Field Trips in Environmental Education

Field trips are a popular method for introducing students to concepts, ideas, and experiences that cannot be provided in a classroom environment. This is particularly true for trans-disciplinary areas of teaching and learning, such as science or environmental education. While field trips are generally viewed by educators as beneficial to teaching and learning, and by students as a cherished alternative to classroom instruction, educational research paints a more complex picture. At a time when school systems demand proof of the educational value of field trips, large gaps oftentimes exist between field trip theory and practice. Meanwhile, out-of-school educational settings struggle to provide field trip experiences that simultaneously serve multiple, often conflicting objectives and rationales. The author, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Learning Innovation in Annapolis, Maryland, utilizes an in-depth empirical study of teachers and students on environmental field trips and a thorough review of the literature to develop a framework for understanding field trip impacts and learning in out-of-school settings in general: The Integrated Experience Model. The book is useful to scholars, teachers, and educators who are involved with field trips, and to those interested in contextual factors that influence learning in informal or freechoice settings, particularly in the field of environmental science and sustainability education.