For this activity, I went on a trip from school to Gir national park which is in Rajkot, Gujarat. For the trip, the students helped the endangered wild animals by covering up wells to prevent animals such as Asiatic lions from falling in it.
My role in the activity: to contribute in building a grill/fence that covers open wells.
The learning outcomes that I have achieved:
- LO2 – Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process (the challenges that were undertaken while developing the skill of the creating an object with new types of machines (i.e creating a grill/fence with cutting, and metal-handling machines) are the need of physical (stamina), and mental strength (patience)).
- LO3 – Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience (the projection of the demonstration of the planning to make a grill/fence that covers well for wild animals’ protection has been done by the participants through communication with the location faculty, as well as school faculty on the trip).
- LO5 – Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively (the skill of communication (which makes the working collaboratively easy) has been demonstrated as there was an inclusion of teamwork at many instances which eventually made the goal of making protection for wild animals successful).
- LO6 – Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance (it is evident that the activity engaged the participants into in attempt of solving a global issue (i.e the foreshadowed extinction of endangered animals (i.e Asiatic lions ))).
The challenge division of the activity for me included the difficult communication with the rest of the participants (as I am a new student in the school) which made it difficult to complete small tasks assigned. Additionally, the task of lifting the grill/fence was difficult (even with the other participants) because I consider myself as a little weak, in terms of physical. As I have never done an activity similar the this, overall, it was a tiring job to complete as it not only included physically demanding traits, but also patience, as well as adapting the natural environment because I come from an urban area, and for the activity, I stayed around a totally natural environment which gave me a sense of achieving a hermit’s traits. Overcoming the resistances manifestly included hard work in pushing myself into communicating more by being an active member of the team of the participants, and making an attempt at ignoring tiredness. Overall, it was important to work on my weaknesses for activity to reach the intended success. There was a discovery of a new skill which was hidden in me (i.e welding metal pieces). I really enjoyed welding the metal rods with other participants which eventually made the grill/fence. In future, this skill can be used to help myself build an architectural piece which can hold heavy camera equipment (as my career choice is filmmaking), and save money. The act of holding a new skill makes me temporarily satisfied, which eventually makes me hungry to dig for new helpful skills!
Organising myself for the activity included getting ready with the required materials (welding glasses, and appropriate clothes) for building, and lifting the grill/fence. The aforementioned skill was easy to practice as I am usually organised with my items. Planning, and initiating was difficult at the time of communication due to my weak communication abilities. Due to this activity, planning, and initiating other activities in the future is predicted to be easier than this activity as I have experienced a the planning, and initiating of this activity, and having an experience like this is important as in future, there will be an elimination of a good number of resistances.
The issue of the foreshadowed extinction of endangered animals like Asiatic lions is an important topic that is discussed globally. It is because Asiatic lions are an important part of the ecosystem, and their extinction creates a gap in the the ecosystem as well as the food chain. Personally, this issue made a strong emotional connection with the lions of the Gir, hence building empathy for them. Before engaging in this activity, I did not know much about Gir endangered lions, so I had very less emotional expressions for them, but due to this activity, an inspiration has been created to do kind works like this to maintain a healthy environment for humans, as well as for other animals!
The pictures:
