Training Teachers and Students to learn Hands-On, Heads -On and Hearts-On.

My reflections on early childhood led me to an incident where my dad had bought me a fascinating magical toy. I took the toy apart in an attempt to understand how the magic worked and never was able to put it back again in the original condition so that was the end of my toy. So all my life, I have got the "itchy" Hands syndrome. I never really understand something unless I get my hands on it. The first official school I was posted to SMSS Sekolah Menengah Sains Selangor was a fully residential premier science school. Here they had 6 fully equiped science labaratories. They had the apparatus to conduct every single experiment and activity found in the textbooks. It was very good for me as here I received proper excellent hands-on training in conducting science experiments. My next school SMK Padang Tembak was a day school surrounded by Malay villages, police quarters and migrant settlements.In all honesty and without disrespect in any way, the majority of the students came to school more to socialise than to study.There was no way to get their attention unless.... they had fun learning via experiments, activities and competitions. We did many fun competitions; who could hold up the tallest inverted container filled with water without the water spilling out; who could support the most weights using a suction pump, build the best water rockets etcetera. We certainly had hands-on and hearts-on fun times but the cognitive heads-on learning was more challenging. But when ICT came in to the Malaysian schools system, the kids created beautiful and interesting personalised powerpoints that had slides showing them conducting the experiments and activities as well as the explaination needed to score the marks for the examination. It was here I saw how the hands-On learning engaged the heart and finally the heads-on cognitive learning clicked and they experienced learning in all 3 aspects of pyschomotor, affective and cognitive.And so through the next 2 schools and post retirement, I realized teaching and learning the entire human being with the hands-On, Heads-On and Hearts-On skills to be more meaningful.

During the pandemic, implementing this via Zoom seemed challenging but I had some happy times still. I was asked by Jimmy and Wee Lai of Starfish Foundation to purchase scientific lab apparatus and equipment for SK Methodist Kapit. It took some time and effort to source the apparatus and send them to Kapit. I decided to also purchase the lap equipment for my own use in my house since i could not go down to Kl to borrow lab apparatus as be fore. I did several sessions online with SK Methodist Kapit Science teachers.

Somehow I find great joy in teaching in this style ad the response of the learners are very encouraging.

January 2023. I decided to go island hopping from Semporna in Sabah with Loo Kee in December as I had an air ticket that had to be redeemed before 15th January 2023. It was however with some trepidation as I was just recovering from a left knee injury. Soon after, an invitation to teach 1 day in Tawau Vision School came as I had taught them last year in January 2022 via Zoom. There was even more trepidation. I prayed and asked friends to pray that I continue to recover and would have the strength to teach 2 slots for students and 2 slots for teachers. I was fearful that if the pain struck me, I would spoil the trip for Loo Kee and also I would be unable to do the program in the school. My redeemed ticket allowed me a baggage limit of 35 kg. It was great as it allowed me to bring in about RM3500/-++ worth of science apparatus ( paid for by the school) in a big red suitcase as it was difficult for them to purchase apparatus in Tawau. The weight was more cause for trepidation but I heard God's reassurances. Two boys from Tawau Vision school met us at the Tawau airport and ferried the lab suitcase so I did not have to handle the bulky suitcase anymore in our travels to Semporna 106 km away. God has certainly been faithful. I did not need to wear any knee braces during the 6 days despite doing 6 snorkeling sessions a a fair bit of walking. I only used my TENs machine once on the last night.I used the Eli cream when needed only. We saw 3+ 6+2 turtles in the 7 islands hopping! The last day was the Tawau training. It started early with Chuu Wei picking me up at 6.15 am. I am amazed and happy at how God 'adjusted and steered' each session. The physics slot was ' shortened' because the Powerpoint I saved was truncated but the timing was perfect. The science slot was ' lengthened' as there was no LCD in the lab so we focussed totally on the 15 teachers learning hands-on, heads-on and hearts on skills. I was most concerned for the teachers session as we had teachers from primary, secondary n international section. Also apart from their diverse backgrounds, I had a very short time ( 45 mins) because I had to rush for my flight back. God gave the idea to get the science teachers ( 4 groups) to demonstrate 4 different experiments to the other teachers. Normally that takes a longer time for people who have just learnt the skills ( from 12 - 2.30 pm) to demostrate ( 2.45 - 3.30 pm) but they knew my time constraints and they sportingly, quickly and happily demonstrated what they just learnt and we all enjoyed the ' students- teachers centred ' approach. When I unpacked my bags last night, I found a delightful thank you card from Tawau Vision school. My lab apparatus suitcase - empty of apparatus - was now filled with seafood goodies - gifts from the school.