OUMH1603

BACHELOR OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT WITH

HONOURS

Semester January / Year 2021

OUMH1603

LEARNING SKILLS FOR 21ST CENTURY

TABLE OF CONTENT
NO CONTENT PAGE
1 INTRODUCTION
2 CONTENT
PART A

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PART B

PART C

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1. INTRODUCTION
For several years, environmental concerns have been a problem. However, despite research,
attention of the media, increased public awareness of environmental issues, initiatives by
environmental pressure groups and international agreements, these are problems that we have
not been able to solve. Our environment is constantly changing and evolving. It have become
clear in the 20th century that mankind is gradually influencing the habitats and
biogeochemical cycles of the world, so much so that our actions are now causing
environmental change that overrides the earth's natural dynamism. The negative effect to the
environment and human health is due to the lack of awareness and negligence among us. As
the world’s pollution increases and the consumption of natural resources per capita increases,
we will have an even greater impact on these environmental issues. (Harris, 2004)

There are two objectives in these assignment. To apply skills from 21 st century in tackling
the environmental issue is the first objective. The second objective, is to address how the 3
key conceptual dimensions in GCED can help in solving the environmental issue. My focus
for these assignment is the environmental issue that is facing in Malaysia.

2. CONTENT

PART A
The environmental issue that I will be focusing in my assignment is air pollution. I am going
to focus on air pollution because it is one of the major problem facing by Malaysia today. The
biggest air pollution outbreak, happen in 2015. When the huge swath of smoke and smog
known as haze had covered most of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. According to a
NASA scientist, the air pollution at that year might be among the worst in history. On that
year, most of the schools were ordered to be closed by the Malaysia government. The
pollution monitoring stations have reported a very unhealthy or almost hazardous levels of
pollution in the capital of Kuala Lumpur.

The haze is caused annually by the burning of forest growth in remote areas by Indonesian
palm-oil producers to clear land for planting. As a result, cities throughout the region
including Malaysia have been shrouded in pollution for weeks, with disruptions to business
and transport. Every year, there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of acute respiratory
tract infections. (JENKINS, 2015)

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Another major cause of air pollution in Malaysia is result of the pollutants from the
combustion of fossil fuels emitted by vehicles. In 2011, the number of registered vehicles in
Malaysia were more than 21 million. There have been a tremendous increase in the number
of vehicle registered. Statistic shows that in 2019, the number of registered vehicle was more
than 31.2 million. That number is very likely to be higher now, and all of those cars are
producing hazardous gases that are harmful to our health. (Danial, 2016)

The increase in population, numbers of motor vehicle, traffic congestion, and number of car
are just a few causes leading to air pollution problem in Malaysia. Air pollution related to
traffic, especially in counties with rapidly growing economies such as Malaysia, is on the
rise. Moreover, motor vehicle user in Malaysia have led to increase in population growth near
to heavy traffic area, indicating that pollution from motor vehicles must be taken into
consideration in their proximity to heavily populated areas. (Ahmad Fadzil Ahmad Shuhaili,
2013)

Photo show the haze in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2015 Joshua Paul—AP from Time

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Part B

URL video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCz6eaEUU9E&feature=youtu.be

In reference to the first video, learners are educated on Global Citizenship Education with the
aim for them to play active roles both locally and globally so as to enable them contribute to a
tolerant, inclusive, secure world and societies. Their responsibility in giving awareness to
society the role of global citizens is of upmost importance. The ultimate aim is to bring about
a better world for us to live in, strongly unite as one and to protect the world from
destruction.
There are three keys conceptual dimensions of Global Citizenship Education and they are
cognitive, socio-emotional and behavioral skills.

Cognitive - In terms of cognitive, learners are to acquire knowledge, understanding and

utilize their ability to think critically about global issues and forge the interdependency
between countries. With this knowledge and awareness on global issues such as economic,
technology and education they can strive to play their roles carrying out their responsibilities
teaching and learning about global interconnectedness in environment. Knowledge can be
acquired by several methods such as formal classroom learning, informal group discussion
and also from the global internet network source of information.

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Socio-emotional - Learners need to develop core positive values such as sense of

responsibility, humanity, attitudes, compassion, optimism as well as social skills that
encompasses acceptance for individuals different from their own to effectively live together.
They should be respectful of individual differences and diversity. These values are important
to ascertain humans are able to live on earth peacefully even though coming from different
backgrounds. The world is still burdened by wars which are still widely spread resulting in a
significant loss of human lives. Wars result from conflicts, hostilities and unsettled disputes
between countries can avoided at all cost if the core positive values are instilled and practiced
by world leaders. Global Citizens need to play the role and take effective steps in eradicating
destructions of life and environment to strive for a peaceful world.

Behavioral skills – The way in which learners act or conduct themselves especially towards
others is an important element in behavioral skills. To be effective and responsible they must
always practice exemplary conducts at local, national and global levels to bring about impact
towards better global changes. Learners need to be creative, proactive and flexible being able
give positive ideas, act in advance and adapt to changes under different circumstances
towards the of making a better, more peaceful and sustainable the world.

URL video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fephtrPt6wk&feature=youtu.be

Part C
In the learning areas of the GCED, there are three main elements. These three elements will
lead to many social, political, economic or environmental problems affecting local and global
issues.

Cognitive is the knowledge and thinking skills that are required for a deeper understanding
of the ever-evolving world. The ignorance of human beings and the lack of knowledge of
certain problems are one of the factors contributing to an environmental issue. People seem to
forget that any action performed by living or non-living objects has a reaction. This aspect
therefore helps individuals to gain more information and the thinking skills or critical
mentality needed to solve environmental issues, such as what causes pollution issues, who is
affected by this problem and how to solve this problem.
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Socio-emotional is an aspect provides us with a foundation in recognizing and acting on the

sense of responsibility to each other. In order to protect our environmental, socio-emotional
aspect needs to be instilled in everyone to create a human being who respects each other. An
example of social-emotional is organizing a campaign related to environmental issues. This
element will a strong bond and connection can be made in order to foster a better future and a
better place to live in.

Behavioral will contribute in the conducting, acting and engagement of the learning field of
GCED more responsibly and effectively on local and global issues for a more sustainable and
peaceful world. It is necessary to act according to the knowledge and theory learned to
achieve a healthy and sustainable environment, as knowledge that is acquired but not put into
action can be ascribed as a fruitless tree. (NAIDU, 2020)