Virtual Booth

Primary school pupils often encounter difficulties in understanding ecosystems due to the complexity and abstract nature of concepts such as animal interactions, food chains, and ecological balance. Many students resort to rote memorisation rather than achieving meaningful comprehension of how organisms coexist and rely on one another within an ecosystem. To address this challenge, an innovative instructional strategy—the Ecosystem Diorama—was introduced, grounded in the Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA) framework. Through this approach, pupils engage in hands-on construction of ecosystem models to visualise food webs, species interactions, and environmental interdependence. The learning experience is further enriched by card-based games, which incorporate game-based learning to enhance conceptual understanding. A supporting webpage offers continuous access to digital resources, enabling pupils to reinforce their knowledge at any time. This action research project examined the effectiveness of the Ecosystem Diorama in enhancing ecological literacy among primary students. The issue was identified through classroom observations, interviews, surveys, and pre-tests. The innovation was implemented in four schools across Malaysia, involving 126 pupils from Year 3 to Year 6. Initial findings show notable improvement in pupils’ ability to explain ecological relationships and transfer their understanding to new situations. The Ecosystem Diorama fosters active learning, critical thinking, and deeper conceptual grasp, offering a promising model for engaging and effective Science instruction.