Every Singaporean a Naturalist
(ESN)
About ESN
The ESN programme is Nature Society Singapore’s (NSS) flagship citizen science and nature education programme aimed at nurturing hearts and minds for nature, and ultimately lead participants to support advocacy and conservation of the natural environment around us.
We do so by engaging, and providing, opportunities for participants to explore, learn, understand, and grow their love for nature.
One of these opportunities is conservation-relevant biodiversity monitoring which collects islandwide, long term biodiversity data vital to understanding the state of nature in Singapore.
Our Participants
NSS ESN currently works with students and teachers from schools across Singapore through their environment-related CCAs or school programmes. Whilst a majority of the NSS ESN schools are primary and secondary schools, participants range from pre-schoolers to university undergraduates!
Since its launch in 2018, NSS ESN has engaged a total of 62 schools as of 2024.
As the programme continues to grow, NSS ESN plans to expand to the wider community, such that every Singaporean becomes a naturalist!
How schools can get involved
NSS ESN is a multi-faceted programme with various mandatory and optional components designed to:
(i) build capacity and competency; (ii) provide opportunities to put knowledge and skills into practice; and (iii) provide platforms to celebrate achievements and recognise outstanding performances.
Should your school be keen on participating in our programme, please indicate your interest in the form below! The NSS ESN project officers will follow up with your school via email.
Find out more about NSS ESN mandatory and optional programme components in the sections below!
SCHOOL PROGRAMME COMPONENTS:
Build Capacity and Competency
Student Training (Mandatory)
Equip students with the necessary knowledge and skills to conduct the programme's Urban Biodiversity Monitoring competently.
Trainings are conducted by NSS ESN project officers for schools during their first year, and by respective teachers-in-charge in subsequent years.
Teacher Training (Mandatory)
Mandatory for new teachers and strongly encouraged for experienced teachers, this training brings teachers through the administrative information for the following year and covers the content of the whole programme for teachers to confidently guide their students through it.
Naturalist Chatter (Optional)
The NSS ESN Naturalist Chatter is an online speaker series, which invites subject matter experts to share on a variety of topics, to broaden and deepen the participants' understanding of nature and nature conservation.
Guided Walks & Workshops for Teachers (Optional)
Organised for interested teachers, the NSS ESN Guided Walks & Workshops are platforms for teachers to continually develop their nature knowledge and species identification skills, whilst nurturing their passion for nature and nature conservation.
SCHOOL PROGRAMME COMPONENTS:
Turn Knowledge into Action
Community Engagement
In 2022, NSS ESN began its community engagement earlier than expected, partnering Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) on their Environment & Sustainability Education (E&SE) programme.
NSS was one of many organisations that trained a core group of OBS instructors responsible for developing their nature education curriculum to educate fellow OBS instructors and future OBS participants.
From community groups in the heartlands, to corporates and other organisations across Singapore, should your organisation be keen on participating in the community pilot of NSS ESN, please indicate your interest in the form below! The NSS ESN project officers will follow up with your organisation via email nearer to the pilot date.
Connect & Volunteer with us
Volunteer with us as Nature Mentors!
Nature Mentors are to guide our participants during their monitoring sessions, particularly to help them familiarise with the NSS ESN monitoring methodology and master their species identification.
Follow us on Instagram!
Check out our database on iNaturalist
Visit our biodiversity database on iNaturalist to check out the observations made and uploaded by our participating schools. Find out which species are common or unique!
