Educational trips provide valuable educational opportunities away from the classroom, without using textbooks and other tools used in a normal school setting. One such educational trip was organized by Staford School for classes IV to VIII to a plastic factory situated at Nadarganj, Lucknow, with a purpose of making the students aware of the working environment in a factory and also seeing things being manufactured and processed at work. The students were exhilarated on entering the manufacturing unit, where they got an opportunity to watch the disposable glasses manufactured by thermoforming technique. The small plastic pellets along with the scrap were melted down under controlled conditions so that they become molten and pliable and rolled into the sheets. The conveyor chains carry the sheet through the heater assembly to the forming table. The heated sheet was punched to form the shape of the mould. The glasses formed were stocked and the punched waste sheet was wound on scrap sheet winder. The raw material wastage was recycled by grinding the scrap and extruding it in sheet extruder. From the manufacturing unit, the children were taken to the printing section and were also acquainted with the final stage of packing.
This educational trip provided an educational experience that allowed the students to apply their lessons to the real world. By coming into direct contact with a different environment and a new work culture, they understood their place in the community and developed openness to differences in others. Overall, it was an informative, knowledgeable and memorable trip for the students, which was thoroughly enjoyed by them.