Field Trips

gracer

gracer

Legacy Member
When I was still a student, I remember the excitement I felt whenever there was a scheduled school field trip. Usually, our teachers would bring us to museums or historical places for us to see and learn things in their real form. Field trips have helped me become more interested and curious about my subjects because I don't only see or read about them in books but I also get to see them with my own eyes.

What was the most memorable field trip you had as a student? Do you think field trips are helpful in educating children better about their subjects or certain topics?
 
About two years back, for a philosophy class I took in university, we went to various places of worship for our class field trip. We went to a Jewish synagogue, an Islamic mosque, etc. What struck me about that two-day field trip is the fact that we went to a Scientology headquarters; I didn't realize that there was a Scientology following here in the Philippines! I had just finished reading Going Clear by Lawrence Wright that month, so I had a ton of questions to ask.

I think field trips are really helpful! Some students learn more through tactile learning, and seeing what they're learning about really helps with that. Usually the tour guides around historical and other significant areas of interest also know a lot about that place, maybe more than a textbook can teach. Outdoor learning in general is very engaging. :)
 
I also didn't know that Scientology is also being practiced here in the Philippines. I just thought it is a very rare religion that it wasn't practiced here. Thanks to you for sharing your Philosophy field trip Bea, it's another additional info for me. :) You are so right in saying that outdoor learning is indeed very engaging. I really believe that nothing beats experience when it comes to learning and doing field trips is a way of providing that kind of learning.
 
gracer said:
I also didn't know that Scientology is also being practiced here in the Philippines. I just thought it is a very rare religion that it wasn't practiced here. Thanks to you for sharing your Philosophy field trip Bea, it's another additional info for me. :) You are so right in saying that outdoor learning is indeed very engaging. I really believe that nothing beats experience when it comes to learning and doing field trips is a way of providing that kind of learning.
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Truth be told, I don't quite have a very good opinion of Scientology, so I found that field trip to be a very good opportunity to partially immerse myself into their "religion" and see if I could understand it a bit more from their perspective. But it was just... Odd, really. Their headquarters was filled to the brim with books by the Scientology founder, and they were selling the books. I don't think I quite understood what the representative was saying.

Nevertheless, it was a really good experience! I especially enjoyed visiting the synagogue. I didn't realize either that there would be one here. I learned a lot about the Jewish faith and the rabbi really challenged a lot of my preconceived notions. :)
 
Field trips are a good way of getting the children more involved with what they are learning about, as more often than not, even if a child IS interested in a subject then just sitting behind a desk and being talked to can become boring and repetitive, so imagine how it must feel for the children that AREN'T interested in it. Taking them on a field trip can get their interest, and they are actually able to see with their own eyes what they are being taught about and so they will then be more involved and open to learning more about that certain topic.

Due to finance (again) schools are taking the children on less and less field trips, and in my opinion that's having a detrimental effect on their learning, and while it may not affect the actual amount of knowledge they gain about a topic, it just actually learning about it in the first place a lot less fun.
 
pwarbi said:
Due to finance (again) schools are taking the children on less and less field trips, and in my opinion that's having a detrimental effect on their learning, and while it may not affect the actual amount of knowledge they gain about a topic, it just actually learning about it in the first place a lot less fun.
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I have also noticed the difference then and now. Back when I was still at the same school level as my son now, we used to do several field trips in a year as a way of getting a break from the traditional classroom discussions. I noticed that it's no longer the case now that my son is a student. It could be because of funds or because schools know that just about anything can now be accessed through the Internet.
 
Funds or should I say the lack of them is the major problem but also even though I hate to say it, so is the 'where there's a blame there's a claim' mentality that a lot of people are set into these days. Health and safety has always been an important factor of course, and especially when dealing with the safety of children, but these day's with the amount of parent's that are willing to almost hope something goes wrong just so they can get some compensation, makes schools even more wary about taking the children out of the classroom.

Field trips are never going to be as safe as classroom learning, so a lot of schools now just think it's not worth taking that risk, and even though it might be detrimental to the child's education, if something did go wrong, then it could put the entire future of the school in jeopardy, and not just the education of that one child or class so it's simply not worth it.
 
In relation to what you said. I remember this very tragic college field trip which happened a couple of years ago here in my city. The students came from another city by bus to witness our yearly city festival. They met an accident along their way back home and sadly a lot of students died on the spot. It was a big impact on the school because aside from the monetary compensation they had to fulfill, they also faced multiple charges because of that tragedy.
 
gracer said:
In relation to what you said. I remember this very tragic college field trip which happened a couple of years ago here in my city. The students came from another city by bus to witness our yearly city festival. They met an accident along their way back home and sadly a lot of students died on the spot. It was a big impact on the school because aside from the monetary compensation they had to fulfill, they also faced multiple charges because of that tragedy.
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And while the loss of any students life is tragic and more important than money, the compensation aspect does have to be taken into consideration for the school, however harsh that might sound. The governors of a school are expectedly going to be cautious, because not only have they got the students welfare to consider, but also the welfare of the school itself moving forward, and if field trips are going to be a risk to any of those, then it's more than likely that they will simply not think it's worth the risk.
 
Right. After that incident, other schools also became more cautious in conducting field trips especially the far ones. I guess if there's one positive thing that resulted from the accident is the way it opened the eyes of school administrators to the risks of conducting field trips and their subsequent actions in further securing the safety of their students.
 
I remember a field trip we attended during the vacation which is referred to as a fourth term when I was a university student. We travelled to gameparks and nature trails to study the fauna and flora. We ended up at the coast where we sampled the pristine beaches as we studied the biological diversity of the coast. We were booked into a hotel downtown though I got lost for a day having lost the identity of the hotel.
 
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Field trips do help in children's learning. I can still remember what I saw and learnt while on a field trip when I was a student. We learned about different plants and that got me enlightened and ready for the exams. One can't forget easily whatever they saw while on a field trip. Students get to learn new things that they might have not known.
 
I don't think that anybody can say that field trips don't help the children, it's just that schools these days that have to look at the risk factor and like it or not, the children are more at risk outside of the classroom than what they are inside it so they are simply not thinking it's worth it. Some schools have tried to incorporate the parents more into the field trips and so they'll have the teachers there plus a number of parents that go along as well, but depending on where the school is, that isn't always possible and parents can't be involved as much as they may want to be.

However we look at it, I think the days of the school trips are dying out, and while it IS a shame for the children, at the same time the schools have to look after themselves as well and so if the risk of taking the children on a trip is too great, then it probably is in their best interest to say enough is enough.
 
We had a trip to a automobile company and it was actually automated and therefore, we could see the robotic arms, put together the car with minimal human intervention. This was 5 years back, so it was a huge surprise for us that automation had gone such a great length.

After that we were taken through a seminar, explaining what each robotic arm was doing and why robots were being used instead of human workers. It was quite an eye opener for us.
 
Claire1 said:
We had a trip to a automobile company and it was actually automated and therefore, we could see the robotic arms, put together the car with minimal human intervention. This was 5 years back, so it was a huge surprise for us that automation had gone such a great length.

After that we were taken through a seminar, explaining what each robotic arm was doing and why robots were being used instead of human workers. It was quite an eye opener for us.
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And that's just one example of what we're saying, and children no longer going on field trips is a shame because a lot of the time the children do learn a lot more than just being stuck behind a desk all day. If there was a way to compromise and maybe use field trips as a treat once every few months, then at least it would cut down on the risks of going on too many, but at the same time it would give the children something to look forward to.
 
The majority of the time, even if a child IS interested in a subject, simply sitting behind a desk and being lectured to can get boring and repetitive. Therefore, imagine how it must feel for the children that AREN'T interested in it. Field trips are a good way to get the kids more involved with what they are learning about. They will be more engaged and receptive to learning more about that particular topic if you take them on a field trip where they can really experience what they are being taught about firsthand.
 
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