students interested and with a passion for community service. As the five of us had to leave for a week-long school learning journey to Malaysia, we had little time to plan out the schedule and manpower allocations. Fortunately, the student president of the Interact Club very kindly helped us to allocate the duties.

As it was not very convenient for us to contact him from Malaysia, we had very little communication with him. However, all went as planned on the first day. There were 4 stations around the zoo, namely “Call of the Frog”, “Salamander Dance”, “Frog Origami” and Face-painting. Each station aimed to teach our young audience a different thing, and at the end of the day, spread the conservation message to them. For subsequent days, the same stations were set up and we learnt a lot from the mistakes made from previous days. Problems were resolved easily and things became more and more successful as the days went by.

It was very heartwarming seeing younger kids enjoy themselves at the station, bringing us helpers back to our younger days. The smiles on their faces will be everlasting in our memories, instilling a sense of satisfaction in us as we went about our jobs for the day.

All in all, the day was wonderful and we learnt a lot from the activities that we carried out. We were extremely satisfied to see the next generation being educated on the plight of amphibians and felt a sense of gratitude as the children walked away, enlightened.

Raising Awareness on Endangered Amphibians
Home	Introduction	Amphibian Analysis	Methodology	Findings	Conclusion	Working with the Zoo	Media

Working with the Zoo Our first meeting Our first meeting with the zoo was on January 30th. We discussed many things at the meeting. There, we met the 2 Assistant Curators of the Education Department who were Ms Maggie and Ms Heather. Firstly, we discussed the leap day of the year, which was for announcing the commencement of the International Year of the Frog activities. We made an agreement to get Raffles Voices, the name of the choir of our school, Raffles Institution, to croak a song to the tune of “The Rainbow Connection”. This was a novel attempt for the Raffles Voices. Therefore, we had to seek the approval of the teacher-in-charge before being able to give a definite answer. Next, we discussed what we could do during the March holidays to raise public awareness to save the frogs. There were some March holiday events and we could get some people from our school for roles as facilitators. All of us agreed readily to help out on the spot and agreed to ask the teacher- in-charge of the Interact Club to find some additional manpower for manning the booths for the March holiday activities. The names of the booths were Frog Origami, Face Painting, Call of the Frogs and Salamander Dance. We were supposed to help to find 10 people for each of the 4 booths. The services of the Art Elective Programme students of our school was also requested, as one of the booth require face-painting and we need ‘professional’ painters to help us. Of course, these games were not only for fun. These games aimed to teach and educate the public about amphibians and the dire situation that amphibians are in now. Frog origami - we tried to show that frogs can jump very far Face painting - frogs can be in different colours Call of the Frogs - varied croaking sounds for different species Salamander Dance - there are other amphibians other than frogs such as the salamanders Finally, we discussed a frog kit that the zoo had requested us to help them out with. It will include Frog games, and animations for use in classes, as well as the following: A video consisting of interviews we have done An educational game named “Bob the Frog Hop”. This is played in the same way as a renowned game “Breakout” where the player is supposed to move the lily pad to prevent the frog from falling into the water, thus making it to the next level by eating all the flies at the top of the screen. The main objective of this game is to prevent the frog from dropping into the water and being eaten by the deadly fishes. A short video animation in the style of a comic/manga which can appeal to youngsters and grab their attention. The main objective is to teach them about the situation amphibians are in through Educational worksheets to raise the awareness on the plight of amphibians Leap Day After the meeting with Ms. Heather and Ms. Maggie, we decided to collaborate with the zoo to help out in LEAP Day. LEAP Day is the zoo’s launch of the “Year of the Frog”, whereby a short programme was planned and carried out. We were to help by putting up a performance—A Croak Chorale. The croak song had totally no lyrics and it was croaked to the tune of “The Rainbow Connection”. Hence, the five of us decided to get help from our school choir, the Raffles Voices. As a short amount of time was given, we had to seek quick approval from the choir teacher with assistance from our teacher-mentor. The choir got organized and split themselves according to the pitch and tonality of their voices. The pianist and guitarist for the performance were chosen, and seniors were consulted. Despite our attempt to inject an element of beat-boxing, the idea was soon scrapped, as the song was not appropriate for such an element to be introduced. Our rehearsals turned out to be one fiasco after another, but we slowly pieced the pieces of the puzzle together like a jigsaw falling in place. A day before LEAP Day, we headed for the zoo for a rehearsal there and then. However, after barely one rehearsal could be completed, the rain came. Our spirits were not washed away though, as we continued out practice indoors back in school. On LEAP day, during the performance itself, we croaked out hearts out, avoiding making flaws and learning from past mistakes. All went well. It was certainly a silly experience for us and the choir, but what we had just done was to further spread global awareness on the plight of amphibians through this little performance put up. It was certainly enriching for everyone. We have managed to spread the message to save amphibians through a short and silly performance so isn’t it time for everyone to do something? March Holiday Activities The March Holiday activities were extremely fun for everyone. We requested for help from our school interact club, a club that consists of students interested and with a passion for community service. As the five of us had to leave for a week-long school learning journey to Malaysia, we had little time to plan out the schedule and manpower allocations. Fortunately, the student president of the Interact Club very kindly helped us to allocate the duties. As it was not very convenient for us to contact him from Malaysia, we had very little communication with him. However, all went as planned on the first day. There were 4 stations around the zoo, namely “Call of the Frog”, “Salamander Dance”, “Frog Origami” and Face-painting. Each station aimed to teach our young audience a different thing, and at the end of the day, spread the conservation message to them. For subsequent days, the same stations were set up and we learnt a lot from the mistakes made from previous days. Problems were resolved easily and things became more and more successful as the days went by. It was very heartwarming seeing younger kids enjoy themselves at the station, bringing us helpers back to our younger days. The smiles on their faces will be everlasting in our memories, instilling a sense of satisfaction in us as we went about our jobs for the day. All in all, the day was wonderful and we learnt a lot from the activities that we carried out. We were extremely satisfied to see the next generation being educated on the plight of amphibians and felt a sense of gratitude as the children walked away, enlightened.




Team Crazy Frog. Thinkquest 2008