Field Trip Strategy

Concepts of Field Trip strategy.

It was introduced in 1827 by George Shillibeer for a Quaker school at Abney Park in Stoke Newington, London, United Kingdom.

A field trip is a visit to a place outside the regular classroom which is designed to achieve certain objectives, which cannot be achieved as well by using other means.  For example if the lesson is on “making cheese”, and if there is no hand on experience it is very difficult to achieve the objectives. In such a lesson this strategy is required. Field trips give opportunity for a students a  to get out of the classroom and experience something new. The located place for field trip can be zoos, collages, museums, theater and schools.

Features of field trip

1.     Facilitate the learning of abstract concepts. Taking students on a field trip makes learning more effective as they will be able to gain vast ideas on the topic.

2.    Motivate students through increased interest and curiosity. Field trips can add variety to the regular classroom instructional program and they tend to be special and enjoyable learning experiences. As a result, students will develop positive attitudes in students toward related classroom activities.

3.    Increases student-student and student-teacher social interaction. Field trips provide an opportunity to involve students, parents, and the teachers in the instructional program. Students can select the place to be visited, developing questions to ask, writing reports or thank you letters after the trip, or evaluating the experiences. Since parents must give their permission, a letter sent home with the permission form explaining purpose of the trip is a good way to arouse their curiosity and encourage them to ask the student or teacher about the trip. The parent guides their child in order to make sure that they do not come to any harm. This role allows the parent and teacher to establish a much closer relationship. The interaction between students within themselves will also be increased when they work in groups. Moreover, the interaction between the students and teacher will enhance as the students will have to discuss to the teachers when they have doubts.

4.    Develops social awareness. Field trips make students aware of learning activities in everyday life. For instance, visits to supermarkets or shopping malls are typical field experiences, which teachers may fail to notice. A well-organized trip to a "normal" place is an excellent method of teaching students to observe, ask questions, and learn in the large classroom. 

Purpose of Field Trip

1.               It enhance the curriculum. Field trips are rich in educational possibilities as students learn from actual hands-on experiences, rather than by simply reading or hearing about something. Involvement in a real world experience makes learning more meaningful and memorable comparing to regular classroom instructional programs.

2.              Give students experiential learning experiences. Involvement in a real world experience makes learning more meaningful and memorable. As a result the students will have more concept of the topic as they have learnt through their hand-on experiences.

3.              Concrete skills such as note taking. Students have to develop questions to be asked, write reports or thank you letters after the trip, or evaluate their experiences. By doing such activities, students will develop various skills such as note taking skills, speaking skills, writing skills will enhance.

4.              Involvement in a real world experience makes learning more meaningful and memorable.

5.              Field trips can add variety to the regular instructional program; they tend to be special and enjoyable learning experiences, ones which develop positive attitudes in students toward related classroom activities.  Field trips are rich in educational possibilities because students learn from actual firsthand experiences, rather than by simply reading or hearing about something

6.              Field trips help the students appreciate the relevance and importance of what they learn in the classroom. For e.g. determining blood type is a skill, which can be learned in a school laboratory setting, but students may not learn the importance of this skill until they observe what goes on in a real hospital where life and death of real patients may depend on this skill. 

Types of field trip strategy

  1. Instructional trips  

An instructional trip is a visit by a class or group of classes to a location outside the regular classroom, which is designed to allow the students to achieve specific course objectives, which cannot be achieved as efficiently by other means.  An example of an instructional field trip is a visit to botanical garden to study about different kind of flower.

2. School contests or festivals      

A school contest is an extra campus activity, which provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate knowledge and skills developed through subject area instruction. Contests, competitions, festivals, or evaluations may involve teams of students from more than one class or subject.  An example of a school contest, festival, or evaluation is the school level essay competition. 

3. Motivational trips 

A motivational trip is an extra-campus activity, which is not a part of a scheduled class. It provides a motivational incentive for the school, club, group, or class and is related to improving the school climate. The procedures in this guide are for instructional field trips. If you are planning a motivational trip, please note that this requires approval from the General Area Director.

An example of a motivational trip is an end of year visit to Buddha point by a student body. First a teacher must choose the kind of trip to take and then decide on a general location for the trip.

Step involved in conducting field trip.

1.  Trip Selection.

•      Identify objectives and plan of evaluation for the field trip.

•      Select site to be visited and arrange date and time.

•      Conduct pre-visit to familiarize yourself with the major features of the field and obtain address, directions, contact person and mobile numbers.

2.  Logistics Planning

•      Apply for administrative approval and file requisition for transportation.

•      Make arrangement for meals and develop schedule for the day.

•       Arrange special equipments like cameras and collect money for admission fees if the site demands.

•      Inform parents about the trips.

•      Create a list of student names and home phone number for emergency.

3.  Field Trip Preparation/Pre-trip discussion

•       Discuss the purpose of the field trip.

•      Show photographs or posters of the site.

•      Set a standard conduct and discuss money usage, lunch plans, dress code and other necessary things.

•      Discuss how to ask good questions and make a list of open-ended observation questions to gather information.

•      Overview the field trip schedule.

4.  The Field Trip

•      Let students to sketch if it is necessary.

•      Ask prepared questions and note the answers.

•      Do things that you have planned.

5.  Post-field Trip

•      Let student to share their observations and reactions to field trip experiences.

•      Create classroom bulletin board displaying materials collected while on field trip.

•      Let class to compose thank-you letter to those who helped during the field trip. Include special information learned.

6.  Evaluating Field trip

•      What was the unique educational value in this trip?

•      Did students meet the objectives?

•      Was there adequate time?

•       Was there adequate staff and adult supervision?

•      What might be done differently to be better?

•      What points to be emphasized next time?

•       What problems should be addressed in the future?

Advantages

Real-world experience. It allows students to have a real-world experience. For example, a textbook lesson on the domestic animals can be enhanced by a trip to a local farm where the students can clearly see the domestic animals.

Increase in quality of education. For example, a biology field trip could take kids on a hunt for bugs or certain types of flowers. In this case students can learn more. Hence it improves the quality of education. 

Improvement of the social relations. It is a way to bring the students closer together. Many field trips combine educational content with team-building activities, such as working together to clean a stream that has been polluted. In fact, it is often a good idea to go on a field trip to help create a bond between the students.

Disadvantages of field trip

Time considerations. Difficultly in preparation (getting approval from various head of administration) and fitting the trip as per the school timetable which takes more time.

 Lack of support from school administrations for field trips. It means school can’t afford the materials and sometime can’t provide financial also where student have to search their own ways.

Poor student behavior and attitudes. Means loss over students like sometime some students they don’t listen to the teacher showing their ego attitudes and doing the things on their own ways which cause trip to be unsuccessful where it affects the other students and the relation between teacher and students because of the bad attitude.

Shortage of resources and choice of venue. Means sometimes school can’t provide the materials and teacher also can’t have the correct materials for the trip which causes shortage of resources. And some time student can’t have the choice to pick their own place and they have to agree with the teacher choice which shows student doesn’t have the choice to select the venue.

Medical risk. For example like while travelling via vehicle some children gets motion sickness.

Planning a Field Trip

Good planning must precede field trips. Careful attention should be given to trip selection, previsit preparation, the trip itself, appropriate follow up, and evaluation. When considering a field trip, teachers are advised to first consult with their administrator regarding existing school policies and follow those recommended procedures in planning a field trip.

1.  Trip Selection

• Identify the rationale, objectives and plan of evaluation for the field trip.
• Select the site to be visited. Contact the educational coordinator for the site and arrange the date and time. Obtain the pre-trip information package if one is available. Record addresses, directions, contact persons, phone numbers, email addresses, etc.
• Conduct a pre-visit to familiarize yourself with the major features of the field trip. Purchase postcards and posters. Take photographs to share with students prior to the visit. Explore the exhibition(s) you plan to visit to get ideas for pre field trip activities.

2.  Logistics Planning

a.    Apply for administrative approval from the head of the school.

b.    File requisition for bus transportation if the school has any or seek administrative support for arranging transportation if the school does not have the facility

c.    Make arrangements for meal or sack (pack) lunch if needed

d.    Develop schedule for the day

e.    Arrange for special equipment -supplies, film, video camera, digital camera if needed

f.    Collect money for admission fees if the visit site demands

g.    Inform the parents (in case of day school) about the following things:

·         Date and location of field trip and transportation arrangements

·         Educational purpose of field trip

·         Provision for special needs students

·         Cost

·         Clothing for the trip

·         Lunch arrangements

·         Money needed

·         Trip schedule

·         Whether a child will need prescribed medication administered

h.    Provide alternative arrangements for pupils who will not be going on the trip.

i.     Submit a list of students who will be attending the field trip to other teachers if their schedules will be affected.

j.     Create a list of all student names and home phone numbers for use in an emergency.

3.  Preparing Students before the Trip / Field Trip Preparation/Pre-trip discussion

1. Discuss the purpose of the field trip and how it relates to the current unit of study.
2. Introduce vocabulary words that will be used by field people during the tour.
3. Show photographs or posters of the field trip site or related to exhibits that will be viewed.
4. Assign students "specialists" roles in one aspect of the topic that they will be studying during the field trip. Students could be grouped in different subject areas related to the field trip topic to research (e.g., history, art, religion, science, environment, etc).
5. As a class brainstorm a set of standards of conduct for the trip and discuss suggested spending money, lunch plans, appropriate clothing to wear for the trip including gear for rainy weather.
6. Discuss with students how to ask good questions and brainstorm a list of open-ended observation questions to gather information during the visit. Record questions on chart paper or in student field trip journals.
7. Overview the field trip schedule. 

4.  Final Planning / the field trip

Check all permission slips the day before the field trip.

Activities that will occur during the Field Trip

Plan activities that allow students to work alone, in pairs or small groups. Activities might include:

• Sketch pages with partial drawings of objects found in the exhibits for students to complete the drawings based on their observations
• Peepholes in construction paper - cut different sized round holes in construction paper and have students view a part of the exhibition through the peepholes. Ask them to describe what they see, what they notice now that they missed before, and how their perspective changes with each new view
• Field notebooks for recording answers to prepared questions based on clues
• Hand drawn postcards to write near the end of the tour that will summarize the field trip visit

Provide time for students to observe, ask questions, and record key words, ideas and phrases as journal entries in their Field book after viewing each exhibit

Ask follow-up questions as students make observations and listen to presentations.

• How are these two objects different from one another?
• What clues does this artifact provide about the topic?
• In what ways do these two objects relate to one another?
• If you could change one thing in this exhibit, what would it be?
• Pretend you are an archaeologist in the future who is observing this object. What would you be able to conclude about the culture of the past?
• Describe the setting in which you might have found this object.
• Which object will be of greatest value in a hundred years? Why?
• Which object took the most time and effort to produce?
• Pretend you are a character in this exhibit. Tell us as much as you can about your life.
• What does this object tell us about the person's attitude toward...?

Schedule a particular segment of the field trip for a scavenger hunt where students look for particular objects and record them in their Field book or on an observation sheet.

Provide time for students to work in their Field Book writing questions, describing favorite displays or making sketches of artifacts, structures, scenery, etc. If they cannot complete their sketches, encourage them to label them for future completion as to color, detail, etc.

5.  Post-Field Trip Activities

Just as quality pre-planning is essential to the success of a field trip, planning for appropriate follow-up activities will facilitate student learning and multiply the value of hands-on experiences outside the classroom. The following activities provide a general guide when planning for post-field trip classroom experiences.

• Provide time for students to share general observations and reactions to field trip experiences
• Share specific assignments students completed while on the field trip.
• Create a classroom bulletin board displaying materials developed or collected while on the field trip.
• Develop a classroom museum that replicates and extends displays students observed on the field trip. For example, if the field trip involved an art museum, develop a classroom art museum containing student artwork.
• Link field trip activities to multiple curricular areas. For example, students can develop vocabulary lists based on field trip observations; record field trip observations in a classroom journal; complete math problems related to actual field trip budget planning; etc.
• Share and evaluate student assignments/activities from the Field Book.
• Have the class compose and send thank-you letters to the field trip site host, school administrators and other persons that supported the field trip. Include favorite objects or special information learned during the field trip.
• Create a short news report about what happened on the field trip. Publicize the trip via an article in your local newspaper, school bulletin board, trip presentation for parent's night, or school web page.

6.  Evaluating the Trip

Complete a "Teacher Journal" regarding the field trip. This will provide a good reference for future field trips.

• What was of unique educational value in this field trip?
• Did the students meet the objectives/expectations?
• Was there adequate time?
• Was there adequate staff and adult supervision?
• What might be done differently to make this an even better experience in the future?
• What special points should be emphasized next time?
• What special problems should be addressed in the future?
• What would improve a visit to this site in the future?

Share the evaluation with the students, volunteers, hosts from the field trip site, and school administrators.