A Guide to Field Trips

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A Guide to Field Trips

Olivier Serrat2015

On Learning

Learning is not the transmission of knowledge from one person to another: it is a situated, social process whereby meaning is co-constructed to make sense of the world. Excepting complex concepts or isolated facts, learning outcomes are most readily impelled by interactive, experiential problem-solving in a real-life environment. Learning outcomes, both short-term and long-term, may involve the development or deepening of skills, knowledge, understanding, values, ideas, and feelings.

The Domains of Learning

Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives distinguishes three domains of learning: (i) cognitive, (ii) affective, and (iii) psychomotor. The cognitive domain relates to mental skills; the affective domain relates to emotions; and the psychomotor domain relates to physical skills, including manual dexterity. A fourth domain of learning, relating to interpersonal skills, has in recent years attracted more attention.

The Role of Emotions in Learning

Learning has cognitive, affective, psychomotor, and interpersonal dimensions and cannot be considered a mere "product" of study in formal educational establishments. The most powerful learning emerges from experience, upon which one has reflected consciously to effect a more or less permanent change in behavior. Emotion that drives attention is important in education because attention stimulates learning.

The Affective DomainAffect is essential for learning but the affective domain is also the least studied, most often overlooked, and hardest to evaluate of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. We forget that infants respond to how something is said long before they understand what is said. Affect is the experience of feeling or emotion from interaction with stimuli, implying a degree of acceptance or rejection.

More on the Affective Domain

There are five levels in the affective domain, moving through the lowest order processes to the highest:

• Receiving—Being aware of or sensitive to the existence of certain ideas, materials, or phenomena and being willing to tolerate them.

• Responding—Being committed in some small measure to certain ideas, materials, or phenomena by actively reacting to them.

• Valuing—Ascribing worth to certain ideas, materials, or phenomena.

• Organizing—Ascribing worth to certain ideas, materials, or phenomena within an internally consistent value system.

• Characterizing—Acting in accordance with an internally consistent value system.

Affect and Field TripsWe must, more comfortably, incorporate emotion into education. Field trips (or excursions) are an attractive proposition: they offer fertile grounds for affective learning in out-of-school settings, either through (brief) observation or (slightly) more sustained investigation under a "project".

Broader cognitive learning outcomes such as development of process skills are also increasingly looked at. All the same, one might argue that any gain is a bonus considering the brevity of most field trips—typically, 30 minutes to one hour. Outdoor environmental education programs for teenagers can last anything from one day to three weeks.

Recess

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember,

involve me and I

learn.―Benjamin Franklin

Most learning is not the result of instruction. It is rather the result of

unhampered participation in a meaningful setting. Most people learn best by being "with it," yet school makes

them identify their personal, cognitive growth with elaborate planning and manipulation.―Ivan Illich

On Process SkillsChildren learn by doing: toward this, they rely principally on sensory experience to reflect on and acquire knowledge. Process skills, necessary to solve real-life problems, are most judiciously developed during early childhood (6–8 years of age) to (i) spark interest and curiosity, (ii) structure thinking, and (ii) integrate learning experiences.

More on Process SkillsPell-mell, the principal process skills relate to:• Symbolizing—Using symbols to represent an idea.• Observing—Using senses to learn about something.• Classifying—Arranging and labelling objects by common attribute.

• Segmenting and Blending—Separating or joining the parts of a whole.

• Describing—Verbally portraying the attributes of an object, person, or event.

• Questioning—Making inquiries that might set investigations in motion.

• Investigating—Seeking detailed information on a subject.

• Collecting and Interpreting Data—Gathering, organizing, and synthesizing evidence; seeing patterns.

• Forming Conclusions—Identifying the main idea; generalizing results; retelling events.

• Problem Solving—Formulating a strategy to work out a solution.

• Predicting—Suggesting an event in the future, based on observations.

On Field TripsField trips are excursions to locations selected for educational purposes, during which children interact with exhibits, facilities, and surroundings in their functional settings to gain an experiential connection to ideas, materials, or phenomena they study (from afar) in the classroom.

Field trips are commonly the most memorable scholastic experience of children (and young students) in their formative years. Regardless of content area, this is because they inspire situated learning in integrated and interacting personal, social, and physical contexts.

The Interactive Experience Model• The personal context of a

visit relates to each child's individual characteristics and cultural background; intrinsic motivation and expectations; prior knowledge, interests, and beliefs; and choice and control.

Personal

Context• The social context of a visit pertains to within-group sociocultural mediation as well as mediation facilitated by others.

Social Context • The physical context of a

visit includes advance organization and orientation; exhibits, facilities, and surroundings as well as the "feel" of the location; and reinforcing events and experiences outside the site.

Physical

Context

Field Trip FavoritesAquariums Cathedrals Community

Agencies

Farms Historical Sites

Horticultural Gardens

Industrial Facilities Libraries Museums

National Parks

Natural Settings Planetariums

Science Centers Theaters Zoos

More on Field TripsBy placing an accent on exploration, discovery, and involvement, what with the added excitement caused by the unexpected, field trips amplify affective experience. Because they involve all five senses, they provide multidimensional experience that cannot be reproduced—let alone lived—in a classroom.

Beyond the cognitive skills that classroom education emphasizes, viz., numeracy and literacy, field trips can most notably promote affective learning outcomes such as increased curiosity, interest, or intrinsic motivation; improved attitude towards a topic; and such values as empathy and tolerance if the outdoor setting involves community service. The expression of such affective learning outcomes often involve statements of opinions and beliefs and assessments of worth.

Recess

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time

to time that nothing that is

worth knowing can be taught.―Oscar

Wilde

I think the big mistake in schools is trying to teach children anything, and by using fear as the basic motivation. Fear of getting failing grades, fear of not

staying with your class, etc. Interest can

produce learning on a scale compared to fear as a nuclear explosion

to a firecracker.―Stanley

Kubrick

On Formal Experiential Learning for Children

Some organizations, e.g., government agencies, museums, and businesses, offer excellent formal experiential learning activities and programs, which are usually run by a venue's staff; teachers find these comfortable because the students are bound to a choreographed agenda. However, such activities and programs give insufficient opportunity for students to personally interact with and connect to the experience.

The State of the Art of Field Trips …

Field trips have a distinguished history in primary and (early) secondary education—with early uptake in Germany at the close of the First World War. Notwithstanding, they remain an insufficiently understood and therefore underused pedagogical technique. To reach their undoubted potential, field trips should be properly conceived, adequately (but not excessively) planned, well taught, and effectively followed up. (They also deserve more attention from sociologists.)

… and How to Improve Them

Field trips should, among others:

Define learning outcomes, however "soft" they may be.Embed the field trip in a classroom's curriculum through alignment with related topics and design of pre-visit and post-visit materials.Offer multiple learning opportunities in situ.Take advantage of the unique qualities of the setting and provide experiences that cannot be replicated in the classroom.Provide a degree of structure but allow time for exploration, discovery, and involvement.

… and How to Improve Them

Field trips should, among others:

Give children a measure of choice and control over their individual and group experience.Extend opportunities and encouragement for children to engage in discussion with both adults and with their peers.Emphasize exploration, discovery, and involvement rather than transmission of facts, with the intention to collect primary experiences and data for subsequent analysis in the classroom.Be continuously improved through feedback from teachers and children.

What Conditions OutcomesField trips cannot replace school-

based education but they should not have to compete to demonstrate their pedagogical worth. In formal education, learning outcomes are customarily pre-decided independently of the learner, for example through curricula and defined standards. In field trips, learners are invited to drive their own learning outcomes. Notwithstanding, the learning outcomes a field trip can impart are conditioned by the structure of the field trip, the personal context of children, the social context of the visit, the novelty of the physical context, teacher agendas and actions during the field trip, and the quality of preparations and follow-up experiences.

On Generic Learning Outcomes

Progress must also be made in assessing the "soft" outcomes field trips deliver. In 2008, the Museums, Libraries, and Archives Council in the United Kingdom developed an Inspiring Learning Framework to help identify benefits that people gain from interacting with museums, libraries and archives. The Council delineated Generic Learning Outcomes in the areas of (i) knowledge and understanding; (ii) skills; (iii) attitudes and values; (iv) enjoyment, inspiration, and creativity; and (v) activity, behavior, and progression.

RecessWe cannot know the consequences of suppressing

a child's spontaneity when he is just beginning to be active. We may even suffocate life itself. That humanity which is revealed in all its intellectual splendor during the sweet and tender age of childhood should be

respected with a kind of religious veneration. It is like the sun which appears at dawn or a flower just beginning to bloom. Education

cannot be effective unless it helps a child to open up himself to life.―Maria Montessori

Crucial to science education is hands-on involvement: showing, not just telling; real experiments and field

trips and not just "virtual reality".—Martin Rees

Generic Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and

Understanding

Skills

Attitudes and

Values

Enjoyment,

Inspiration,

Creativity

Activity, Behavior, Progressi

on

More on Generic Learning OutcomesThe GLOs are

inspired by a

postmodern view of learning

which holds that:

• Learning is integral to life.• Learning is constructivist, experiential, and performative—involving active minds and bodies.

• Learning is a process by which individual and collective identities are produced.

• Culture is a practice that creates meaning.

• Socio-cultural differences give knowledge perspectival character.

The GLOs help to:

• Talk to people about learning.• Reinforce people's understanding significance of learning.

• Analyze the work of museums, libraries and archives and help them understand their impact.

• Design better learning experiences and spaces.

More on Generic Learning Outcomes

The GLOs do not measure learning as such. However, they do collect direct and

sometimes intimate information about what people say they learned. There is no

discernible reason why the GLOs should not find profitable use in the context of field

visits.

The Generic Learning Outcomes Checklist

Knowledge and Understanding

• Knowing about something• Learning facts or information (e.g., subject-specific, interdisciplinary/thematic

• Making sense of something• Deepening understanding• Learning how organizations operate (e.g., a library, museum, national park)

• Making links and relationships between things (e.g., naming things, people, places)

• Using prior knowledge in new ways

The Generic Learning Outcomes Checklist

Skills

• Knowing how to do something• Intellectual skills (e.g., reading, thinking critically and analytically, making judgments)

• Key skills (e.g., numeracy, literacy, use of ICT, learning how to learn)

• Information management skills (e.g., locating and using information, evaluating information, using information management systems)

• Social skills (e.g., meeting people, sharing, team working, remembering names, introducing others, showing an interest in the concerns of others)

• Emotional skills (e.g., recognizing the feelings of others, managing intense feelings, channeling energy into productive outcomes)

• Communication skills (e.g., writing, speaking, listening)

• Physical skills (e.g., running, dancing, manipulating, making things)

The Generic Learning Outcomes Checklist

Attitudes and Values

• Feelings and perceptions• Opinions about ourselves (e.g., self-esteem)• Opinions about or attitudes toward other people• Attitudes towards an organization (e.g., a library, museum, national park)

• Positive attitudes in relation to an experience• Negative attitudes in relation to an experience• Reasons for actions or personal viewpoints• Empathy and capacity for tolerance (or lack of these)

The Generic Learning Outcomes Checklist

Enjoyment, Inspiration, Creativity

• Having fun• Being surprised• Innovative thoughts, actions, or things• Creativity• Exploration, experimentation, and making things• Being inspired

The Generic Learning Outcomes Checklist

Activity, Behavior, Progression

• What we do• What we intend to do• What we have done• A change in the way we manage our lives (e.g., study, family, community contexts)

• Actions (reported or observed)• Change in behavior• Progression (e.g., toward further learning, developing new skills)

RecessDo not train a child to learn by force or

harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with

accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.―

Plato

Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.―

Margaret Mead

It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of

instruction have not yet entirely

strangled the holy curiosity of

inquiry; for this delicate little

plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom. Without this it goes to wrack and ruin

without fail.―Albert Einstein

Further Reading• ADB. 2008. The Reframing Matrix. Manila. Available: www.adb.org/publications/reframing-matrix

• ADB. 2009. The Five Whys Technique. Available: www.adb.org/publications/five-whys-technique

• ADB. 2009. The SCAMPER Technique. Manila. Available: www.adb.org/publications/scamper-technique

• ADB. 2009. Wearing Six Thinking Hats. Available: www.adb.org/publications/wearing-six-thinking-hats

• ADB. 2009. Asking Effective Questions. Manila. Available: www.adb.org/publications/asking-effective-questions

• ADB. 2011. Critical Thinking. Manila. Available: www.adb.org/publications/critical-thinking

Further Reading• John Falk and Lynn Dierking. 2000. Learning

from Museums: Visitor Experiences and the Making of Meaning. AltaMira Press.

• Jennifer DeWitt and Martin Storksdieck. 2008. A Short Review of School Field Trips: Key Findings from the Past and Implications for the Future. Visitor Studies. Vol. 11, No. 2 pp. 181–197. Available: dx.doi.org/10.1080/10645570802355562

• Museums, Libraries, and Archives Council. 2008. Available: www.inspiringlearningforall.gov.uk/

Videos• ADB. 2012. The Five Whys Technique. Manila. Available: vimeo.com/67185517

• ADB. 2012. The Reframing Matrix. Manila. Available: vimeo.com/67186254

Olivier SerratPrincipal Knowledge Management Specialist

Regional and Sustainable Development Department

Asian Development Bank

[email protected]/knowledge-managementwww.facebook.com/adbknowledgesolutionswww.scribd.com/knowledge_solutions

www.twitter.com/adbknowledge