Advantages of Curriculum Linked School Trips

Monday, November 5, 2012
Most of us are familiar with what has become a childhood ritual - School trips! That's right, taking children for school trips like amusement parks, farms, factories, nature centers and other outdoor activities contributes some of the key elements in their learning process. Several researches have documented that school field trips to a great extent, contribute to their cognitive skills and environmental concepts. Moreover, children get a positive attitude towards their environmental science and have better perception when it comes to acquisition of knowledge and skill.

Furthermore, field trips can stimulate a natural interest in nature related concepts or give them a bigger picture of what they want to do when they grow up. Although, almost schools indulge in school trips once in a while, most parents and teachers overlook the amazing benefits that come with these school trips and the impact it has on children's education.

Here Are Some Excellent Advantages Of Conducting Curriculum Linked School Trips:

• Reinforcement - taking a child to a trip can help a teacher reinforce what she has been instructing them in class about a subject, and this helps children understand the topic better since they see real examples. Also, it becomes easier for a teacher to reinforce her subjects and instructions on children without taking much effort, as children can see their subjects in real life, which makes it easier for them to understand.

• Engaging – teaches can make these field trips as their mobile classroom since the teacher can keep on teaching students on her subject while they are on the trip, and children on the other hand can enjoy their trip while still take in the effect of studying in a classroom.

• Activities – once you're back from the trip, teachers can encourage students to collect data about their trip, perform quizzes for them to enjoy and do projects based on what they learned on their field trip.

• Curiosity - we all know that children are quite inquisitive in nature and when kids get to visit places which they have never been before, they tend to learn more about the subject which have been taught in class, and explore their questions by themselves.

• Exposure - not all get to visit places they like, and when they get this opportunity through a field trip, they get the exposure that they had never experienced before. This is especially for students who are less fortunate and do not find opportunity to travel with their parents.

•Episodic memories - educational trips can create an everlasting impression on children’s memories, as their episodic memories can retain information for longer period of time. Hence, it is guaranteed that children tend to learn better about a subject from a field trip than what they generally do through textbooks.

• Perspective – another example of how students benefit from educational trips is by absorbing new perspectives of the word. It doesn't matter how big or small the duration of the field trip is, when children come in direct contact with different environment, they develop new perspective on different places, culture and the society.

A place which has recently become extremely popular for such field trips is SEA Life, as it accommodates 1000 different marine species with some of the rarest creatures that have thought to the extent. The entire place is covered with 14 different themes that can mesmerize children and yet give them the most intense marine educative experience.