Raffles Institution - Sustainability and Green Technology Programme

What Our Subject is About

The aim of the programme is to allow students who are passionate about issues surrounding sustainability and green technology to discover, problem-solve and explore through an interdisciplinary approach, and at the same time understand the challenges and constraints of sustainability, along with the opportunities that come with it.

Through inviting speakers from multiple disciplines to share their take on sustainability, students get a balanced and broad view of issues surrounding sustainability. The enrichment programme also exposes students to cutting-edge (green) technology through learning journeys to explore how industries and organisations move towards sustainable practices. Finally, the programme provides students with the opportunity to learn interactively through hands-on activities and in-class discussions.

What We Do To Develop Students' Interest/Abilities

Our Philosophy
We believe in the head, heart and hands approach to develop our students.

Head
Students will be exposed to key issues of sustainability and learnt some aspects of Green Technology in-house. Students will also be expose to inter-disciplinary or multi-disciplinary thinking so that they can incorporate inter-disciplinary thinking in their research tasks.

Heart
Students will be given the chance to reflect and think about why the issue of sustainability is important to them.

Hands
Through hands-on activities, group projects and competitions, students can get the opportunity to explore how green technology is used in the context of sustainability.

Our Activities

Mock COP summit, where the students role-played as dignitaries from different countries to discuss and come up with a resolution paper on sustainability
Hands-on sessions where students study the urban heat island effect, study how sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT) can help with sustainable practices and how artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used for recycling and learn the science behind fuel cells
Design sprints
Learning Journey such as to the Net Zero Energy Building at the National University of Singapore
Elective seminar, where students are tasked to perform research on a given topic of sustainability and conduct a 50 min session to educate the class about what they have researched in through their presentation and facilitated activities
Sustainable City Capstone Project, where students consolidate what the students have learnt about the strengths and limitations of green technology and the constraints and trade-offs surrounding their use to achieve sustainability. Students will need to design a poster that explains how they plan to make the city they have chosen more sustainable and to model or prototype a key green technology that will enable the city to become greener

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Capstone project: Designing a Sustainable City

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Talks by Industry Experts

Sus_Picture3_activities Hands-On Activities

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Visit to SDE4, Net Zero Energy Building

What Our Students Say

"I learnt that there are many dimensions to tackling an issue, not just the scientific aspect but social and economic and political etc. as well. I learnt how technology can be leveraged on to build even better solutions and innovations (the machine learning lesson) and i also learnt how individuals can play a part in recycling and contributing to a culture of sustainability in SG"
- Vivien, 2022 batch

"I thought that sustainability was a very grand ideal which only people like ministers or policy makers consider. After this enrichment program, I learnt that everyone plays a part and that calculating the next move a country makes is a complex decision which requires much consideration."
- John, 2022 batch

"I like the number of opportunities it has provided me with and greatly expanded my knowledge about green tech and sustainability. I entered not even knowing what carbon capture was. I liked how it let me view issues from various perspectives and allowed myself to see how Singapore and other nations are trying their best to implementing such green solutions, rather than just complaining that the “government isn’t doing enough”. I understand now that there are many barriers to overcome before a solution can be implemented."
- Adriel, 2022 batch