Photo by Julia Raasch on Unsplash

In my book, field trips are of paramount importance in the education world. Many great learning spaces or venues out of school are abundantly made available in our modern days. The notion of valuable field trips is becoming more prominent in schools around the world. Many students may view it as a free day out of the monotonous four-walled classrooms yet truthfully, they are more likely to experience powerful learning engagement that they could never have had in the classrooms. So, the question is, in what ways can our students benefit from field trip visits?

Reinforcement to Classroom Instructions

Field trip visits encourage students to make better learning connections with what was taught and discussed in the classroom, thus reinforcing our classroom instructions and discussion points. Knowing about something is one thing, but understanding it conceptually whilst making real-life connections is another thing. Therefore, going for a field trip is one brilliant way to explore with this facet of learning development and skills.

Interactive and Engaging Learning Experiences

Visiting a fire station in the neighbourhood is one of the many first-hand learning experiences for students to interact and engage with. This is much more powerful than just reading a book about the important roles or responsibilities of firemen within our community. It goes beyond the facts and numbers that students are ought to be convinced through reading. This way, it also allows them to observe and participate in conversations with real people, or 'firemen' in this context. In other words, it is being revamped as our mobile classrooms.

Unfolding Curiosity and Independence

Field trips also serve as amazing power and motivation boosters for students. Breaking away from the usual classroom and school routines stirs up new curiosity and independence to learn and inquire further. It extends the plain ol' reading and research tasks, and brings them to life - thus, prompting students to utilize their wondering questions and learning skills. They will realize that there are concrete, practical ways to apply what we have been learning at school, in our daily lives and surroundings. For example, a field trip visit to a chocolate factory proves the importance of measurement (Mathematics), simple machines (Science), and elements of design (Visual Art).

Improving Social and Emotional Development

Through field trips, students will encounter new people, situations and social environments. These interactions are the best teachers for them to exercise self-control, open-mindedness and respect accordingly. Students may also be challenged to do something out of their comfort zone. In the midst of all the fun and excitement, a shared social space like this will definitely assess the strength of their social and emotional development particularly in the ways they communicate with their peers, teachers and new people. This is something that we can never get within the walls of our classrooms.

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Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hang on.

Field trips require massive time and effort for teachers to plan and coordinate. To be honest, it is definitely time-consuming to make those phone calls (back-and-forth), sending out those emails, and perform survey site visits before the real field trips. Besides that, I can also decipher that there may be limitations in some education systems and practices, and there is only 'that much' that school teachers and stakeholders can do. So, do we just settle for no-field-trip days? Despite the true educational values that were highlighted above, we know organizing field trips may seem difficult or impossible to do. But please don't give up! I know it is easy for me to say this if you are facing different circumstances to plan and coordinate a simple field trip at your end. You and I, we both know that it is truly worthwhile, for our students. Well, here are some tips and tricks that I use for my field trip planning. Let me know in the comments section, if you have additional tips and tricks that I should know too! Come on, buddy, sharing is caring. xD

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Purpose

Our first priority is the sole purpose of the field trip. We need to consider these questions: What are we really, really, really looking for? What are we intending our students to observe, experience and inquire? Why is this field trip visit so important? How will this field trip help our students with their current learning at school? Are the outcomes of this field trip achievable in our school environment? Significant, relevant field trip experiences should add meaning to what our students are currently learning at school. I personally feel that it is pretty pointless for them to go for a field trip that has no direct connection to their current learning - especially after all the time and effort invested in organizing for the said field trip. We can always ask for second opinions among our colleagues, and they can assist us to put things into perspective.

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Budget/Cost

Yes, we gotta talk about the money. Money constraints are real. There was once I was planning for a field trip visit to a bread factory years ago, and I remembered doing that small personal top-up from my salary just so that my students could experience making the bread dough with the breadmaster. They also managed to bake them in the huge industrial bread oven and eat them right after that! Well, that was my personal choice, you are not ought to follow what I did. Ultimately, we need to remember that we do not need super fancy or expensive field trips. For me, I always opt for authentic places or venues within the neighbourhood, and not man-made ones. I know many of you may stone me for saying this but I am just going to say it anyway. I honestly prefer taking my students to a post-office, rather than to Kidzania if the purpose was to explore different occupations. It could even be a combination of a post-office, a bank and a local hospital. A trip to all these places is way cheaper than an entrance ticket to Kidzania.

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Time and Distance

Remember to consider the age group of your students when it comes to time and distance. A decent field trip visit should take about 2 to 3 hours, inclusive the traveling time for younger ones. For older students, we can possibly extend it to 4 to 5 hours. Consider the options you have within your neighbourhood or in the estimation of 15 miles in radius from your school. Be sure to also check the potential places for toilet breaks and nearby hospitals for emergency cases. To add on, we should also review alternative routes to take, and the traffic peak hours. As soon as the estimated times of departure and arrival are agreed, do include them in the permission slips - and of course, don't forget to collect them all!

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Safety and Security

To ensure the safety and security throughout the field trip visit, my highest recommendation is to perform survey site visit prior to the real field trip day, asides from getting information from the staff via phone calls/emails. We all want our students safe in our hands. First-hand observations at the field trip venue allow us to identify any potential hazards in the surroundings as well as their emergency exits. A quick tour around the venue tells us a lot more than just viewing them in pictures attached in the emails we received. I also usually check on the cleanliness of the toilets and cafeterias during my survey visits. In fact, please consider getting parent volunteers or chaperones too! Better safe than sorry, guys!

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Schedule/Agenda

The schedule or agenda for the field trip visit is indispensable to keep the purpose strong and alive. An orderly schedule with some buffer time in between, especially for toilet and water breaks is needed so that we can better manage our time. We also need to set aside sufficient amount of time for learning activities or observation tasks that we want our students to participate. If there is an opportunity to be in touch with an expert, a tour guide or a knowledgeable guest speaker at the field trip venue, don't miss it! It will be great to share the structure or agenda with your accompanying teachers and parents too. Another personal add-on to the schedule, I love doing post-reflection with my students after our field trip visits, in the classroom once everyone is rested and more calm. Hearing them sharing the highlights of their learning is simply a BLISS.

Here comes a compilation of field trip visits that I have been to with my students, in no particular order.

1. Field Trip Visit to Mangrove Forest

Purpose: To inquire into the natural environments around us and better understand how biotic and abiotic factors affects its ecosystems
*Pictures are taken by Nikon D3300 or iPhone 7 Plus

Can you spot me in this picture? Hint: CAMERA. :D

Photographer of the day, ME! :D

2. Field Trip Visit to a Mosque and a Buddhist Temple

Purpose: To inquire into different belief systems and their praying routines
*Pictures are taken by Nikon D3300 or iPhone 7 Plus

3. Field Trip Visit to a Rohingya Village

Purpose: To inquire into lack of resources and poverty as one of the many global issues
*Pictures are taken from my IG fullofheartscally

Other field trip venues: Goat's Farm, Local Fire Station, Bread Factory, Local Post Office, Huge Playground with a Pond, Chocolate Factory, Caves Temple in a Limestone Hill and many more.

Thank you for reading a super duper long post, well also another snippet into my teaching life today! :)

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