PROGRAM CELIK ASTRONOMI DI MUZIUM KOTA TINGGI REFLECTION REPORT
On 19th April 2019, UTM Astronomy Club had organized a two-days-one-night Astronomy Youth Camp in Muzium Kota Tinggi, Johor. UTM Astronomy Club was a platform that allow students from UTM who were fascinated in the exploration of outer space to get in touch with this related knowledge as well as giving them an opportunity to make an effort on promoting Astronomy’s interest to others. Participants who joined in this camp were all primary school students that study from one of the primary schools in Kota Tinggi. Around forty of them had participated in this youth camp. The main objective for this camp was to motivate and to cultivate their interests toward Astronomy subject starting at an early age by providing them some necessary knowledge on how to use an Astronomical equipment like different types of telescopes and giving them a chance to observe the constellation in the night sky. Astronomy is the science that explains everything happening in the universe and this is essential for the youths to harness their curiosity, imagination and sense in shared exploration and discovery. Despite from that, the reason for choosing museum as the event venue was to encourage youths to visit a museum in order to let them understand more about the history related to Kota Tinggi. Museums had played an integral role in preserving the history of our society, and it should not be left out by the communities, especially for young people.
I was a member in UTM Astronomy Club and had been joining as one of the committees for this camp under my service learning’s program. I played a role in working as a bureau chief and was responsible in taking charged on one of the activities during the camp. Meanwhile, my main job scope during the camp was to guide and take good care of the participants during the event since they were all underaged students. Dr Othman, lecturer advisor of Astronomy Club was the coordinator of the camp. For committees, we worked as the “turning wheel” for the whole event starting from planning, promoting to executing were all done by us.
In the first day of the camp, committees had to reached the museum 2 hours earlier than the actual event time for preparation works. We had to finish all the set-ups such as arranging chairs, bedsheets and food preparations before the participants arrived. Participants were assisted to register themselves in front of the register counters in order to get their respective group number. There was a total of 7 groups and each of the committees had to be in-charge for one of the groups as the Person-In-Charge (PIC). The first activity of the day was to bring the students around to visit the museum. Muzium Kota Tinggi was a museum located in Kota Tinggi Town and was constructed in 1997. Since this museum was about the history of Johor Sultanate, it had a modest collection of old artefacts, photos, ceramic and display of knives from that centuries in the display room. All the activities devised on the first day were more likely to be in learning-based. Such as talks given from our lecturer advisor, exhibition related about planets and experience sharing from a few senior stargazers. The most highly-expectation activity of the day was during night time where participants were allowed to use different telescopes for stargazing under the guidance of our senior stargazers.
On the second day, committees had prepared a few mini games and competitions for the participants to played where all of these games were designed to suit the purpose and objectives on cultivating astronomical knowledge to them. Game-based learning played an important role in teaching by making students to collaborate, communicate, interact and work in teams in order to solve some astronomical problem. The camp ended up with a closing ceremony as well as price giving session for participants who won in the competitions.
The Astronomy Youth Camp was held with great success. No accidents or unexpected situations occurred during this camp session. All planned activities had been conducted in a timely manner. Students had also shown their satisfaction and pleasure with the camp as they joined well in all the activities with great interest.
I believed that this was the first time for me to plan an event with 3 different races of committees. It was a great experience in collaborating with them as the whole working atmosphere was in a joyful yet efficient mode. This could be because different people of different backgrounds brought in new ways of thinking and ideas that allow team members to improve their idea generation which in turn letting us to work more efficiently in accomplishing our task. They were warm-hearted and willing to lent me a hand whenever I need their help. Although we came from different racial and ethnic background, but we worked as one heart in order to run this camp with great success. Especially when it came to language, I was not that fluent in talking Bahasa Melayu where by the time majority of participants were Malays. I was facing an issue while trying to communicate with them fluently but luckily Samithra, my group’s partner was there to help. Both of us were the game coordinators for the game, “You Draw I Guess”, Samithra in charged of giving instructions to the participant while I worked on the preparation works for the game. The game was conducted smoothly without having any accident.
During the camp, most of my time was to look after the primary students in order to make sure their safety. This reminds me of the time when I was still working as a part-time kindergarten teacher during my holiday break. With this, I had experience on handling with the kids by guiding them along as I knew that it was my responsibility in helping them to grow and kept them safe. With my past teaching experience, I had developed the right level of patience while dealing with them and I also built a strong foundation on understanding a kid’s emotional, social, physical and mental development. In the camp, we always encountered situations where our patience was tested by the kids. They always played around or even ran up and down in the museum. This was a dangerous act especially when we were in a place where various of fragile items were furnished around. But I understood that children need opportunities to be involved in an abundance of social experiences, where they could explore and practice more on their social skill of patience. Instead of scolding them, I chose to advise them by telling the worst situation would happen if they insisted to continue with their misbehaviour acts. Fortunately, they were willing to listen to my advice. This shown that positive interactions with children were essential in order to promote a positive, healthy and secure view of themselves.
I realise that team spirit is an essential key point in making an event to be conducted successfully. I am grateful to be able to cooperate well with my teammates. We often have meetings together to discuss about the details and preparation works for the camp. We also solve problems together in order to reduce one’s burden. I remember by the time I was having trouble on transportation, other committees suggested to spend some of the event’s fund on bus rental to ensure committees who do not have their own transportation can also arrive to the event venue safely. For me the most significant aspect from this camp is I get to learn how to use a telescope for stargazing which this is something that I had never experienced before. This is my first attempt on using a telescope to observe the Moon and I am obsessed with it.
In the end, I am glad that I was being able to be part of the team in organizing this meaningful event. A special thanks to our lecturer advisor of UTM Astronomy Club, Dr. Othman who is always at our back to support us. This event has giving me an opportunity to enhance my leadership skills, teamworking skills and thinking skill when I was in the camp. This is also a great experience for me to interact with people from different racial as well as from different age. I used to be a person who is afraid of meeting new friends or doing something I have never done before. After this event, I am proud to say that I have finally stepped out from my comfort zone as well as overcoming my fears. This is a great start for me and I knew that I will not just stop at this point as I will always bare in mind with all the experience I gained from this camp and apply it to my future. I am so grateful to all the efforts given from each of the committees in making this camp possible for the kids we interact with. Hopefully they are heading into the school year with increased resiliency and memories that can last a lifetime.