Embedded Files
Distinctive Pedagogy
Beyond See-Think-Wonder
The 'Beyond See-Think-Wonder' framework empowers students with a thinking routine to scaffold geographical analysis of photographs, aiming to enable students to translate their photo observations into writing independently. Scaffolding questions were designed with the guidance of the Universal Intellectual Standards of Thinking and Paul's Wheel of Reasoning.
This project was sparked by the common problem Geography teachers across different levels have been facing — students lacking the skill to make analytical observationso f photographs which are crucial in making relevant inferences in Geography. The department conducted diagnostic test and continuously pilot tested and redesign the framework through application to classroom teaching at various level.
The 'Beyond See-Think-Wonder' framework won First runner-up at the Innovation Day 2021 and was well received at the 2021 RVHS Pedagogical Excellence Academy symposium.
Lower Secondary
The syllabuses are framed by the theme of 'Sustainable Resource Use and Management' underpinned by the overarching concept of 'sustainability'.
Secondary One
Thematic Question 1: How Can We Sustainably Manage Natural Resources?
Topic 1.1: Water
Topic 1.2: Tropical Rainforest
Economic development and population growth require natural resources. Water (Topic 1.1.) and tropical rainforests and mangroves (Topic 1.2) provide people and societies with the essentials for life and other useful materials. However, there are concerns about environmental degradation and its subsequent impact on people and inter-generational equity as the pace of resource extraction today may compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Secondary Two
Thematic Question 2: How Can We Sustainably Build Cities?
Topic 2.1: Housing
Topic 2.2: Transport Systems
The study of cities assumes central importance within discussions of sustainability because the trend of global urbanisation remains unabated. The number and size of cities in the world will only increase, thus increasing people's demand for natural resources as cities are associated with a high consumption of goods and services and densely built landscapes. With growing populations, cities will need to anticipate and find ways to maintain a high quality of life for their inhabitants.
Upper Secondary
Secondary Three
Cluster 1. Geography in Everyday Life
Geography is more than a world knowledge. Geographers make sense of their everyday lives and the world around them by viewing it through a ‘geographical lens’ or concept. Concepts introduce the diversity of ways to think geographically and investigate using geographical methods, the connections and relationships between places and spaces. Learning Geography is to engage mentally with questions about people, society, environment, and the planet. Geographers studying sustainable development explore how people attach values to the environment and consider people’s varied responses to sustainability challenges in context.
Cluster 2. Tourism
Tourism is a complex and multi-dimensional phenomenon that is best understood as a system. Tourism activity consists of flows of people and goods and services between places. These flows are interdependent, existing within a wider system. Tourism benefits and harms people and nature across different scales. As places are unique, sustainable tourism development cannot be achieved using a one-size-fits-all approach. Strategies to benefit from tourism and solutions to address problems caused by tourism would need to be adapted to suit different contexts.
Cluster 3. Tectonics (cont. in S4)
Plate tectonics theory describes and explains the spatial patterns of tectonic phenomena. It unified different explanations of natural phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanoes, synthesising evidence collected by scientists from different parts of the world. The distribution and occurrence of earthquakes and volcanoes is closely associated with tectonic movement. By understanding how disaster risks vary across places, communities living in areas prone to tectonic hazards can better prepare for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, which is essential for sustainable development.
Cluster 3. Climate (cont. in S4)
Climate change is not new. Earth’s climate has changed in response to the varying amounts of energy from the Sun and the evolving atmospheric composition. This has occurred over timescales ranging from millions to hundreds of years. Today, changes in the climate have been exacerbated due to anthropogenic activities. The climate system is part of the natural system that is interconnected with the human system. Hence, changes in one part of the system affects another, impacting people and nature. Climate action could build our resilience to the effects of climate change, but it requires active participation from many stakeholders.
Secondary Four
Cluster 4. Climate
Climate change is not new. Earth’s climate has changed in response to the varying amounts of energy from the Sun and the evolving atmospheric composition. This has occurred over timescales ranging from millions to hundreds of years. Today, changes in the climate have been exacerbated due to anthropogenic activities. The climate system is part of the natural system that is interconnected with the human system. Hence, changes in one part of the system affects another, impacting people and nature. Climate action could build our resilience to the effects of climate change, but it requires active participation from many stakeholders.
Cluster 5. Singapore
Singapore’s natural and human characteristics may present vulnerabilities, yet it continues to be resilient as a small island city-state today. Being interconnected to geographical phenomena occurring regionally and globally, Singapore faces challenges and opportunities because of events that take place locally and beyond, in different sectors and at different scales. Singapore’s ability to thrive and progress in the future would depend on its success in building resilience in all sectors and recognising the factors that would affect its desires to achieve sustainable urban development.
Geographical Investigation
Why do Geographical investigation?
Geographical investigation (GI) is integral to learning Geography and reflects the importance of inquiry. GI provides students with opportunities to:
carry out a more student-directed geographical inquiry, and participate in fieldwork, as students are required to go beyond the classroom to actively look for and gather data to address the inquiry;
apply and transfer what they have learnt from their geography lessons to a real-world issue;
be assessed more holistically in terms of a wider range of geographical skills; and
develop the skills and attitudes to work individually and collaboratively in groups as students are required to complete both individual and group components.
Each topic is designed with an accompanying GI. Students work in groups on one selected GI, a year.
Water (Sec 1)
Students will explore and learn about a water store through the application of the GI stages. They will uncover how people’s actions and the natural environment affect water quality, how people’s use of a water store is affected by its water quality and how people’s perception of their roles in managing a water store affect its use and water quality. In striving to sustainably manage the water store, students will reflect on their past actions, develop solutions, and take actions to maintain or improve water quality to support natural ecosystems and people.
Inclusive Housing Exploration (Sec 2)
Students will explore and learn about living in a neighbourhood through the application of the GI stages. They will uncover why certain features in a neighbourhood are used more than others and how the provision and use of these features impact the environment and the people living there. By considering the impacts of these features and their related activities on people living in the neighbourhood and the environment, students will recommend sustainable solutions, and take actions to maintain or improve people’s quality of life, and the quality of the environment.
Tourism Investigation (Sec 3)
Students will explore and investigate the characteristics of a tourist site through the application of the GI stages. They will uncover how the motivation, ability and mobility of tourists may be influenced and affected by these characteristics, in the tourism system. This allows students to better understand the interactions between demand and supply of tourism, and be able to recommend improvements so as to boost the tourism industry in Singapore.
Micro-climate Analysis (Sec 4)
Students will explore and investigate the microclimate of the school, and its influencing factors through the application of the GI stages. They will uncover how the microclimate of various sites (i.e. temperature, relative humidity and wind speed) in RVHS differ and infer reasons that lead to these differences based on their understanding of the site characteristics. By understanding how the microclimate of the school is affected by various factors, students can begin to consider how Singapore's environment is also largely affected by the urban heat island effect, and suggest some building solutions to facilitate more efficient cooling of our urban environment.
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