Virtual Trek in a Sumatran Rainforest

Organised by the teachers and students
of Dhahran School, Saudi Arabia

Project Description:
===============

Twenty-two middle school students and their teacher from an international school in Saudi Arabia went on an exciting two-week trek in a primary rainforest area in Sumatra.

As a Virtual Trekkie, you can learn about the endangered orangutan, "the old man of the forest", and its threatened rainforest habitat. Some Virtual Trekkies have written Rainforest Poems for all to share.

Our group hiked and camped in the Gunung Leuser National Park, visited the Orangutan Rehabilitation Center in Bukit Lawang, whitewater rafted and tubed on the Waupu River, explored a bat cave, and climbed an active volcano in the Bukit Barisan Range. We also visited the schools, homes and villages of the fascinating Batak people, joining them in song and dance, then boated, biked, and hiked around their traditional homeland, Samosir Island in Lake Toba, one of the largest and deepest lakes in Asia.

Sumatran Rainforest Trek

Project Objectives:
==============

(correlated to National Science Education Standards)

to involve students in a genuine science inquiry, focusing on the endangered orangutan and the rainforest.
to involve students in long-distance learning via telecomputing on the Internet as well as a local BBS;
to make science tools, media, and technological resources available to students.
to promote the concept of the student as an involved citizen both locally and globally;
to inspire students to take responsibility for the learning of all members of the community.
to foster co-operative group dynamics and interactions across disciplines and grade levels.
to respond to student diversity and to encourage all students to participate fully in science learning.
to enable students to engage in extended investigations
to identify and use resources outside the school
to enhance the professional growth of colleagues through participation in the planning and implementation of an active science inquiry.

Curriculum Connections:
===================

Our students engaged in an extensive pre-trip study of the rainforest as an ecosystem and the orangutan as an endangered species.

They examined the problems facing both the system and its species, trying to understand the root causes, and exploring positive actions that they can take to make a difference now.

Orangutan

We decided to make the focus of our inquiry the human impacts on the ecosystem, specifically the effects of transmigration, new towns and roads, farming practices, livestock raising, logging and mining industries, as well as ecotourism.

In order to gather information that might not be readily available to our virtual audience, we decided to use the person-to-person interview as our method of field study.

There are curriculum connections in almost every discipline and across most grade levels. We wrote journals, videotaped and photographed, and carried out a few scientific field investigations that were easily done with the limited resources available to us (water and soil samples, surveys of flora and fauna that we were able to identify).

You can read some experiences in this same rainforest written by the students of the International School of Lhokseumawe.

We interviewed Sumatran students, children, teachers, tour guides, park rangers and naturalists, orangutan carers, craftsmen, hotel clerks, local farmers, villagers, transmigrants from Java, plantation managers, local government officials or village chiefs, and local and foreign tourists.

Our group welcomes greetings, questions, suggestions, encouragement, and criticism and are trying to help our Virtual audience, whether it be a kindergartener or an adult, to enjoy the rainforest trek with us.

Click here to see the discussion topics that have arisen as a result of this trek.

We took a laptop computer and modem with us and connected wherever possible from the field.

We will post more records of our experiences upon our return to Saudi Arabia and encourage interested Trekkies to continue correspondence with our group.

Timeline:
=======

November-December, 1996-

Schools registered to participate in the Virtual Sumatran Rainforest Trek.

January 1- March 25, 1997-

Thank you for sending questions, suggestions, comments, encouragement and criticism to our group and we are doing our best to respond.

March 30- April 14, 1997-

Our group trekked in the Sumatran rainforest and visited the local Batak people.

April 15- June 1, 1997-

Trek of 1996 at Lake Toba

Our group will follow up with photoessays published on KIDPROJ of their experiences as well as any personal correspondence or commitments with individuals or classes subscribed to our project.

We invite our Virtual Trekkies to share any creative writing on topics relating to our experience with us and the KIDPROJ audience.

Thanks a lot for your collaboration!
Bill Cason (with Mike Gordon and Barbara Dolden)

Dhahran School,
Saudi Aramco,
Dhahran,
Saudi Arabia

It is estimated that

an acre of rainforest is destroyed every second!

We hope you will join us to find out why!

The contact for this project is Bill Cason, Dhahran School, Saudi Arabia.

There are also many schools studying Trees and Forests during 1996 and 1997 and you can link to their progress reports or join their project by looking at :

The International Trees and Forests Project

Information Contact: Patti Weeg, Title 1 Computer Teacher, Delmar El. School, Delmar, Maryland, USA. Home Page: http://www.intercom.net/local/weeg

KIDPROJ WWW Contact: Grant Dougall, Educational Consultant: Technologies, Saskatoon Board of Education, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, CANADA. Web Site: http://198.169.140.21/

KIDLINK Home Page

KIDPROJ Page

KIDS-97, the KIDLINK name and associated logo are service marks of the KIDLINK Society.

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HTML Coder for this page : Judith Bennett, Sydney, Australia
This page was last modified 21st April, 1997

Virtual Trek in a Sumatran Rainforest

Organised by the teachers and students of Dhahran School, Saudi Arabia

Project Description: ===============

Sumatran Rainforest Trek

Project Objectives: ==============

Curriculum Connections: ===================