In middle school we went on a series of walking field trips around Cambridge where we studied the various monuments around the city and learned about their historical significance. I still remember leaning over my clipboard on the Cambridge Common, writing notes about Irish famine monument there. Later we designed and built a model of a monument of our own to something we deemed worthy of commemorating.
Both my kids were lucky to have a veteran teacher in their public preschool who was an intrepid field tripper. An annual favorite was always “take the subway <somewhere> and then come back.” 3 and 4 year olds can learn a lot about city life from a ride on MBTA with a great teacher!
I want to second the ideas in this post for several reasons:
1) The evidence by Jay Greene and his colleagues for the impact of well-designed visits to museums and theatre is VERY compelling. The museum study, for example, found an impact on critical thinking when students later were asked to evaluate a piece of art that they had not seen before. This is exactly the type of deeper learning, durable, and transportable skills envisioned in "portraits of a graduate."
2) In addition to the examples in this piece, there is also good experimental data (see research by Courtney Collins et al.) that shows positive impact (vocabulary, knowledge) of well-designed visits to zoos and aquariums as well. One interesting study also found a positive impact from well-designed zoo visits on reduction of negative behavior.
3) An analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Surveys that shows disparities in visits to these types of institutions by socioeconomic status. This elevates the importance of school-based field trips. It gives some children the opportunity to have experiences through school that other children get through home.
4) Finally, museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, and historical sites are well-suited to help children with a particular class of skills -- unconstrained skills -- that are the bottleneck for improving reading and math achievement. These skills develop from direct and indirect instruction and experiences inside and outside of school. I wrote a post a few months ago about the importance of this type of informal learning experiences: https://www.unconstrainedkids.com/p/how-informal-learning-can-help-to
In elementary school in rural Tennessee, we took a field trip to a meat processing plant. At the end of the tour, they gave each of us a cold hot dog. No bun, no condiments, and it was 9:30am, way too early for our young appetites to want lunch. So one kid threw their hot dog in the pond beside the parking lot. And then we all did. By the time we left, there were over 100 hot dogs floating in the pond. Peak elementary school experience.
I have wonderful memories of field trips to see shows at our regional theater in Cincinnati - it developed my love for theater arts and exposed me to shows I would have never otherwise seen. Once I became a HS English teacher in Baltimore, I was able to pull off the same type of trips for my own students, knowing what is possible. Having my whole grade participate in my hobby once every year or two was validating, as an arts kid growing up in a sports town, and fueled my passion and motivation for school overall!
I agree with everything you say here, especially the NCLB effect. I love the sweep of history going from the cheese bus origin story to the space race Science centers! My one disagreement is: I want one field trip A MONTH.
I have two things to add.
1: Teachers need to learn (or re-learn?) how to do field trips well. Even if the purpose is to have fun and see something cool, they need to plan and organize.
I was a parent chaperone on my daughter’s sixth grade trip to the Intrepid. They walked around aimlessly, and a sort of random tour guide said some random things and then we ate lunch. It could have been so much more if one of the teachers went ahead of time and they set some expectations, gave the students a scavenger hunt or something to do, and activated prior knowledge beforehand.
2: Besides being fun, field trips support the new*, amazing trend of the Science of Reading. Comprehension is bolstered by background knowledge, and field trips are a great way to build it. That’s assuming teachers have curriculum that is built at least around some topics, and they can plan ahead to take trips coinciding with or before the related units.
I loved the cultural excursions (a children's concert by the Cleveland Orchestra; a Broadway musical). But then there was this: In sixth grade, our school took us to a mental health institution. It was the first time I had ever seen 'crazy' people walking around aimlessly and talking to themselves or rocking in a chair. It was like a scene from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. To this day I have no idea why we went there.
Timely article, Tim. I too just posted about field trips or, more precisely, fieldwork- which take a similar but importantly different view on the more traditional field trips you describe. Fieldwork intentionally approaches adventures out of the classroom as data collection opportunities that connect and extend learning in the classroom- read an example of what an exemplary fieldwork opportunity looks like here from my son’s 3rd grade class.
GPSN has been working in partnership with LAUSD to run the Summer of Joy initiative. Through that, they've provided access to a field trip for every kid who participates. They've funded nearly 2000 field trips the last 4 years. https://gpsnla.org/summer-of-joy/
In 6th grade we took a week-long trip to Long Lake Conservation Camp -- the entire 6th grade went and of the week here's what I remember decades later: long walks in the woods, lots of laughter, scary stories about large frogs that live in bogs, everyone doing creative writing about the experience and publishing a booklet of the writings, and an epic bog walk -- where everyone was up to their chests in peat bog -- just so messy, wonderful, and incredible. The important role of bogs to our ecosystem was imprinted in me, as was just so much mud and peat.
As a parent, I think about the laundry that came home and I lament that students today don't have the same opportunities to adventure with their peers and teachers. I'm all for the cheese buses saving our schools and making them suck a little (or a lot) less.
I love this idea! It's a double-win because you get tech out of K-4 hands. They need to be doing tangible writing, coloring, drawing with paper and real texts anyway (don't get me started) and field trips are awesome. I grew up in Colorado and in 4th grade we went to Mesa Verde National Park. This was the 80s so they let us 9 years climb down on the ladders into the cliff dwellings (2025 me cannot believe a) the liability of kids literally climbing up/down cliff and b) they let us just wander in priceless artifacts).
Great post, Tim! I loved field trips so much as a student, I always found a way to make them happen as a teacher in Boston. My best memory of a field trip growing up was in 2nd grade when my teacher, Ms. Trautwein, took us to Tod's Point--our local beach--to search for periwinkles (snails) in the low-tide. To our great shock, we then went back to the school to eat them. I'm not sure if/how she cooked them, but I do remember being grateful for the ketchup.
Outstanding post! Loved field trips as a kid (though I feared the ‘pick a partner’ process). Our best one was to the Hayden Planetarium at the Natural History Museum in NYC (though I loved the Morris County Museum too - whoever said that, hey! from another proud Morris County kid, born and raised!).
I also love chaperoning field trips as a parent now. I learn so much about the kids, their interests, their manners (or lack thereof). Absolutely enlightening in multiple ways. As a chaperone, the Spy Museum is amazing — they lead the kids in a forensics lab to catch Robert Hansen.
I agree 100%. Do you know of the nonprofit Live It Learn It in DC? They have made taking field trips with students at low income schools their mission.
We really need a system of accountability that takes into account strategic investments in learning like this.
Yes, there’s value in standardized testing and moving the needle on short term student outcomes, if done correctly. But if Toyota, for all its operational efficiency, fired all its high paid designers and engineers and stopped coming up with new cars, they’d be out of business within the decade!
In middle school we went on a series of walking field trips around Cambridge where we studied the various monuments around the city and learned about their historical significance. I still remember leaning over my clipboard on the Cambridge Common, writing notes about Irish famine monument there. Later we designed and built a model of a monument of our own to something we deemed worthy of commemorating.
Both my kids were lucky to have a veteran teacher in their public preschool who was an intrepid field tripper. An annual favorite was always “take the subway <somewhere> and then come back.” 3 and 4 year olds can learn a lot about city life from a ride on MBTA with a great teacher!
I want to second the ideas in this post for several reasons:
1) The evidence by Jay Greene and his colleagues for the impact of well-designed visits to museums and theatre is VERY compelling. The museum study, for example, found an impact on critical thinking when students later were asked to evaluate a piece of art that they had not seen before. This is exactly the type of deeper learning, durable, and transportable skills envisioned in "portraits of a graduate."
2) In addition to the examples in this piece, there is also good experimental data (see research by Courtney Collins et al.) that shows positive impact (vocabulary, knowledge) of well-designed visits to zoos and aquariums as well. One interesting study also found a positive impact from well-designed zoo visits on reduction of negative behavior.
3) An analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Surveys that shows disparities in visits to these types of institutions by socioeconomic status. This elevates the importance of school-based field trips. It gives some children the opportunity to have experiences through school that other children get through home.
4) Finally, museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, and historical sites are well-suited to help children with a particular class of skills -- unconstrained skills -- that are the bottleneck for improving reading and math achievement. These skills develop from direct and indirect instruction and experiences inside and outside of school. I wrote a post a few months ago about the importance of this type of informal learning experiences: https://www.unconstrainedkids.com/p/how-informal-learning-can-help-to
In elementary school in rural Tennessee, we took a field trip to a meat processing plant. At the end of the tour, they gave each of us a cold hot dog. No bun, no condiments, and it was 9:30am, way too early for our young appetites to want lunch. So one kid threw their hot dog in the pond beside the parking lot. And then we all did. By the time we left, there were over 100 hot dogs floating in the pond. Peak elementary school experience.
I have wonderful memories of field trips to see shows at our regional theater in Cincinnati - it developed my love for theater arts and exposed me to shows I would have never otherwise seen. Once I became a HS English teacher in Baltimore, I was able to pull off the same type of trips for my own students, knowing what is possible. Having my whole grade participate in my hobby once every year or two was validating, as an arts kid growing up in a sports town, and fueled my passion and motivation for school overall!
I agree with everything you say here, especially the NCLB effect. I love the sweep of history going from the cheese bus origin story to the space race Science centers! My one disagreement is: I want one field trip A MONTH.
I have two things to add.
1: Teachers need to learn (or re-learn?) how to do field trips well. Even if the purpose is to have fun and see something cool, they need to plan and organize.
I was a parent chaperone on my daughter’s sixth grade trip to the Intrepid. They walked around aimlessly, and a sort of random tour guide said some random things and then we ate lunch. It could have been so much more if one of the teachers went ahead of time and they set some expectations, gave the students a scavenger hunt or something to do, and activated prior knowledge beforehand.
2: Besides being fun, field trips support the new*, amazing trend of the Science of Reading. Comprehension is bolstered by background knowledge, and field trips are a great way to build it. That’s assuming teachers have curriculum that is built at least around some topics, and they can plan ahead to take trips coinciding with or before the related units.
*sarcasm font
I loved the cultural excursions (a children's concert by the Cleveland Orchestra; a Broadway musical). But then there was this: In sixth grade, our school took us to a mental health institution. It was the first time I had ever seen 'crazy' people walking around aimlessly and talking to themselves or rocking in a chair. It was like a scene from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. To this day I have no idea why we went there.
Timely article, Tim. I too just posted about field trips or, more precisely, fieldwork- which take a similar but importantly different view on the more traditional field trips you describe. Fieldwork intentionally approaches adventures out of the classroom as data collection opportunities that connect and extend learning in the classroom- read an example of what an exemplary fieldwork opportunity looks like here from my son’s 3rd grade class.
https://jaredfox.substack.com/p/what-my-sons-3rd-grade-class-taught
GPSN has been working in partnership with LAUSD to run the Summer of Joy initiative. Through that, they've provided access to a field trip for every kid who participates. They've funded nearly 2000 field trips the last 4 years. https://gpsnla.org/summer-of-joy/
In 6th grade we took a week-long trip to Long Lake Conservation Camp -- the entire 6th grade went and of the week here's what I remember decades later: long walks in the woods, lots of laughter, scary stories about large frogs that live in bogs, everyone doing creative writing about the experience and publishing a booklet of the writings, and an epic bog walk -- where everyone was up to their chests in peat bog -- just so messy, wonderful, and incredible. The important role of bogs to our ecosystem was imprinted in me, as was just so much mud and peat.
As a parent, I think about the laundry that came home and I lament that students today don't have the same opportunities to adventure with their peers and teachers. I'm all for the cheese buses saving our schools and making them suck a little (or a lot) less.
I love this idea! It's a double-win because you get tech out of K-4 hands. They need to be doing tangible writing, coloring, drawing with paper and real texts anyway (don't get me started) and field trips are awesome. I grew up in Colorado and in 4th grade we went to Mesa Verde National Park. This was the 80s so they let us 9 years climb down on the ladders into the cliff dwellings (2025 me cannot believe a) the liability of kids literally climbing up/down cliff and b) they let us just wander in priceless artifacts).
Great post, Tim! I loved field trips so much as a student, I always found a way to make them happen as a teacher in Boston. My best memory of a field trip growing up was in 2nd grade when my teacher, Ms. Trautwein, took us to Tod's Point--our local beach--to search for periwinkles (snails) in the low-tide. To our great shock, we then went back to the school to eat them. I'm not sure if/how she cooked them, but I do remember being grateful for the ketchup.
Outstanding post! Loved field trips as a kid (though I feared the ‘pick a partner’ process). Our best one was to the Hayden Planetarium at the Natural History Museum in NYC (though I loved the Morris County Museum too - whoever said that, hey! from another proud Morris County kid, born and raised!).
I also love chaperoning field trips as a parent now. I learn so much about the kids, their interests, their manners (or lack thereof). Absolutely enlightening in multiple ways. As a chaperone, the Spy Museum is amazing — they lead the kids in a forensics lab to catch Robert Hansen.
I agree 100%. Do you know of the nonprofit Live It Learn It in DC? They have made taking field trips with students at low income schools their mission.
We really need a system of accountability that takes into account strategic investments in learning like this.
Yes, there’s value in standardized testing and moving the needle on short term student outcomes, if done correctly. But if Toyota, for all its operational efficiency, fired all its high paid designers and engineers and stopped coming up with new cars, they’d be out of business within the decade!