About

Guided learning is a self-regulated and self-directed learning project. Through the use of PPMR (Plan, Perform, Monitor and Reflect), students will get to experience self-directed learning in carrying out their own project, with the guidance of learning facilitators and mentors.

My project is about obesity in domestic animals, and I organised a web seminar in order to educate pet owners in my school or even the public about the prevalence and prevention of this issue in Singapore. I chose to take up a guided learning project instead of GS2 to gain the opportunity to collaborate with other organisations outside of school, as well as gain an enriching experience through initiating a project on my own and working it out.

For the past year or so, the topic of animal obesity has really stood out to me as I started to learn more about animal health and nutrition in my course. As an animal lover without a pet, I often ask my friends to send me photos of their pets, and more often than not do I end up seeing animals that are much larger than they should be. Tying this in with my clinical experience in TP Animal Wellness Clinic, I had done a research project on hydrotherapy, and have discovered through much research that one of the most common groups of patients are obese animals, who have been riddled with health problems due to their condition. Thus, I thought that it would be meaningful to carry out a project that could raise the public awareness of this very prevalent issue in order to educate pet owners and help their pets lead healthier, happier lives.

As for why I wish to held a web seminar, apart from sharing the knowledge that I have learnt with others, I also wanted to overcome one of my biggest fears, which is to speak in public. I am a shy person by nature, and thus it was actually really difficult to decide that I wanted to take this up, however after much thinking I decided that it would be too good an opportunity to pass up, and that I could take this time to learn how to speak better and hopefully feel more comfortable presenting to larger audiences in the future, thus I decided to host a web seminar on canine obesity.