Students in municipal schools across Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat and Aravalli district are building their own weather instruments as part of a Gujarat Government collaboration aligned with Mission LiFE
Gandhinagar | Sept 12: The Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN)’s Centre for Creative Learning (CCL), in collaboration with the Government of Gujarat, has launched a hands-on climate education initiative for students in Grades 6 to 8. The programme, which targets urban municipal schools, is already under way in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat and Aravalli district.
Under the initiative, the programme aims to reach 1,000 schools, with participating schools connecting with IIT Gandhinagar online twice a month. The programme is aligned with Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), the national movement encouraging individuals and communities to adopt lifestyles that reduce their impact on the environment.
The approach is a conscious break from the traditional ways of teaching environmental science. CCL has developed the sessions around experiential learning rather than theoretical lessons on climate and sustainability, so students do, measure and observe rather than simply memorize. The ambition is to get young people to reconnect with nature, to build sustainable habits and to make environmental science fun and relatable through engaging, hands-on experiences on a large scale.
During the first two sessions students built their own rain gages, wind vanes and anemometers, which they are now using to measure and monitor rainfall and wind patterns in their neighbourhoods.
The instruments are designed to turn each classroom into a miniature weather station, allowing students to collect and analyse live data of their immediate surroundings, rather than relying solely on theoretical data in textbooks.
For the initiative, specialized kits have been developed to support the program. In the next coming sessions students will use these kits to identify common items that pollute and to find out about ecofriendly alternatives. They will also design and produce sustainable products from local materials, further linking environmental concepts to everyday life.
Through a hands-on approach, the initiative aims to embed climate and environmental literacy into the daily practices of thousands of children and help them develop sustainable habits beyond the classroom by reaching out to municipal schools in four districts and directly connecting classrooms with IIT Gandhinagar.