Summary
Field trips as a teaching method have long been widely used in educational and extracurricular activities. They are visits to a place that provides some interest for students. Any process of learning is learning, and field trips are exactly the process of learning. Even at the initial stage, specific goals must be met, the knowledge that must be obtained when visiting any places provided by the curriculum. A field trip is not just a trip to the public park, which resembles another physical education lesson. The main purpose of the event is to familiarize students with the surrounding world.
Field trips have many great pedagogical opportunities and advantages: concretization of the notion, promotion of the creation of vivid, imaginative representations, the attraction of various sources of knowledge, and reproduction of the best-studied phenomena and events studied earlier. The main advantage of field trips is that students are provided with new learning opportunities through experience. Children gain new experiences that can expand their horizons. The key points, theories, and concepts that were studied in the classroom can be significantly strengthened. Sometimes learning information presented in a new way can seriously change the student’s understanding.
The study of online educational resources was conducted to learn more about the field trip experience. The online platform for teachers, Teachers Network, provided a large amount of information on educational topics. The article that gave advice on how to work in an elementary school classroom was particularly interesting. It explained how to create a positive environment with the use of effective teaching and literacy programs, how to do individualized student assessments, and make a structured classroom (Balanced literacy, n.d.). This information was valuable since the work in this study was carried out with children of elementary school age. On the website Edutopia, there is an article about the impact of games on education. Farber (2021) discusses helpful books that provide “practices for using games to teach ethics and civics skills, such as communication, critical thinking, empathy, and reflection.” Some of these can be implemented in field trips for better educational outcomes.
I have also studied examples of various lessons for elementary classes. This can help in a greater understanding of how to teach a lesson to children of a given age, how to present information better, and maintain discipline. These aspects can be applied not only within the class but also when going on a field trip. In addition, I have explored the possibilities of conducting a trip in an online format. This can be useful in situations where it is not possible to hold an event in a public place or in the presence of poor hiking conditions.
The success of such actions is largely determined by the extent to which the teacher showed interest in this work. The strength of the proposed field trip is precise planning in advance (Jones, n.d.). Furthermore, the choice of the topic of the lesson is of particular importance (Boeve-de Pauw et al., 2019). There are several problems that teachers face when developing field trip work. These problems need to be solved before the proposed trip. Preparing for such an occasion sometimes takes a long time if the teacher wants the most out of it.
It is necessary to coordinate the route, to resolve issues with transport. Moreover, field trips can be expensive, and some students will not participate due to financial problems. In addition, students will find themselves in a broader environment than in the classroom, leading to additional discipline problems. Teachers must establish strict rules of conduct and exclude any possibility of inappropriate behavior of students during trips.
Reflection: Conclusions and Applications
Field trips have a large number of advantages over classical lessons. Among the most significant of them, it is worth highlighting: the best consolidation and memorization of the information given to them in the classroom by students and the cohesion of even the most unfriendly team because in the course of the tour, every child, even a little sociable, will find a friend of their interests. In addition, they promote relaxation and rest, which will certainly have a positive impact on the performance of students. During the field trip, the teacher can better understand the interests of the children, get closer to them and win their respect. Expanding the horizons of schoolchildren also acts as a plus, giving them the opportunity to visit a new, as yet unknown place for them.
It is worth noting that collective learning makes it easier to assimilate knowledge, which improves the quality of training. However, one thing that needs to be changed and added to the instruction is the number of children in the group. It is essential to come up with a specific number of children in the group when going on a field trip. Large groups of children are difficult to organize, which can be a disadvantage of field trips, and it is impossible to keep track of many students at once. Some students receive a sufficient amount of new knowledge in such cases, and some are overlooked and lack information. A field trip in elementary school can have a strong impact on the student’s involvement in the group, expand their understanding of the world and themselves, and face unusual conditions.
Virtual Observation Log
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References
Balanced literacy: 2 hours 10 minutes in a 2nd grade classroom. (n.d.). Teachers Network. Web.
Boeve-de Pauw, J., Van Hoof, J., & Van Petegem, P. (2019). Effective field trips in nature: the interplay between novelty and learning. Journal of Biological Education, 53(1), 21-33.
Farber, M. (2021). Games can have a powerful impact on learning. Edutopia. Web.
Jones, L. (n.d.). Enhancing Field Trips. Green Teacher, 25-29.