Students will be exposed to new experiences that increases interest and engagement regardless of prior interest in the topic and these are the experiences that can be recalled and useful long after the visit.

In the  second stage of inquiry cycle, we visited the Telangana state museum to find out more about the different forms of relics. There were many galleries of which the first one was the “Egyptian” gallery, where the geckos were excited after seeing the mummy and they came to know that it was bought by son-in-law of VI Nizam Mahbub Ali Khan for 1000 pounds and donated to Nizam Mir Osma Ali Khan. The 2nd gallery was the bronze gallery in which they saw the  artefacts, Armours, Numismatics, idols of lord Shiva and a very artistic temple bell. They came to know the time period  of the idols, the names of the dynasty they belonged to, and the place where they were discovered from. Next, they visited the decoration art gallery. They were startled to see different kinds of decorative items like jewellery, hand mirrors, Arabic wall art, daggers and attires that were used by the Kings and Queens. Our geckos were then lead into the Ajanta art gallery where they saw huge paintings of Buddha. They appreciated the artwork of the artists and were amazed to see that the paintings though very old looked beautiful and appealing.The students also sited the Islamic art and Jain art galleries. They were curious to know more after seeing the miniature art , manuscripts of bible, beautiful sketches of women depicting their daily chores, marriage  procession, picture of Bhagyamathi and many more. They were able to get a glimpse of the furnitures used during Nizam’s reign which were safely preserved inside a glass room. They were excited to see a huge age old chariot and they related it to the ones they have seen in movies, they also saw a Shiva puja mandap dated back to the Shri Krishnadevaraya’s dynasty and also a canon gallery at the end.

It was a memorable trip as they gained a good knowledge about relics and the remains of our history which are very precious to us. It has inspired them to inquire more and the knowledge they have acquired will help in propelling our inquiry in the right direction.

 

Some photos: