Year 13 IB trip to Khao Yai National Park

For our Year 13 Outdoor Education Week we went to Khao Yai National Park to carry out our Group 4 (Sciences) Project which is part of the IB Programme. It involves designing and carrying out an investigation with students from all the Sciences as well as Design Technologists. The question we had to investigate was, “How does human activity affect the environment?”  We were each assessed on our group work skills.  

The resort itself was very nice, being situated on the Sai Yai River on the edge of the National Park. The food was delicious and there were loads of activities to do there. On the first day we immediately started having fun as we took a jog up the river and then relaxed in the water while floating back down to the camp. The water was very refreshing and relaxing after a long day of travelling.

On the second day we began to work on our projects which was also fun as we could design our own experiments and work collaboratively, managing our own time. It was an interesting experience carrying out our experiments in such a unique setting, using canoes and rafts to collect water samples and it was definitely a highlight!  We also spent half a day white-water rafting which involved plenty of “person overboard” action!

In the evenings we worked on our all-important applications to university as well as personal statement briefings and teambuilding games. Each group also had to present their projects to the rest of the students and to the teachers, which was quite daunting! We also visited a Thai Primary school and had lots of fun teaching English as well as playing games. On the last day, we enjoyed a day in the resort learning about survival, playing paint ball, archery, crossing the river on a zip line and just relaxing in the river. Oh yeah, and we finished our trip with a huge bonfire in the evening. Overall the trip was amazing…..and we got loads of work done as well!!

Grigory, Year 13