Chemistry teacher at Camp De Masque State College
Mohun Ujoodha is a chemistry educator as well as a Subject Matter Expert with more than twenty years of experience. He has been a winner of the Innovative Teacher’s Award in 2009 and Bronze medal runner up in the Pan African ITF Awards organized jointly by Microsoft and the Ministry of Education of Mauritius. Mohun was involved in the NEPAD eschool demo project at the African continental level and participated in a number of Microsoft World Innovative Education Forum namely in Brazil(2009) and Seattle(USA, 2011)). Being a certified Microsoft Innovative Educator and Online facilitator, he has a marked interest in the use of technology to support learning although he believes that hands-on activities should be given equal importance. His instructional design skills were made to good use at the Mauritius Institute of Education(MIE) for the creation of Community of Practices on MOODLE platform and Android based Applications for mobile learning.
He is also presently engaged in research studies at the MIE on the outcomes of a model concept classroom, tagged Classe21, in Mauritian schools. Mohun strongly anticipates that this era would be dominated by the constructionist pedagogy or the “Maker Education Revolution”. He advocates that Arduino boards and sensors should imperatively form part of mandatory accessories in new generation Science labs. Mohun is also a social worker as well as a yoga practitioner and privileges to promote values-based education amongst youngsters.
The impacts of climate variability and extreme weather events are becoming a concern to the Republic of Mauritius including Rodrigues, St Brandon and Agalega islands. According to the World Risk Index 2018 report, Mauritius is ranked 16th amongst the most vulnerable countries to climate change and 10th amongst the ones with highest exposure. In line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13 for climate action which requires countries to improve education on climate change mitigation, this project aimed at engaging students of Camp De Masque State College in a number of activities to increase their awareness and resilience to the changing weather patterns of the island.
As an initial part of this project, students were trained to develop their creative thinking skills by manufacturing science based artifacts during their chemistry classes. Thereafter, they were requested to apply creativity in building electronic circuits with Arduino boards and sensors to conduct climate based measurements. Online classes were setup on a Learning Management System(LMS) for out of school practice on coding with Arduino IDE as well as basics of electronic circuits and sensors. Readings of temperature, air humidity, heat index, dew point temperature, rainfall and air quality index were recorded over time and at different locations to follow up with climate change. Preliminary findings showed elevated Heat Index during the months of March and April which may be related to the increased meteorological events over the island. Records in the initial days of May showed a significant decrease in the Heat Index due to the start of the Winter season with lower temperatures. Furthermore, with the anticipated rise of peak temperatures during the summer season coupled with high humidity, it was found that alarming levels of heat index may occur in the coming years in Mauritius. The information were compiled and shared in the school community for further educational interventions.
The importance of maintaining an ecological friendly environment to mitigate climate change was also enhanced by meditation sessions. Students practiced visualization exercises, with the help of a certified yoga practitioner, on respecting the five elements of nature. They were also introduced to the African philosophy of “Ubuntu” and the need to live in a sustainable way to protect planet Earth.
I would like to meet like minded educators who dared to embrace innovative pedagogies in their classrooms. Since I’m an adept of creativity, coding and Arduino circuits, I would be delighted to learn from other colleagues about their teachings of science and climate change with technology. Finally, I look forward to share how the practice of meditation and values based classes should be necessarily included in most climate related programmes. I believe that if we want to live in a truly sustainable world, a shift is needed in all our hearts and minds.