Tip: Student Field Trips
Productive & successful visits are an integral part of course activities, requiring students produce specific outcomes.
Recently I had the pleasure of attending a week-long “research camp” retreat as a participant in the 2021-2023 Elon University Center for Engaged Learning seminar focused on (Re)Examining Conditions for Meaningful Learning Experiences. We took a field trip to the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, which - among other amazing exhibits - is the site of the Greensboro lunch counter sit-in, still preserved with original seats, floor, and counter.
After the visit, we discussed how to connect the experience to our own teaching practice and to the research projects that are the seminar focus. I have had very few opportunities to take students on field trips, but one summer I taught an integrated skills English (ESL) course for a cohort of international students. While the learning outcomes for the course focused on building students’ oral and written communication skills, the context in which this happened was talking and writing about art, defined very broadly and from a non-expert perspective. We took two field trips that summer, one to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and one to the Newseum (a now-closed museum of American news/journalism). I think what made the field trips productive and successful was that the visits were an integral part of the course assignments, and students had specific outcomes from each of the visits. For example, here’s part of the instructions provided to students about the visit to the Smithsonian art museum:
During the tour, you’ll need to listen carefully to the audio recording, and ask the docent (the people in each room with name badges) questions you have about the artwork and artists. You must take notes as you go through the tour, and you may want to take pictures as well so that you can remember the paintings. Once the tour is finished, you will have time to look around on your own and select your artist/art work that you will be studying. This can be a painting or a sculpture. Make sure to take a picture of yourself with your artwork!
Products: Notes from tour, Selection of your artist and artwork to study, Picture of yourself with your selected artwork
The field trips we took as a class occurred in the first half of the semester and provided rich material for many of the activities students completed during the course. Because so many of the course activities incorporated and built upon the field trip experiences, the museum visits were viewed as integral course activities rather than fun but ultimately without connection to the course.
How do you incorporate out-of-classroom learning experiences in your courses?
For more reading:
Podcast from EdNext: The Educational Value of Field Trips
The “real value” of field trips in the early weeks of higher education: the student perspective