A Field trip gives the students educational experiences away from their regular school environment. Moreover it is filled with fun, friendship, and learning and exploring. As a part of ISA Activity on Rivers, we went to a dam which is 126 kms away from our school called Pocharam Dam in Medak district of Telangana state. The map and the satellite image of the area is given below.
This dam is built on the Alair stream, which is a tributary of river Manjira, which is in turn a tributary of river Godavari, one of the major rivers of India. The length of the dam is 1311 m and the catchment area is 621 sq.kms. The Full Reservoir level is 446 m.
Students got to test the waters. They walked through the length of the dam, recorded their observations and listened to their teachers’ explanations of the features of the dam and the river. Some of them made sketches of this beautiful location. Some of them interviewed the fishermen and some brought the river water back to school to test the pH value. We spotted Herons, Pied Kingfishers, Cormorants, Painted storks and many ibises.
With the lack of sufficient rainfall from past 3 years, the water in the dam was very less and most of it looked polluted. With the land experiencing a kind of drought situation, most of the farmers gave up farming and resorted to fishing in these waters. The lake was knitted with fishing nets and the water did not look clean at all. As most of the surrounding area is dry, there is nothing much happening in this place and the place seems to be used by some for drinking hide outs. We could spot some beer bottles, plastic wrappers and bottles thrown in some places.
The students captured this experience with their cameras to prepare short documentaries and filled up their ‘Field trip journals’ with loads of information and pictures. These will be updated shortly on their blogs. On the way to this place, they had even visited one of the biggest landmarks, the Medak church, one of the biggest churches of Asia. They had even witnessed the ‘Mission Kakatiya’ project of reviving the ponds and lakes of the villages started by the government of Telangana. It was indeed the most memorable trips for this year!
Activity description
1. The students were briefed upon the importance of Dams and Hydroelectric projects on the river with the help of interesting videos like ‘How Beavers build Dams’ and ‘The top 15 most biggest dams in India’
2. The students were explained about the functioning of the hydro electric project with the help of a animated video on the same.
3. As the trip to hydro electric project did not materialise due to certain logistic arrangements, a trip to a near by dam – Pocharam, Medak District, Telangana was planned which was 126 Kms from the school.
4. The students researched on the location, land marks and route map to this dam and prepared some sketches with important places and plan of the place.
5. The students then filled up the ‘Pre trip activity’ sheet of the Field trip Journal handed over to them.
6. The students noted their observations and recorded their findings by observing the features of the dam. As the area is experiencing a period of drought, they were unable to see the dam full condition
7. However they have interviewed some of the fishermen and recorded their learning. They have even recorded their experience in short documentary films.
8. The students then completed their ‘Post field trip activity’ sheet by pasting the pictures on their Field trip Journal
The Lower Dam
The Bund
Teacher explaining the features of the dam and the river
Student making sketches
Teacher showing the bird picking up a fish.
The manual gates of the dam
The evidence for the ISA Activity
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