How to Plan a Successful Field Experience
Field Experiences can augment classroom experiences by:
- Making content come alive;
- Providing hands-on experiences to engage kinesthetic and tactile learners; and
- Allowing students to make connections between the classroom and their community.
The tips below, from the Classroom Earth Teacher Advisory Committee, will help you plan a worthwhile Field Experience.
Pre-Planning
Examine your curricula to identify areas where a Field Experience can enhance your course content. Be sure to think carefully about what content students will learn before, during and after the Field Experience. The strongest Field Experiences connect directly with your classroom content.
Examples of Field Experiences:
- Use a Field Experience to explore or define a theme that will be used to analyze literature.
- Plan a data-gathering trip providing students an inquiry-based experience which builds lab skills, and statistical or math skills back at school.
- Visit a local nature, science, or environmental education center where center staff can interpret the local environment.
Other Planning Tips:
- Plan activities that will engage all of the students.
- Think about how to engage small group learning.
- Focus on one or two major learning outcomes.
- Consider calling your outing a ‘Field Study’ or ‘Field Experience’ instead of ‘Field Trip’ to highlight this academic connection.
- Offer students an experience (overnight experience, canoeing, science laboratory, etc.) that goes beyond their prior experiences to create a lasting memory surrounding the content.
- Partner with local community or environmental organizations to design your Field Experience.
Preparing for Your Field Experience
To ensure a successful field experience:
- Visit the location that you have selected to ensure that it meets your educational goals.
- Prepare your students by providing them with lessons and classroom activities that are connected to the Field Experience. Are there site-specific or local resources available that will enhance the experience?
- Provide students with excursions outdoors prior to an extended trip to get them familiar with learning outside of the classroom. Take them outdoors for a short, highly-focused experience on the school grounds a few times prior to an extended field experience. Be prepared for the first time to be a bit chaotic since students need to develop their skill sets and ability to learn in a different environment.
- Secure the support of your principal and other teachers who may have students participating in the Field Experience to identify subject areas that link to their classroom lesson plans.
- Coordinate with other staff in order to encourage them to piggyback, if possible, on the experience.
Logistical Considerations
- Start planning several months in advance – make travel arrangements, contact the selected site for reservations, send out permission slips, etc. Will using school-based transportation provide enough time on site or should approved private transportation be utilized?
- Look for volunteers – parents or other community members may be willing to help lead and coordinate the Field Experience. Be sure they have been approved by the school administration. Can parent or community volunteers be trained in advance to help with the educational goals of the field experience or supply expertise that will benefit the students?
- Double check the logistical arrangements as the date draws nearer.
- Check with the school nurse or appropriate health professionals regarding medications and special student requirements. How will mid-day medications be administered?
- Delegate appropriate roles for other accompanying adults and student leaders.
- Prepare contingency plans in case of inclement weather, bus breakdown, missing staff members and medical emergencies.
- Plan to be back at school on time, but be prepared for the unexpected. Have a mechanism in place for alerting the school and parents if you have traffic delays, unplanned stops, etc.
- Make bus assignments and assign one person with the responsibility of counting students to ensure that you return with the same number of students you started with.
On the Day of the Field Experience
Throughout the day, do what you can to connect the new learning to prior knowledge and previous classroom experiences. Be sure to help your students get the most of the experience by:
- Paying attention to student engagement levels and adding more structure or more hands-on activities as needed.
- Reinforcing the learning of new content by questioning students.
- Leaving time for student reflection before returning to school.
- Avoiding paper-pencil activities.
Upon Return from your Field Experience
After your field experience, help make the most of the experience by:
- Reflecting and connecting student observations and learning with your classroom.
- Building on the learning and relationships that were created.
- Providing students with a chance to share observations, findings and learning.
- Sharing Field Experience lessons broadly with other teachers, parents, students and the community.
- Evaluating whether the goals of the Field Experience were met.
Gathering Feedback and Input from Students
To cultivate a culture of successful learning on Field Experiences, take time to get input from your students. Consider asking your students the following questions:
- What did they learn?
- What problems did they encounter?
- Was the experience relevant to their classroom assignments?
- Did each student participate in the hands-on activities?
- Can the data collected be used throughout the school year?
- What was the best part of the Field Experience?
