This year on one cold, wet day, the entire Upper Level went on separate field trips with their class to different locations. The freshmen were scheduled to visit the Museum of Industry and Visionary Arts Museum in the morning, and then headed to Walter’s Art Gallery that afternoon. The sophomore class journeyed to Washington, D.C. and saw the Capitol Building, and in the afternoon traveled back to Baltimore to explore Fort McHenry. The juniors went to the National Gallery of Art. The seniors took a bus to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC.
Field trip location ties in with what each class is learning about in one of their classes. For example, all sophomores are taking U.S. history. It would only fit that they travel to some important sites in early American history. Another example would be the seniors going to the Holocaust Museum. In their religion classes right now, the seniors are studying morality and social justice.
But why do students love going on field trips? Most students do. In a survey of 100 girls, 73% of the girls said that they loved going on field trips. 25% thought that going on field trips was “just okay,” while a meager 2% said that they did not like field trips. After a year with no field trips, the response for the Upper Level field trip day has been mostly positive. 88% of responders answered that they were either excited or did not really have an opinion on their field trip.
The feeling of exploring a new place and actually experiencing what is taught in the classroom is what makes field trips so popular with students. One survey respondent stated, “I think they help expand our learning. They can be fun and educational, which is a nice break.” “I like them because we get out of school,” says another, “but I think it’s useful to learn outside of the classroom too, so that it’s not just the same thing every day.”
There are negative responses about field trips too. “I don’t like field trips when you have to do school work that goes along with them,” a respondent commented. “Why can’t we just enjoy a stress free day?” Stressing over the dress code, assignments made for the field trip and assignments given based on the field trip can take away from the hands-on learning experience. Maybe that’s something that can be improved to make field trips enjoyable for everyone.