EERace 19

Environmental Education Race (EE Race) is an annual programme held in the Heart of Borneo (HoB) districts in Sabah. It is a brief course for teachers around Sabah, organized by Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC) under the Sabah Forestry Department and together with many government and non-government organizations. The aim of the programme is to provide first hand experience in environmental issues, especially in HoB areas; featuring 80% outdoor activities, participant-centred learning, group effort, and interesting environment-related assignments. This time around, the focus is given to teachers who are Assistant Principles of Curriculum in schools around Sabah.

This year on 5th of September, EE Race 19 once again chose BSBCC as one of the pit stops for their race. At BSBCC, the participants were given a pre-assignment where they were required to guess which animal is the Sun Bear. After that, they were given a short presentation on the roles of BSBCC and its efforts in Sun Bear conservation. Then, bears were observed from the observation platform. Their next task was to test participant creativity and team work in creating enrichments (Ginger leave balls and Paradox sticks) using only natural materials. The final task was to get inside of one of the rescued bear's empty cages and act like a bear. The purpose of this activity is to allow the participants to experience how it feels when bear welfare is not provided. Before ending their activities in BSBCC, the participants were asked to answer a Kahoot quiz to test their understanding on the entire activity they had experienced as related to the four main objectives of BSBCC - Welfare, Conservation, Education, Research.
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It was great to see how cheerful the teachers were and how much fun they had with the activities. We look forward to the next EERace!​