1. OUTLINE FOR LESSON 11
“MAKING THE MOST OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES AND FIELD TRIPS”
If I were asked to quickly list some instructional tools for teachers, I'd rattle off questioning strategies,
concept mapping, and computers—but I doubt that field trips would pop into my mind. Many educators don't
take field trips seriously because we associate them with fun. They also have their drawbacks: They're costly,
logistically involved, extravagant with time, and contain an element of uncertainty. No wonder kids like them
so much. Most teachers still take at least one field trip each year
Justifying Field Trips
Field trips without obvious academic content can be hard to sell to administrators focused on test scores. To
obtain approval, most teachers try to justify field trips by citing standards and curriculum goals. Nevertheless,
the trips often get tacked onto the back end of the school year, the assumption being that they are unlikely to
directly support the reading and math skills that show up on yearly standardized achievement tests.
Field trips offer, however, a crucial advantage: They can bring balance to the curriculum. The most popular
destinations—museums, zoos, outdoor venues, and performances—have a natural fit with science, history,
and the arts, subjects that have been marginalized by our current focus on basic skills.
Moreover, musical and theatrical performances provide opportunities that many students would not
otherwise have to watch talented people demonstrate their arts. When I taught 2nd grade, we attended the
free concerts that the local symphony orchestra performed during the day for schoolchildren. Most of our
schools regularly take field trips to the community college, where students attend free plays. Performance
field trips not only have the potential to develop aesthetic appreciation in students, but they can also develop
background knowledge and oral vocabulary, which improve reading comprehension (Torgeson, 1998).
Funding Field Trips
When it comes to resource allocation, field trips are not a priority for districts. Few field trips are included in
school budgets, so most funds often come from parents (Anderson, Kisiel, & Storksdieck, 2006). The biggest
contributors, besides individual families, are site-based parent organizations that often pay for the entire field
trip, transportation, or scholarships for students whose families cannot afford the fees.
Many local grant programs fund field trips, so an Internet search and a simple grant proposal can be
worthwhile. For example, one of our local quarries paid to bus a group of earth science students out for a site
visit because the management saw it as a way to create goodwill in the community. A few organizations, such
as Target, have grant programs specifically designed to fund field trips (Target, n.d.).
Educational field trips may be developed by each school to provide a variety of experiences
and enhance the student's educational opportunities. Although field trips are adjunct to the
instructional program, each is a learning activity and bears a direct relationship to the
normal school experience.

2. For optimum student benefit, each field trip must be well planned beforehand and
thoroughly evaluated after completion. The teacher or sponsor in charge of the group is
responsible for the activity just as if it were conducted at school. All students within the
class or school group must be given the opportunity to participate in the field trip.
This procedure has been developed to assist schools in planning and conducting
educational field trips and travel to school-oriented activities off campus. The overall
objective is to facilitate optimum learning experiences through educational field trips and
school-sponsored student travel to approved activities.
FIELD TRIPS AND OTHER STUDENT TRAVEL
The Board recognizes that field trips, when used for teaching and learning integral to the
curriculum, are an educationally sound and important ingredient in the instructional
program of the schools. Properly planned and executed field trips should:
A.
supplement and enrich classroom procedures by providing learning experiences
in an environment outside the schools;
B.
arouse new interests among students;
C.
help students relate school experiences to the reality of the world outside of
school;
D.
bring the resources of the community - natural, artistic, industrial, commercial,
governmental, educational - within the student's learning experience;
E.
afford students the opportunity to study and explore real situations and processes
in their actual environment.
For purposes of this procedure, a field trip shall be defined as any planned journey for one
or more students away from District premises, which is under the supervision of an
instructional staff member and an integral part of a course of study.
Other student travel shall be defined as any planned, student-travel activity that is
approved as part of the District's total educational program.
The Superintendent shall prepare administrative procedures for the operation of both field
and other District-sponsored trips, including athletic trips, which shall ensure:
A.
the safety and well-being of students;
B.
parental permission is sought and obtained before any student leaves the District
on a trip;
C.
each trip is properly planned, and if a field trip, is integrated with the curriculum,
evaluated, and followed up by appropriate activities which enhance its usefulness;
D.
the effectiveness of field trip activities is judged in terms of demonstrated learning
outcomes;
E.
each trip is properly monitored and supervised;

3. F.
student behavior while on all field trips complies with the Student Code of
Conduct and on all other rules, policies, and procedures set forth by schools;
G.
a copy of each student's Emergency Medical Authorization Form is in the
possession of the staff member in charge.
Field trips abolish the "walls" that divide the classroom and the outside world. However, it needs
an extensive planning and ample time to be carried out. Also, its expensive cost hinder some
students, parents and other concerned citizens to support it. Thus, there is a need for us to
analyze if our field trip is really necessary or do we have alternative ways which may be cheaper
or at no cost at all.
On the good side, here are some benefits derived from field trips:
1. The acquisition of lasting concepts and change in attitudes are rooted on concrete and rich
experiences.
2. Field trips bring us to the world beyond the classroom.
3. Field trips have a wide range of application.
4. It can bring about a lot of realization which may lead to changes in attitudes and insights.
This time, let's talk about "community resources. Community resources like scenic spots,
historical places, museums, zoos, botanical gardens, and exhibits can be destinations for field
trips. Other community resources could be people themselves like parents, senior citizens and
other members of the community.
All in all, I can say that having filed trips and having community resources are important for
the fulfillment of a learner's multifaceted learning needs. There are really times that lessons in the
classroom alone are insufficient for us to fully acquire what we wanted to learn. So, we might need
to go out and see if what we perceived of a thing is truly what it seemed to be in reality. We also
need the ideas of other people for us to broaden our knowledge and perspective.