Integrated Humanities and Social Sciences Camp

“Singapore’s policy objectives towards its challenges have not changed since independence.” This statement was the subject of intense group discussions, in-depth analysis, research and presentations by Year 3 students during their 3-day Integrated Humanities and Social Sciences camp this June.

The aim of the camp was to get students to apply what they learn in the classroom to a real-world task, and to assess their ability to understand concepts, think deeply, discuss and present clearly their group’s perspectives. It was also a novel and innovative mode of assessment as opposed to the conventional examination paper. The camp will be an annual mainstay in the curriculum for all Year 3 students.

“The camp provided a conducive environment for us to really focus as we had to do a group presentation and individual essay based on a research question in three days. The programme was very structured and we were properly guided as we had scheduled consultation sessions with our teachers,” said theatre student Nicholas Tee.

As part of their research, the students made field trips to the Singapore Tourism Board, Internal Security Department and the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau to gain insight into Singapore’s economic, environmental, political and social policies.

They also met and interacted with several distinguished speakers including Kelvin Tan, Deputy Director for Enterprise Development in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Chong Jun Hien, a biologist with the Public Utilities Board, Aaron Maniam, Deputy Director at the Strategic Policy Office of the Public Service Division, and Farid Hamid, a freelance consultant and principal trainer with Ithaca.

Working in teams, students got a real feel for the challenges and pressures of managing a project, giving them a taste of what university and work environments are like. Dance student Iswarya D/O Jayakumar shared that the camp was an experience that helped develop in her a deeper level of maturity in academic thought and nurtured her focus and self-confidence.

“I am very impressed with the courage and reflective way the students shared their views and questions. It really made me proud to see young men and women… 14-15-year-olds… speaking their minds like that. Quite inspiring really,” remarked Mr Farid Hamid.

Mr Aaron Maniam added that he was very hopeful about the calibre of students SOTA would produce, and looks forward to the contributions they would make to Singapore.