Why Field Trips? Positive Impact of Field Trips on Learning By Tommy Diamond

The Theory Field trips allow students to see things as they really are-complicated and imperfect- and not as they might be idealized in a textbook.It gives the student a chance to experience and to see the relevance of a subject in the real world.

Five Attributed Values of Field Trips Providing first-hand experience Stimulating interest & motivation in science Giving meaning to learning and interrelationships Observation and perception skills Personal and social development

Field trips inspire students to continue other scientific studies Data compiled in Mesa, AZ schools demonstrated that “96% of those students entering from a hands on science program in elementary grades opted to continue their science studies in high school, while only 4% of the students in the textbook study program continued in high school science programs” (Milson, 1990,p.2).

Meeting the Challenge of Interest As a science teacher, it is my goal and challenge to improve thinking skills, interest, and success in the area of science. To do this I feel it is sometimes necessary to step out of the conventional/formal classroom and into the world that surrounds us.

Providing first-hand experience Above right students take water sample test on Galveston Island. Below right students excavate dinosaur bone fossil from Big Bend National Park

Observation and perception skills Students observing geological features in the Marathon Basin area.

Personal and social development Student pose for a group picture at the McDonald Observatory in the Davis mountains of Texas.