It has been a week since my exams ended. I have studied the following modules for this Sem 2009/2010 Semester 1.Oh , I am so not looking forward to exam result release on 22 Dec.
GE 2229 Water and the Environment (Breadth Module)
LSM 2101 Metabolic Pathways
LSM 2102 Molecular Biology
LSM 2251 Ecology and the Environment
ST 2238 Introductory Biostatistics
GE2229 seemed to be an easy module. I mean after you have studied all the technical terms, the concepts are easy to understand as they relate a lot to our daily lives. Who will have thought that water falling on top of a tree and going into the ground can be described by using "interception" and "stemflow"? No field trips for this module though. However , I went together to the prof, though one Saturday morning, together with a few others to the World Water monitoring day briefing at the Kallang river. What is that you may ask? Basically, you are given a kit containing pH and dissolved oxygen tablets, water turbidity and temperature. This stuff is good for measuring water quality on a very cheap budget. however , it is very "primitive" compared to the equipment in the Geo Lab. =( I will take the latter given a choice =).After that briefing, it is only the matter of finding a waterway to measure.
After the "3/4 term test", she invited us to tag along with her the following Monday to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.(Lectures were on every Wed). Having too much time to kill, i went with her. It turned out that it was a graduate field trip for a graduate module. ( I didn't do O or A level Geography and i skipped to taking university geography modules for breadth). Basically , we met after lunch in the Geography meeting rm. Only four students in the graduate module (3 geography and one life science). After that, we were on the way on the Geography van to Bukit Timah. After that it was one whole afternoon of field practical work on field techniques. I guess it was the only chance i get to handle geography apparatus. (usually for the usual practical sessions my group mates handle the apparatus while i usually take down results) We learnt the usual field techniques ranging from:
1. ways to measure slope angle and distance
2. measuring soil compactness.
3. measuring canopy cover.
4. usage of a currentometer to measure water current rate (mentioned in lecture class but that day was the only chance i got for hands on practice)
5. measurement of water turbidity using a turbiometer.
Overall, not a wasted afternoon. It is very useful just in case i need to do fieldwork for UROPS (drats Only people with CAP> 3.0 can do but my CAP is 2.89) or Honours project.=) And we saw quite a fair bit of wildlife: giant millipedes, long tailed macaques (can be seen in the car park), drongos and colugos Nice!!=)
And i saw that if i am going to do field biology for a living, i need to be more fitter physically. LOL =) The Jungle Falls slopes were the most tough.
Anyway, after the field trip, we had roti pratas at the nearby hawker stall. That is obviouly one perk about during fieldwork in Singapore. Civilization is never too far away. Gee, graduate school is so much fun...I want to go there =)
Well, that is I have to say for now. I think I will continue my chronicles of my life science major modules at another time. =)
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