Learning Experiences From Outside the Classroom – Part 2

Following up on our previous post which was themed on ancient mankind and beginnings of Civilizations comes an experiential learning about food production which forms an important and necessary part of living... On Friday 7^th August, 2015, the middle to senior school students of Jyotirmay International School got to see a real field while on a rice plantation field trip. 

Students discovering the adventures at the Durshet field trip!

Located off the Mumbai Pune Highway in District Raigad, this field trip at Durshet packed a few surprises for everyone as it included a forest trek, adventure thrills and farming techniques.

On the Tarzan Swing!

Organized by Pugmarks Eco Tours, this outdoor learning experience gave our students a chance to walk through a forest of deciduous teak and Flame of the Forest trees before reaching a Tarzan Swing which they used to leap over a small pool.

More challenging adventure came with the thrilling Zip Line jump which helped some of the children lose their fear of heights as they came down a hillside on a rope slide in an exhilarating flight!

Finally our school students and teachers entered the paddy fields after a thorough explanation of all stages of planting, irrigation and the climatic conditions required for rice plantation. They even learned about how farmers work intensively during the planting season and then look for other work to support their families during the off-season.

Joining the farm hands in planting rice saplings

With rain pouring down during the actual planting of rice saplings, the students got a good understanding of the hard work and man power which goes into our food production. 

Singing festive songs during cultivation and harvest is part of our culture

This experience also introduced them to various festivals linked to agriculture which forms an important part of India’s culture. 

Discovering the thrills of a new sport

Yet more adventure followed this hands-on learning experience with expertly guided and much enjoyed rappelling activity at the Durshet Farm’s waterfall. 

All smiles and joyous faces!

Following a sumptuous lunch the children had even more fun splashing about in the river to 'clean up' under the waterfall and the day’s outing ended with a treasure hunt which turned out to be an exercise in organized team building. 

Searching for clues in the nature - on a treasure hunt

What was expected by all to be purely an educational field trip turned out to be just as much fun with some seriously important learning in team work, confidence building as well as the process of rice plantation packaged together which the children and teachers found thoroughly enjoyable.