Why Taking Your Kids on Field Trips is Important

It should come as no surprise that I’m a fan of taking field trips. After all, it’s a pretty big part of what I do here. But did you know that there’s more to taking field trips than simply having a good time with your family? 

It could be strengthening your kid’s understanding of concepts that have already been taught in class. Or it might be helping them to discover something entirely new. Whatever the case, there are plenty of great reasons for making field trips a regular part of your family’s routine! 

Field trips can help kids learn in a different way than is possible in a classroom

One of the biggest advantages of field trips is that it provides a completely different way of learning concepts from classroom-based learning. 

Classroom learning typically has a strong focus on a teacher passing knowledge down to their students. Whether it’s a lengthy lecture on the revolutionary war or a video on the kinds of creatures you can find in a coral reef, the general methodology is the same. 

Teachers introduce the subject, they explain the subject; they review the subject; they test on the subject. Individual teachers may use any number of different techniques to do this, but the overall effect is the same. Classroom learning is all about taking the teacher’s knowledge and giving it to the students 2nd-hand. (This isn’t always the case, but it often is.)

I’m not saying that classroom learning is bad or ineffective. However, I do believe that if kids are only learning in a classroom setting, then they’re missing out on something extremely important. 

Experiential learning.

Experiential learning is the process of learning information by experiencing it first-hand. Learning by doing. Field trips are an amazing source of experiential learning because it allows kids to experience the things they’re learning about where it actually happens. It’s the difference between kids memorizing a list of animals that live in a coral reef and remembering the animals that they saw there themselves, while snorkeling in a coral reef. 

The information they get from their own firsthand experiences is going to stick around much longer than what they get from the list. 

In fact, one study showed that adults who used experiential learning retained 65% of the information they learned after a period of 3 months. That’s compared to only a 10% retention rate using more traditional educational methods! 

Field trips help kids learn different kinds of things than classroom teaching

Classroom learning actually does an amazing job at teaching kids the things that schools want their students to learn. In today’s world, those things are facts and figures, like 2+2=4 or ‘the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.’ That’s great if you’re teaching kids what they need for taking tests, but it doesn’t teach kids everything they need for life in “the real world.” 

Field trips are a great way of filling in that gap. 

That’s because field trips often do a much better job of helping kids to explore how different concepts relate to what’s happening around them. It could be as simple as looking at the costs of different items and deciding whether to buy something based on how much money they have. Or it might be as complicated as discussing the ecological impacts of plastic packaging while looking at trash on the beach. 

One study took a look at how students performed on tests after a field trip vs a typical day of classroom learning. They found some pretty big differences in what gets learned through each method.

Students who went on a field trip tested far worse on a multiple-choice test than their peers who stayed in a classroom. But those same students performed far better on open-ended essay-type questions. On those questions, they were able to express how things worked, how people were affected, and how ideas were related with much more clarity than the students in the classroom. 

In essence, these students had an easier time looking at the big picture, even if they missed out on some of the smaller details like names and dates. 

Personally, that’s a trade-off that I am more than willing to make with my kids.

But most importantly, field trips make memories

Clearly, there are some major educational benefits to taking field trips with your kids, but those aren’t even the only benefits. Field Trips are also a great way to make memories with your kids. 

While it’s true that a great education is important in giving kids a leg up in life, it isn’t the most important thing. 

Studies overwhelmingly show that parental involvement in their children’s education is a critical factor when determining their ability to succeed academically. Likewise, parental involvement has been shown to greatly impact their children’s mental and emotional health. 

Using family time to take a field trip is a unique opportunity to show your kids that you not only care about their education but also about them as a person. That’s true no matter what kind of field trip you decide to take. If you are right there spending time with your kids and sharing these experiences, they are going to remember that. Probably, a lot better than the things you went to see! 

Honestly, while the educational aspect of taking a field trip is worth it, it’s these memories of exploring together that we’re after.  

Studies that have looked into the connection between positive childhood memories and lifelong health have shown children who look back fondly on their childhood are less likely to have depressive episodes, less likely to have chronic diseases, and are typically in better overall physical health throughout their lifetime! 

There are few things in life as rewarding as taking field trips with your kids. Whether it’s exploring ancient cultures by walking through their ruins or learning about local animal life by walking through the woods, field trips teach our kids things that they just can’t get from the classroom in a way that can’t be done behind a desk!