Why teachers think field trips are important

In November we asked teachers who entered our field trip bursary draw to tell us about their reasons for incorporating field trips into their practice. We’ve categorized the answers and compiled them into the image below.  (The size of the word or phrase indicates the frequency that it was mentioned.)

Many of the reasons teachers mentioned reinforce what community-based educators are trying to achieve with the educational experiences they design for school groups; providing new and memorable experiences that help students connect learning in the classroom and their community.

Some of the comments reflect teachers’ use of field trips to support non-curriculum related learning such as community building within their class and reinforcing concepts related to life long learning. There were also a number of interesting comments about using field trips making a bigger impact on individuals and helping to prepare them for their futures:

Teaches real life application and helps non academic students have positive involvement. Those kids we sometimes miss get to shine

I teach Kindergarten so it's really training for the rest of their schooling and it's important to get out into the community.

Community exposure and the ability to practice being mindful citizens in public.

If you are interested in learning more about the use of field trips and learning outside the classroom have a look at the summary of research from InformalScience.org or the book Surrounded by Science: Learning Science in Informal Environments published by the National Research Council (available as a free digital download).

To find out about our next field trip bursary draw make sure you have signed up for our mailing list.