Anubhav for Class VIII

ARAVALI MOUNTAINS, MOUNT ABU - the Outdoor Lab:

The outdoor lab chosen for Class VIII is a beautiful valley near Oriya village, adjacent to the Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary, part of Aravali Mountains in Rajasthan. Aravali is considered to be the oldest of all the mountain ranges in the whole world, spread over the length of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana. This mountain range is the source of water for many rivers and it harbours a number of wildlife sanctuaries including the famous Sariska.

The campsite is located approximately seven kms from the Nakki Lake, far from the madding crowd. The campsite is very close to the dense forests and offers a range of geographical features, topography, flora and fauna in addition to diverse terrain suitable for the outdoor learning experience. With the availability of elements like oldest rocks, a fine forest with hundreds of birds and animals, Mount Abu offers a living laboratory to the students.

Learning Possibilities:

Environment is what surrounds you and the surrounding can be inspirational. To make the students more aware about their surrounding and the elements of environment different modules of activities would be introduced. A “plant module” will tell them about how to observe tress and classify them – trees, shrubs, herbs, grasses and climbers; functions of roots, leaves, stems, flowers and fruits; role of trees in maintaining the water cycle; role of flowers, their various colours and fragrance; need to grow more trees and finally the real value of a tree other than the obvious commercial timber value.

Mount Abu and the campsite is blessed with more than a hundred species of birds. Students will have an interesting time with the birds and they would be engaged in identifying few of them, knowing about the role of birds in ecological balance; importance of study of birds-ornithology; migration of birds etc.

Environment issues are becoming serious talk of the planners; decisions makers and no citizen can ignore the problems of dealing with one’s own immediate surroundings. Once the students become aware of the concepts like rainfall, types of forests, the human pressure on forest and other natural resources, they can be oriented towards the more serious issues related to the environment like damage to forests, cutting of trees, over grazing, infrastructure development like roads, communication, dams.

A visit to the nearby village followed by a discussion inviting the student’s attention to the way of life in villages, their day to day requirements and their dependence on the surrounding should make them more aware about the prevailing social values and then they should be able to compare their own way of life and social values

It is very common among youngsters to expect and get excited about big animals like bears, leopards etc in a situation like Abu forests, especially when they trek through. Such situation would be utilized as a ‘moment of teaching” and they would be oriented to the concept of wildlife that it is not restricted to big animals but even the small and tiny insects also belong to the diversity of wildlife. A conscious attempt would be made to divert their curiosity to the smaller creatures like termites, beetles, ants, worms etc. In fact once they accept this fact, they would be able enjoy the forest and surrounding in full and understand what is joy of living with nature and will start appreciating all forms of life.

Oriya and the surrounding near Mount Abu give an ideal situation to take up the connection of Mind and Body. An early morning meditation on the rocks that are weathered through millions of years by the life supporting elements like wind, water and sunrays can guide the youngsters to the self-search. It also can be the right opportunity to tell the students about the difference of being religious and being spiritual.  They should be aware of their inner strength and should be able to differentiate between a religiously oriented people from a spiritually aware person.

Getting rid of fear of failure, motivation towards fixed goals, self-confidence and success in life, sense of achievement…all these can be taught and experienced through adventure activities. Special sessions on adventure activities like Rock climbing, rappelling, fly over etc would be conducted and the same would be interpreted. These activities are not only exciting for the youngsters but help them to come in terms with various situations in life.

Image Gallery Class VIII