Our school just went on a field trip to a business area here in Xi’an called Xiao Zhai. Our teachers divided students into teams which had to use their Chinese-as-a-2nd-language abilities to get local cooperation with scavenger hunt style photographs they were assigned to collect. Upon returning to school, students were asked to put their photos into a powerpoint and make a presentation to the other students. The team with the best overall photos would be the winner.

I thought this was an effective field trip for the students involved, and it got me to wondering about other ways to create rewarding and stimulating field trips for the future. I stumbled across this post from Langwitches that details ideas for creating effective learning environments outside of the classroom:

What is in a Field Trip? The answer should be LEARNING! The reasons should include:

  • an integral part of the broader curriculum
  • extending learning beyond the classroom
  • learning through hands on activities
  • taking learning off the page
  • building a learning community
  • connecting it back to learning in the classroom.

Ask yourself, if every field trip you are taking your students on is a learning opportunity that connects back to past/future lessons in the classroom in some way?

Field Trip 2.0 serves up additional technological pointers for enhancing education outside the classroom:

Pre-Activitites
  • Google Earth
  • Google Maps
  • K-W-L
  • Video Conferencing
During Trip
  • Geocaching
  • Digital and/or Video Photography
  • Scavenger Hunt
  • Audio Recordings
Post Activities
  • Create Digital Field Guides
  • Analyze Photos for Details
  • Create Narrated Slideshows, Movies, or Podcasts
  • Comic Strips
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