Applied Interpretation

First…What You Already Know Too Well!

Long ago and far away I had been an “in the field” interpreter / environmental educator for over a decade. I recall that during this time of year myself and other staff would begin to get the “spring rush” of school field trips to our site. In recalling this time I vividly recollect the consternation we would have in attempting to have the classroom teacher become more engaged in the lessons we would offer at the nature center. Actually we were happy if they would just keep up with the students! So the following may be painful to hear and is under the category of, “well, we know that…just wish the school teachers would follow through” but it may be just the evidence to use to plead with your visiting teachers to at least offer something to the students before they drop their kids off for the annual “outside” school trip.

Second …What You May Not Have Heard Before But Already Knew Too Well…

It is the notion that when students come to a resource site what they see, hear, touch are certainly novel to what they have experienced on a daily basis in the classroom. And with all this “new stuff” the likelihood of the children to retain actual knowledge you are trying to impart is quite a challenge. And so, not surprisingly, research has shown that to decrease some of the “novelty factor” and enable learning to occur at the site, pre and post field trip preparation has been found to be invaluable.

Third… Back To What You Already Knew But Is Reinforced Through This Research…

To illustrate the impact of classroom preparation prior to and after a field trip, a summary of the recollections of two very different field trips is depicted below:

Field Trip #1

A fifth grade class in Indiana takes a field trip to a city park that includes a large forest and a nature preserve. The three hour field trip included a guided hike and several activities related to environmental science.

There was NO classroom preparation and NO follow up regarding the trip.

One year later, students were contacted to learn what they remembered regarding the trip. Every student who was interviewed offered little to no recollection of the content that was offered during the program. In fact, many of these students hardly remembered what they even DID at the Park. Below are two examples of interview responses:

I remember we learned about nature

I think we learned about plants and played a game…

Field Trip #2

Another fifth grade class in Virginia takes a field trip to a nearby National Park. The program content for this field trip is geology of the area.

Unlike the first class, these students completed two weeks of pre field trip activities and wrote an essay following the trip.

One year after the program, the students were interviewed to learn what they remembered regarding the trip. Both content and activities were vividly recalled. Below are two examples of interview responses:

We were studying rocks in science at school and they wanted us to take a field trip up here to help us with that and we had to take a test on rocks and I think that probably helped me a good bit, on remembering what, like rocks and all.

Like, before I went I thought a rock was just a rock, but when I got there I learned about the different types and the rocks, um, how they come from lava to certain rocks and how it all goes back to lava again…like the rock cycle.

Field Trips That Are A Part Of The Class Curriculum Are More Effective…

But You Already Knew That!