These Assam classrooms are testing what happens when learning becomes experiential

Inside a classroom in an Adarsh Vidyalaya in Assam, a lesson in science or mathematics no longer has to remain confined to the blackboard.

A student learning about sound can enter a virtual environment and explore it. A lesson on combustion and flame can become more than words and diagrams in a textbook. Concepts such as perimeter, area, work and energy, and the properties of two- and three-dimensional shapes can be explored through virtual reality.

This is the idea behind Gyan Dhara, an initiative of the Government of Assam being developed and implemented through IIT Guwahati with support from the Department of Science and Technology.

At the centre of the project is K U Soraria, a faculty member at IIT Guwahati and head of the Gyan Dhara project. “Our objective is to introduce experiential learning for students in Adarsh Vidyalayas, to start with as a pilot,” says Soraria.

The project is beginning with science and mathematics for students of Classes VIII and IX. The larger aim is to eventually take this learning ecosystem to schools across Assam.

From seeing a concept to experiencing it

For many children, science and mathematics can feel abstract. A diagram in a textbook may explain the shape of a three-dimensional object, but seeing it in a virtual environment can offer a different kind of learning experience.

Gyan Dhara attempts to bridge that gap. Students wear virtual-reality headsets and enter a virtual environment, a kind of learning metaverse, where different rooms contain lessons on different concepts.

They can explore topics such as perimeter, sound, combustion and flame, areas of two- and three-dimensional shapes, work and energy, and other concepts drawn from the school curriculum. The technology, however, is only one part of the experiment.

“We design and develop the entire ecosystem, which is on virtual reality,’ says Dr Soraria. ‘But the most important component also comes from Adarsh Vidyalaya because the teachers are involved in designing the pedagogy.”

That partnership between technology and teachers is central to the project.

IIT Guwahati brings the technical expertise and research. Teachers bring their understanding of children, classrooms and pedagogy.

“We are largely a technical partner,” says Soraria. “Teachers help us define the pedagogy, and we also use our own research to ensure that the educational pedagogy is correct and useful for the students.”

In other words, Gyan Dhara is not intended to replace the teacher with technology. Instead, it seeks to give teachers another tool to make difficult concepts easier for children to understand.

What happens after the headset comes off?

The project does not end when students remove their virtual-reality headsets.

Alongside the virtual-reality component, Gyan Dhara has a web-based learning platform. Students can revisit lessons and take quizzes after they return home. Teachers can also use the digital material in their classrooms.

This creates the possibility of extending learning beyond the time spent inside the virtual environment.

A child who encounters a difficult concept in school can return to it later. A teacher can use the material while explaining a chapter. A quiz can help students check what they have understood.

The idea is to make learning more continuous and interactive, rather than limiting it to the time available inside a classroom.

Early lessons from the field

Before expanding the experiment, the project team conducted a two-month field trial. The findings, according to Soraria, have been encouraging. “The learning outcomes are significantly higher among the students than when they were not introduced to experiential learning,” he says.

For him, an important finding concerns retention.

“If students learn a concept three months earlier, they are able to remember it for a longer period of time,” he says. “They do not forget it with time, even if they do not revisit it, because it is experiential learning.”

For a school system, this distinction matters. Learning is not simply about whether a child can answer a question immediately after a lesson. The real test is whether the understanding stays with the child after the lesson is over.

The first field trial suggested improvements in learning outcomes and learning gains, along with better retention.

The second round of field trials is now beginning. More chapters will be introduced, and the team will continue to observe how students respond.

Two schools as learning laboratories

Although the programme is designed for Adarsh Vidyalayas across Assam, the project team is currently working closely with two schools.

One is the school being visited by the Gyan Dhara team, while the other is Adarsh Vidyalaya Pub Guwahati. These schools are not merely places where the technology is being demonstrated. They are also becoming learning laboratories for the project itself.

The team wants to understand how students experience the lessons, how teachers use the material, what works and what does not, and what challenges emerge in an actual school environment.

The experience gained here will help shape the larger rollout. Soraria says the initiative is expected to be launched across Adarsh Vidyalayas next year, while work in the two schools will continue through the launch period and beyond.

From Adarsh Vidyalayas to every school?

Perhaps the most ambitious aspect of Gyan Dhara is that the project is not intended to remain confined to the relatively better-equipped Adarsh Vidyalayas. The larger plan is to eventually make experiential learning available across Assam’s school system.

“For the first phase of the project, the plan is to put it up in Adarsh Vidyalaya,” says Soraria. “But the larger plan is to have it in all schools across Assam.”

The Adarsh Vidyalayas are therefore being seen as a testbed. The project team expects to study the results for six to eight months after the launch, understand the level of acceptance, identify challenges and then use those lessons while expanding the programme.

The question of infrastructure will be particularly important when the programme reaches schools with fewer resources.

According to Soraria, the programme has been designed with this eventual expansion in mind. The government initiative is expected to provide the required infrastructure, while the technology and learning ecosystem developed through Gyan Dhara can be deployed in schools beyond the initial pilot.

Technology with a purpose

The novelty of Gyan Dhara lies in the technology, but its real test will be educational. Virtual reality can create an impressive first experience. Children may enjoy entering a virtual world, moving through different environments and interacting with digital objects.

But the larger question is whether that experience helps them learn better. The first field trial offers some encouraging signs. The team will now have to see whether those gains remain consistent across more chapters, more students and eventually more schools.

For Assam, the experiment represents an attempt to rethink what a classroom can be.

The traditional classroom has four walls, a blackboard, textbooks and the teacher’s explanation. Gyan Dhara adds another possibility: a classroom in which a child can enter an environment that makes an abstract concept visible, interactive and easier to grasp.

But perhaps the most significant element is that the experiment is not being designed entirely from a technology laboratory.

Teachers are part of the process. Their classroom experience is helping determine how the technology should be used, while researchers study whether the approach actually improves learning. If the experiment succeeds, the ambition is not merely to put virtual-reality headsets into more schools.

It is to use technology to make learning more meaningful for children, and eventually take that opportunity beyond the relatively privileged walls of Adarsh Vidyalayas to government schools across Assam.

For now, the experiment continues in these two schools. The students are learning. The teachers are learning. And the Gyan Dhara team is learning from both.

Purusottam Thakur is freelance journalist, Chhattisgarh. Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth