Are School Field Trips Worth It?
Are School Field Trips Worth It?
April Nelson
April, 2013
Are School Field Trips Worth It? 2 Schools often debate about whether or not field trips are beneficial and worth the cost. The discussion goes between physical cost and the academic benefits for the students. As school budgets get tighter the amount of field trips taken within the school year gets cut and teachers have to raise the money or ask families to pay for the trip. Many schools always have required or are currently requiring that field trips provide an educational benefit before they are approved, yet the educational benefit does not always mean approval because of cost. Field trips also mean extra work for educators, the debate is whether the time put into the field trip is beneficial to the entire school community. Because of the economy and the extra work many think that field trips are not important enough to take, add in safety issues and some believe field trips should not happen. The benefits can far out way the costs if one examines the field trip experience from many different perspectives. The perspectives of the students, the teachers, and the parent chaperones should be thought of before judging if field trip opportunities benefit the school communities and the students. A field trip is any excursion that takes the students outside the classroom, The Merriam-Webster Dictionary adds “in order to experience first hand observations.” The Free Dictionary by Farlex states that a field trip is “a school trip to gain firsthand knowledge away from the classroom.” Therefore, a field trip can be as simple as going to a nearby park to look at local plants or as complex as days away exploring team building exercises or a nation 's capitol. The experience requires careful planning and preparation for the teacher-in-charge and when necessary the workers in charge of field trips at the place to
April Nelson
April, 2013
Are School Field Trips Worth It? 2 Schools often debate about whether or not field trips are beneficial and worth the cost. The discussion goes between physical cost and the academic benefits for the students. As school budgets get tighter the amount of field trips taken within the school year gets cut and teachers have to raise the money or ask families to pay for the trip. Many schools always have required or are currently requiring that field trips provide an educational benefit before they are approved, yet the educational benefit does not always mean approval because of cost. Field trips also mean extra work for educators, the debate is whether the time put into the field trip is beneficial to the entire school community. Because of the economy and the extra work many think that field trips are not important enough to take, add in safety issues and some believe field trips should not happen. The benefits can far out way the costs if one examines the field trip experience from many different perspectives. The perspectives of the students, the teachers, and the parent chaperones should be thought of before judging if field trip opportunities benefit the school communities and the students. A field trip is any excursion that takes the students outside the classroom, The Merriam-Webster Dictionary adds “in order to experience first hand observations.” The Free Dictionary by Farlex states that a field trip is “a school trip to gain firsthand knowledge away from the classroom.” Therefore, a field trip can be as simple as going to a nearby park to look at local plants or as complex as days away exploring team building exercises or a nation 's capitol. The experience requires careful planning and preparation for the teacher-in-charge and when necessary the workers in charge of field trips at the place to
References: cont. -Ward, A. (2013, March 28). Girl Hit by Arrow During Field Trip: Accident or Crime? Cops Don 't Know. NewsMax. Retrieved from http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/girl-hit-arrow-trip/2013/03/28/id/496798 -Gillett, J. (2011). The Use of Experiential Education and Field Trips for Learning. Jl. of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 20(2), 173-177. ProQuest. -Scholastic. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/volunteering-fundraising/chaperoning-class-trips -Natter, E. (2013). Ehow Mom. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/info_7910345_parents-should-volunteer-school-trips.html -KidsHealth. (2013). Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/learning/school.html