NO STONE UNTURNED Change is a constant that N Sivasothi (Science ’92, ’97), a biodiversity lecturer at the Faculty of Science, thrives on. By Jen Sie Yin N Sivasothi wears many hats. A known blogger who goes by the handle Otterman, Siva is an biodiversity instructor at the National University of Singapore, a rabid cycling enthusiast, a history buff, a committed environmentalist and a devoted cat owner – to name just a few of his personas. Describing this multi-faceted polymath is no easy feat. When asked what, if any, the common thread running through his myriad interests is, Mr Sivasothi says it is being a good communicator. “I like communicating, explaining and expressing myself,” he says. “My personality is that of facilitator: I can accommodate many viewpoints, and that helps when trying to find solutions.” To Mr Sivasothi, impatience is a virtue. If something needs fixing or addressing, he gets his hands dirty to set the problem right. He has a long record of using technology,
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namely mailing lists and blogs, to rally friends and volunteers to ponder solutions to issues, and to effect change. “Being an ecologist has been beneficial – it helps me serve as advocate and facilitator for the many causes and interests that I’m involved with,” he says. “Ecology conveys a systems view of looking at things. This is critical to solving problems and making changes, as it exposes you to the many factors you need to examine to address an issue or to make a change.” After working as a researcher for 10 years at the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, Mr Sivasothi went into teaching in 2007. Teaching has allowed him to mould the next generation of biology graduates, whom he feels, for all their enthusiasm and eagerness, need proper guidance. “Our students have had very sheltered upbringings in controlled environments,” he explains. “This isn’t conducive when you are trying to learn about ecology and environmental biology. So I’ve had to make changes to how students are taught biological science. We’ve gone about structuring a flexible, nurturing and fluid learning environment: we give them open-ended missions; we instruct them to go out and deal with uncontrolled environments, and we create opportunities for them to experiment.” While Mr Sivasothi and his colleagues have taken a laissez faire approach to learning university-level ecology, he says they constantly face the drawbacks of Singapore’s education system. “Honestly speaking, the students are always tired,” he says. “NUS is still relatively new to the modular system – during my time we only had to sit for a semester-end exam; that meant we had time to learn, explore
and experiment and make mistakes. The trouble with this [modular system] is that the students always have an assignment deadline every few days. So they’re only always concerned about grades and getting through assignments, and aren’t too bothered about having philosophical discussions.” But this lecturer is nothing if not inventive. He counters the aforesaid limitation by inducing a stimulating, creative and conversational learning environment for his students. “I requested for wireless microphones, and I use that while teaching,” he explains. “I engage and interact with my students and get them to converse and communicate their thoughts and ideas – there’s no ‘wrong’ answer; your opinion is your opinion.” He also appreciates being handed complete academic freedom to run a gamut of differing approaches to teaching. Although he is now a teacher, Mr Sivasothi still keeps close tabs on the goings-on at the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research. After all, exciting times await the museum as it morphs into the much-anticipated Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (NHM) in 2014. “The most popular of all the Smithsonian museums at the National Mall in Washington D.C. is the Natural History Museum – by a mile! It goes to show how much people love nature and biology, and a museum of this nature is always going to be entertaining and
“Do something! If you don’t, then what’s the point? No point regretting it later.” N Sivasothi, a biodiversit y instructor at the National Universit y of Singapore
exciting,” he projects. “If you have a decent, well-run facility, people will flock there in numbers and hopefully we can integrate the programmes with what’s being done at school. There is definitely a dearth of biodiversity and ecology in our education system. They learn about vertebrates and insects at primary school and not much else after that in the biodiversity field. “So much so that you have students turning up at university and asking, ‘What is a barnacle?’ It’s pretty tough to do biology if you’ve not seen or learned about plants and animals. Hopefully, the NHM will change all that.” Mr Sivasothi adds that if he has the skills and is passionate about something, he will always try and change the things that are lacking. “If our libraries were bad, I’d be an activist for reading and books, but our libraries are phenomenal, so I don’t need to get involved in that sphere,” is the example he gives. The multi-hyphenate also conducts regular “tours” or outings, one of the most popular being the annual walk along the Southern Ridges to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Pasir Panjang on 13 and 14 February 1942. For him, it’s the perfect opportunity to marry his passion for history with his expertise on biodiversity, as the walk takes in one of the most ecologically sophisticated corners of the island. Mr Sivasothi is also the local coordinator for the International Coastal Cleanup. He leads groups of volunteers to clean up coasts and catalogue their finds. The fortysomething, who is married without children, champions the “Get out there and do it” approach. To him, this is life’s most important lesson. “Do something!” he exhorts. “If you don’t, then what’s the point? No point regretting it later.”
APR–JUN 2012
Photo by Kenneth Choo
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