Heritage trails go high-tech

App sends site-specific info, queries to enhance students' experience

By Stacey Chia, The Straits Times, 31 May 2012

SCHOOL trips to learn about Singapore's past are about to get more high-tech.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) yesterday launched a new mobile programme to teach students about Singapore history, geography and social studies.

Called the Interactive Heritage Trails programme, it will be available from next month to students from primary school to junior college.

The new initiative was introduced by Education Minister Heng Swee Keat yesterday at the inaugural Humanities Educators' Conference at Raffles Institution.

Mr Heng said the programme would help students develop a greater appreciation for the humanities, as their study becomes increasingly important in a globalised world.

'Our students need civic literacy, global awareness and cross-cultural skills so that they can interact with people of diverse backgrounds with confidence and empathy,' he told about 1,000 humanities teachers and speakers at the two-day conference organised by MOE and the National Institute of Education.

With the help of 12 schools and other partners, the humanities branch at MOE identified seven heritage trails, among them the Fort Canning and the Kampong Glam trails.

Schools were also roped in to create activities for the trails.

The mobile application, designed by partner vendors for school use, recognises user locations, and will send site-specific information and questions for students to answer.

For instance, on the Chinatown trail, images of old buildings may be sent to the students' device, provided by their schools, to help them visualise how the place looked in the past.

Using a programming tool designed by the Infocomm Development Authority, Clementi Town Secondary School created two trails of its own - one that explores sites in its neighbourhood, such as the Clementi Fire Station, and another for the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.

The tool is available free for a year to the first 300 schools that want to create their own educational trails.

Clementi Town Secondary 3 student Jadie Tang, 15, said she is looking forward to taking her classroom lessons outdoors.

'The questions help guide us to think about what we see on a deeper level,' she said.

Speaking to reporters after the event, the minister said the humanities were as important as the sciences.

He said: 'Both the sciences and humanities are important for our students. I hope that parents will also place an emphasis on this important subject.'