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Articles for Teachers

These articles are written especially for teachers by our Buddy Project staff.

 

Field Trips: Experiences for Education

Last month’s field trip to the zoo was wonderful. The weather was beautiful and you didn’t lose any students in the Desert Biome. You could tell your students were excited about what they were seeing. Back at school you heard all about everyone’s favorite animal. What a great experience!

Students pick up so much information during a field trip. These facts, though, are just like any other facts we learn. They are only useful if we understand and apply them, drawing our own conclusions and interpreting them to others.

The experience of the field trip, as beneficial as it may be, is not the point. The field trip is another tool in your arsenal to guide students along in constructing meaning from facts. Make the most of the experience by considering these ideas:

Before the Trip

• Visit the site on your own before you take students there.
• Plan many pre-activities; the more students know, the more they want to learn.
• Guide their learning by using the KWL method (What do you know? What do you want to know? What have you learned?).
• Surround your students with resources about your unit of study.
• Spark their curiosity with videos and virtual field trips.
• Help your students catch a vision of the end product and guide them as they compose their questions.
• Create and discuss assessment rubrics with your students, making sure they understand your expectations.

During the Trip

• Look for answers to investigative questions.
• Use KWL
• Use a focused journal
• Help kids interact with their adventure using all their senses.
  • Talking
  • Drawing
  • Writing phrases or quick observations
  • Taking pictures
  • Tape recording their observations and sounds

After the Trip

• Use data collected to create something meaningful.
• Plan presentations to an audience.
• Use tech tools to let kids “Show off”!
• Complete and send home final assessments.
  • Formal Assessments could include rubrics for assignments, projects, presentations, and tests over subject matter.
  • Informal Assessments could include class discussions, checklists, observations, etc.

Planning an educationally sound field trip is obviously more work for you, but it reaps huge rewards for your students. With practice, your students will begin to formulate their own questions and construct their own meanings for every experience that comes their way.

Use the following web sites to make the most of the field trip experience:

KWL

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Printable chart to brainstorm with the students what they Know about the topic, What they want to learn and what they
Learned on the trip.

Zoo Field Trip Scavenger Hunt

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Printable scavenger hunt sheet you can use if you're going to the zoo. Also, this is a great example of how you can create a similar scavenger sheet for other field trips.

Sample Worksheets for the Museum of Science Exhibit Halls

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Here are a few "sample" guided explorations that can serve as models as you develop your own sheets specific to your students and learning objectives.

Museum Field Trip Tips

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The Smithsonian Museum has developed practical tips for some things that you can do before, during, and after the visit to the museum.

Virtual Field Trips

Sometimes a field trip is out of the question....then you can take "virtual" trips! Here are several sites you can explore to find one that fits your students:

• Take a Museum Field Trip
• Tramline: Field Trip List
• Virtual Field Trips
• Get Outta Class with Virtual Field Trips
• Scholastic's Virtual Field Trips
• Global SchoolNet Online Expeditions

Related Links

• Family Field Trips: Experiences of a Lifetime
• Students - Plan a Trip & See the World!