Beyond Textbooks: Learning through Educational Excursion
Author: Ridhi Rai
A trip with friends never fails, right? Well, here I am updating y’all about the most fun trip I have had recently. Okay, but what if I say it was an educational trip? No fun, no dancing, no chilling! How dull, right? Well, it could have been a boring educational trip, I swear, but there is always a saviour for you in times of need! So, rejoice and read this amazing article.
The Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Surat, was the place we had to visit, as per our academic curriculum for a second-year BHMS in the subject of forensic medicine and toxicology. It was a one-day trip from Karjan to Surat. Long distance, huh? But who cares about the distance when you have such amazing colleagues, faculty, and staff?
We started our journey with a lot of enthusiasm and curiosity in our minds. And with songs, dance, laughter, and lots of fun, we reached our destination. But, oh, hold on! This journey was so much like a roller coaster ride. And I will tell you why I said so.
On our way to Surat, we had a kind of hilarious, maybe sad, or irritable moment. Now, before you guys start building air castles in your minds, I will tell you the reason. We got stuck! The windscreen of our bus was broken by a sudden draft of air. What a situation!!! We were having our little fun party at the back of the bus, and suddenly everything just went silent. After 2 hours of hustle and bustle, we managed to get onto a new bus and continued our way to Surat. It is like a life situation; not every time we get a situation as we expect! Our dreams of going for a small picnic after a visit were almost shattered. But who cares? We are good to shift our focus soon on the enjoyment part; it was an “Aal izz well" situation for us.
We reached the lab dressed neatly in our aprons and caps and with books and pens in our hands. There are so many questions in each of our heads, ‘A PROBLEM’. This visit aimed to face actual post-mortem examinations as well as learn about the detailed procedures carried out in each department of FSL. The head of the laboratory gave us a warm welcome. They have arranged ‘GROUP SESSIONS’. The departments were biology, toxicology, chemistry, physics, DNA, and computer forensic divisions. They explained to us about the workings of each department, how the samples are received, how they are tested, what steps are to be followed, what precautionary measures are taken for testing procedures, how the analysis is done, how the reports are prepared, and how the final reports are submitted to the police. And we were all ‘ACTIVELY LISTENING’. They also enlightened us about how each division is linked to the other and how they work hand in hand to keep every single piece of data confidential.
After interactive sessions, I have started ‘REFLECTING’ on what we have read in a book. Our imagination while going through the chapter is different from what came to us in real time. For me, I remember anything for the long term when I learn from ‘EXPERIENCE.’ For example, the tensile strength of the ligature is tested in cases of death from hanging to suspect any foul play. Voice records are matched in terms of modulation and frequency from crime scene videos. Even from a corrupted pen drive, data can be retrieved, and much more. All these details we do not get in books. It made me think. They have guided us about the importance of the medico-legal aspects of handling patients and why it is important for us as future homoeopathic practitioners, so I have started ‘THINKING, RECALLING AND CONNECTING’ recording and connecting in my mind the cases from our clinical posting.
At last, I would like to say that it was a very interesting trip. This education trip introduced the concept of “ACTIVE LEARNING" (Problem→Group Discussion, Interaction→Active Listening→Reflecting on Books→Experiencing→Thinking, Recalling, and Connecting). I must say that these kinds of visits add wings to our knowledge so that we come out with flying colors.
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Good action learning . Report is encouraging.