This report is about a four-month internship as part of the requirements of ATREE’s MSc Programme. The internship was to pilot a Place-Based Education (PBE) initiative using an ecological theme of medicinal plants. PBE was implemented among 50 school-going (middle school) children of two Gond Adivasi villages, namely, Kotmimal and Mandikoh. These villages border the Satpura Hills range in Madhya Pradesh and since 2000 post the Satpura Tiger Reserve territory demarcation; have shared a fractured relationship with the adjoining forest.

The internship duration was for four months (February-May 2025). The primary goal of the internship was to pilot a PBE that would enable children to document their traditional knowledge of medicinal plants found in their immediate neighbourhood. The process yielded several learning outcomes within a short timeframe namely, a) the children appreciated their local biodiversity better; b) the children took steps to care and conserve local biodiversity ( by setting up herbal gardens in their villages); c) the cultural knowledge available with the elders around medicinal plants was systematically documented; and d) The learning outcomes for age-appropriate academic concepts in science, mathematics, language arts, and social science was improved.

In addition, the pilot PBE provided insights into the larger education and learning process. Children’s growing sense of ownership, evident in their experiments, confident community interactions, and exhibition presentations, was impactful. While formal school teacher involvement remained limited and a few planned activities had to be adapted, the overall experience demonstrated how PBE can strengthen the connection between children and their environment and heritage. This pilot also produced two interesting outputs - a set of ten lesson plans that were implemented and modified with inputs from children and teachers, and a recipe book of medicines using local plants that the children prepared and documented by themselves. These resources are offered as open-access materials for educators interested in adapting PBE approaches in their own contexts across India.