Category: School Trips

Creativity: Day 3 SAISA Art

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Summary of SAISA Day 3:

 

Day three of SAISA art was our final day in Jordan. We began by celebrating the art we had created in our workshops on day 2. My group embroidery displayed our artwork by hanging them up on a wall down in the auditorium. Each of the participants also had to create an artist statement, which is similar to an artistic intention, which we often create in visual art. We got to see what the other workshops produced. I found the printmaking group particularly interesting, as they combined several techniques to create a print of the citadel, a landmark we visited on day one. After admiring each other’s art, everyone went into the buses to Mount Nebo. Mount Nebo is where Moses was granted a view of the promised land, before his death. From the landmark, you can see the dead sea, the west bank, and Jerusalem. We had lunch at Mount Nebo. We then attended a mosaic workshop, in which we were able to see how mosaics were made in Jordan. The owner of the mosaic store gave all students a 30% discount on all products. 

 

We then visited several Christian churches. My personal favourite was the Church of St John the Baptist. This church had a large clock tower which you could climb up to with ladders. Additionally, there was a tunnel system underneath the church. After visiting the churches, we had a farewell meal at a restaurant that served a variety of local dishes. We arrived back at ACS at around 6 pm. Since our flight was for 1 am, we got permission to spend 3 hours at the Taj mall beforehand. 

 

At 9:30 we left for the airport and slept in the check-in aisle as our flight had been delayed. We arrived back at OSC at 5 pm after 2 flights and a layover in Doha.

 

Learning Outcomes:

 

#1 Identify your strengths and develop areas for personal growth.

#2 Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.

#5 Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.

 

Photos of SAISA Day 3:

Front of the Church of John the Baptist
Front of the Church of John the Baptist
Inside of the bell tower of John the Baptist Church
View from the bell tower of John the Baptist Church
Mosaic Workshop
Venue of the farewell meal

 

 

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Service: Trip to the International Water Management Institute

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Summary:
Our service, Recycling and Sustainability aim to reduce OSC’s ecological footprint. In order to develop new ideas, and further reduce OSC’s ecological footprint, we went to the IWMI headquarters in Sri Lanka, to learn more about how waste is managed, and turned into a useful product. Since the headquarters were about 200 meters away from our school campus, we took a short bus ride there and talked with Dr Pay Drechel. Our group was comprised of key members of our service group, the DP1 and 2 chemistry and biology students. We were given a comprehensive interactive presentation on different ways IWMI, large cities, and Colombo, deal with waste management. An interesting thing I learned during this presentation, was how wastewater is converted into protein through the use of black soldier flies. Which are fed to fish and livestock. Or how cleaned wastewater is used to irrigate crops.

Dr. Pay Drechel Giving a Presentation to the Group of Students Image Credit: Ian Lockwood


CAS Learning Outcomes:
#1 Identify your own strengths and develop areas for growth.

6# Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.

Creativity: Day 2 SAISA Art

cascoordinatorCreativity

Day Two of SAISA Art

 

Day two began with a buffet breakfast at the Rotana Hotel, in Jordan. We left for ACS at 8am. At ACS we split into our workshop groups. I was in embroidery because I wanted to explore a media I haven’t tried before. Other workshops included photography, graffiti, printmaking, stencils, geometric artwork, watercolor landscapes, and portrait drawing. We spent around an hour for the first half of the session practicing different stitching patterns for embroidery. We learned 5 different stitches which we could implement into our final piece. After practicing we went for lunch. Lunch was free and produced by four different food trucks brought onto campus. They served shawarma, falafel, hot dogs, and a type of fried dessert. During the lunch break, I also went over to the ACS spirit store, and bought ACS merch. There was also an open mic during the lunch time, when the ACS rock band performed numerous songs. There were also other activities during lunch, such as making a sand bottle, getting henna, playing various games, and learning Dabke. 

 

After the lunch break we continued with the embroidery. We had around an hour to finish our final piece. Which was not enough time for any of the members to finish their work. After our session, our group worked on a collaborative sculptural piece. The piece consisted of 10 wooden pieces, and we each got a piece to paint. Afterwards the wooden pieces would slot together to create a sculpture. 

 

We finished at around 4pm. Afterwards, OSC, and one of the other SAISA schools went to a mall for a few hours. After the mall we went to Beit Sitti. Beit Sitti means “grandmother’s house” in which a grandmother taught us how to make several different dishes. We made a type of biryani, and a salad. We were also given the recipes, so that we could recreate these dishes at home. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel, at around 9pm. 

 

Learning Outcomes: 

#2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.

#5. Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.

Embroidery creations
Assembled Collaborative Projects
Beit Sitti Cooking
The Boards for the Collaborative Sculpture
ACS Rock Band Performing During Lunch

 

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Creativity: Day 1 of SAISA Art Jordan

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Our journey began on Wednesday morning, Sri Lankan time, when all 6 of us took a bus to the airport. We flew from Colombo to Doha, to Jordan, arriving at around 7 pm Jordanian Time. When we arrived we were greeted by the ACS’s head of activities who gave us all SAISA Art shirts, bags, and ACS student IDs. 

 

Day 1:

The first official day of SAISA art began when we arrived on ACS’s campus. We were greeted by the whole high school, as we walked from the entrance to the underground auditorium. The head of activities and the secondary principal gave speeches to the whole SAISA Art group. We split into groups, and OSC was grouped with AISD and TAISM. As a group, we visited the Citadel, National Gallery, and the Hashmi Murals. The Citadel is a stunning archaeological sight, in downtown Jordan. Atop a hill, there is an amazing view of the city. The structure of the citadel is around 4000 years old. At the citadel, we focused on refining our photography skills, aiming to capture unique angles, and interesting subjects. After the Citadel we went to the National Gallery, which was comprised of two buildings. In each building, we paired up and analysed different pieces of work. The second building featured interactive and modern art, such as a room that lit up when you took a breath. Afterwards, we went to the Hashmi murals, in downtown Jordan. These murals were painted on the sides of residential buildings. We were given a tour of these murals by a local street, and hip-hop artist. Most of the murals had political or social messages hidden within. After the murals, the whole SAISA art group combined for the Jordan National Museum which featured a wide range of historical artefacts. After the day officially ended, our group headed to the Taj Mall, to get dinner. We ended the day at 9 pm, when we arrived back at our hotel.

View of city from the Citadel
Citadel
Photograph of a building’s roof, at the Citadel
One of the Hashmi Murals
One of the paintings in the Jordan National Gallery

 

Sculptural Installation in the Jordan National Gallery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Week Without Walls: Day 4&5

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Summary: Day Four

Day four of WWW was easily one of the most exhausting days. After breakfast, we headed off into the forest on several hour hikes. While the hike was not necessarily long in distance, it was a lot more challenging because of the roots, rocks, and mud obscuring the path. We stopped off at a rock face, where we saw pitcher plants. Plants that are designed to trap and dissolve insects who fall into their base. We continued on our hike, we arrived at a large opening where 2 waterfalls connected into a larger creak. In some of the various rock pools, there was the same skin eating fish, we encountered the day before. After spending about an hour exploring the open area, we headed back to camp. On the hike, we saw several species of frogs and insects. We saw the “first plants” on earth. 

Sunset on day 4 of Week Without Walls.

 

Summary Day Five:

Our final day began with an option bird walk. After breakfast, we packed up our rooms and headed down in the jeeps down the steep and narrow cliffside. On the bus we slept, edited photos, wrote reflections, and snacked. We stopped at the service station for lunch, where I got a finely seasoned subway sandwich. We arrived back at school around 4:00.


Sri Lanka Blue Magpie, spotted in the afternoon, day 5.

IB Learner Outcomes: 

#4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences. The hike we did in the forest was a clear demonstration of perseverance. The hike took several hours, and we had to cover uneven and rocky terrain. 

 

 

Week Without Walls: Day Three

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Day Three: 

Day three of my week without walls adventure began, as usual, with a 6:00 wake up. We spotted a rather large peacock perched in a tree, the warm morning light hitting its feathers. Straight after breakfast, we departed off to the rainforest ecolodge. Our second location for our down south trip. However, there was a slight issue, as our large 20 person buses could not make it up the windy narrow hillside roads, so, we had to disembark our enclosed and ACed buses to enter some open-top jeeps for the remaining hour of the trip. It was a huge climate shock to be in the cool humid hill country, com0ared to the dry and hot environment we were in before. On the way up we stopped several times to admire the vast view of the valley, from the cliff sides. We also noticed new wildlife around us, including several deer crossing signs. 

 

After making it to the hotel alive we had lunch and got our room sorted out. At 4:00 we headed into the rainforest in search of “fish therapy” where a certain species of fish eats the dead skin off your body. The fish were a lot larger than I experienced. Some fish were easily bigger than my thumb. The feeling was nothing like I had experienced before, it was the strangest sensation. We finished off the day with an incredible 3-course meal.

 

IB learning Outcomes: 

“Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences” Today, by trying new activities, such as hiking in a rainforest, taking jeeps up a steep mountainside, and putting my feet into skin eating fish, I demonstrated commitment to CAS experiences. By putting myself outside of my comfort zone I was able to experience new adventures.

Week Without Walls: Day Two

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Day Two Summary:

Day Two was easily the most action-packed day of the whole trip. We woke up at an early 6:15 and started our day with a comprehensive bird watch, accompanied by tea and biscuits. Straight after breakfast, we set off to Sithulpawwa. When we arrived at the parking lot we were greeted with boars, an elephant and a sambar deer, all of which seemed comfortable around humans, and were searching for food. We hiked up to the temple which faced a large portion of the untouched Yala national park. We continued exploring caves that contained statues of the Buddha, and bats. We had to hike up to visit the second temple. It was not easy as it was mainly on rough terrane, and rock sides. We saw several birds on the way down, including a crested serpent eagle. 

After visiting the temple, we made our way to Bundala national park, mainly known for its birdlife. We saw hundreds of birds, and some endemic, endangered and rare birds. Here is a list of some of the most memorable birds:

  • Blue-tailed bee-eater

    Group Photo after Hiking up Sithulpawwa
  • Crested Serpent eagles
  • Painted storks
  • Whistling ducks
  • Osprays
  • Water Cocks
  • Egrets
  • Yello waddled lapwings
  • Spoon Bills
  • Open Bills
  • Great thick-knees
  • Water Hen
  • Black Headed Ibis

At 6:00 when the park closed we headed back home, arriving in time for dinner. After some downtime we did another night walk, this time going even further. We stopped to gaze at the stars and the sounds of nature. 

 

IB learner Outcomes:

I demonstrated that challenges were undertaken and that I developed new skills. Hiking up to the second temple at Sithulpawwa, was very exhausting, as it was a steep climb, and in mid-day dry Sri Lankan heat.  I learned new skills in photography, being out in a national park in a jeep, allowed me to experiment with different techniques and allowed me to improve my photo-taking skills.

Photos I took at Sithuupala and Bundala:

Week Without Walls: Day One

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Whistling Ducks & Ducklings

Summary of Day One:
Part of the OSC experience is WWW, Week Without Walls, where we take learning beyond the classroom. I participated in the “Down South” trip. Where we explored the south of Sri Lanka, in two different locations, Back and Be

yond in, Kahandamodara, and Rainforest Ecolodge. We departed for Kahandamodara at a reasonable 9:00, significantly later than some of the other WWW groups. We arrived at Kahandamodara just in time for their infamous rice and curry. After some downtime, we ventured over to an estuary. On the way, we passed plenty of birdlife, including whistling ducks and ducklings.

Playing the game “Kings” at the Estuary

We were not allowed to go swimming into the estuary, because of strong currents and the possible threat of saltwater crocodiles. However, that did not stop us from having fun playing in the sand, dipping our toes into the warm water and admiring the vibrant sunset. We also spotted several birds of prey soaring over us, and some smaller birds foraging for insects in the sand.

After dinner, we went on a night walk. We searched for whatever amphibians and insects were lurking in the night. We learned several tips and tricks on how to take good night photos, by changing lighting, exposure time, and angle. We tested our newfound skills in photography on some lizards, and spiders we spotted.

 

IB Learning Outcomes:

The main IB Learner outcome that was targeted on our first day of WWW, was #1: “Identify your own strengths and develop areas for personal growth”. On the first day, I was able to identify my strengths with photography. The day posed different opportunities for me to identify my strengths in photography, such as seeing those whistling ducks. I was also able to identify some areas I wanted to focus on. After taking some close up photos of insects during the night walk, I wanted to improve my abilities to do so.

Another learner outcome that was targeted was “demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively”. During the night walk, there was a lot of collaborative work, such as spotting insects, providing lighting, and giving advice on camera angles. The collaborative work allowed us to take more and higher quality photos of the animals we spotted.

Kithulgala Hydropower

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Within November 2021, our grade went on a 3 day IB orientation trip to Kithulgala. We combined the typical IB orientation trip with a science component. On Thursday, our second day at Kithulgala we explored the science aspect of the trip.

For the first part, we visited a small local hydropower plant. This was an interesting experience because we were able to see all the concepts we studied in physics, in action. We were fortunate enough to view the 2 turbines generating 2,000 kW of power. We asked one of the local technicians about the specifications of the turbines, such as the head height, and flow rate, which are essential to the generation of power. We later used this information to calculate the efficiency of the turbine, which we discovered to be about 80%.

On our way down to the bus, we stopped at a large hydropower dam being built for a hydropower plant several kilometres down the river. It was fascinating to see the same properties of the small scale hydropower plant, at a large scale. We used some of the information we were able to observe and research to calculate the potential amount of energy the large power plant could generate.

After lunch, the science groups separated and the physics group set off to generate our electricity from a small turbine we placed under flowing water. We did several experiments to determine the effect of head height on power generated from 2 different turbines. We found that the Pelton wheel turbine produced a lot more power than the Francis wheel, it was about twice as efficient. We used our data to calculate the potential maximum amount of energy we could generate from our water flow. And we calculated the efficiency of our turbines, which was about 1%, which is expected if you look at the number of inefficiencies within the system.

Our exploration into hydropower was aided by our trips to hydropower plants, and our investigation into the effects of flowrate and head height on power generation.

IB Orientation Trip

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Summary:
In November 2021, our grade went on a 3 day IB orientation trip to Kithulgala. We combined the typical IB orientation trip with a science component. We arrived at Kithulgala ready for action, we went straight from our bus to the river where we did some group river activities to warm up. After going through some introductions, we went whitewater rafting along Sri Lanka’s best whitewater rapids. There were 5 main rapids in total, and the final two were exhilarating, as we ducked for cover, trying not to fly out of the raft.

Once done with our rafting expedition, we hiked within the forest to the canyon for lunch. Our next adventure was the canyon. We were first briefed on safety then plunged right into the action. We slowly worked our way down, sliding, crawling, swimming and jumping. We were each given jobs to aid each other along the way, such as instructions, and grabbing people out of the water. Our adventure down the canyon made our grade even closer as we developed trust amongst ourselves.

After successfully making it down the canyon in groups of 4 we floated down the river to Borderlands camp, where we would be resting. We got to experience sleeping in nature, with nothing but a mosquito net separating us from the wilderness.

IB Learner Outcomes
During this trip, I achieved several IB learner outcomes. The main 2 beings; 1, demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process. And 5. Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively.

IB Learner outcome #2
The IB orientation was challenging, both physically and mentally, and we were all put out of our comfort zones. An example of where a challenge was undertaken, and I developed new skills would be the jumps at the canyon. I was challenged mentally to jump from a height into a narrow area of water. However, I persevered and moved out of my comfort zone.

IB Learner Outcome #5
One main skill I developed during the trip was working collaboratively. Throughout the entire trip, every activity relied on group work, and most of the activities would not have been possible without teamwork. Within the canyon, without working collaboratively, It would have been a lot more challenging, and dangerous for us. During the trip, I worked with different people and learned skills revolving around group work.