What's New - May 2007

Field Trips

Introduction
The theme for May is Field Trips. John Dewey's philosophy of "education through experience" offers a sound theoretical underpinning for the use of field trips in education. Field trips, virtual or otherwise, have the potential to motivate and enrich student learning. One recent study¹ showed that students "prefer to learn math and science through real-world problem solving, visiting places where they can view science in action, and talking with professionals in the fields." These findings align with the three Rs of experiential education², that is, relevance, relationships, and real (i.e., authentic).

Several factors must be considered when planning effective and safe field trips including: identifying the learning outcomes that will be addressed; determining how the field trip will be funded, how to be sensitive to families that may be experiencing economic stresses, how the safety of all participants will be ensured, what occupational health and safety standards must be considered, what transportation will be required, how supervision will be facilitated, what local policies will influence the field trip; and so on. Virtual or electronic field trips are perhaps less complex to organize but often involve researching web sites, contacting experts, setting up and coordinating various technologies (e.g., Internet connectivity, web and/or video-conferencing equipment, computers, etc.), and so on.

Alberta Education

Alberta Education offers several resources to inform field trip planning in terms of fees, fundraising (see 1 below), and safety (see 2 below). LearnAlberta.ca offers several digital learning resources that can be used either alone or in combination with other resources to provide virtual or electronic field trips (see 3 below). Finally, curricular references to the use of field trips for learning and assessment are also provided (see 4 below).

1. Fees and Fundraising for Field Trips
   
   General guidelines for fees and fundraising, including fundraising for field trips, can be found on Alberta Education's Fees and Fundraising page at http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/quicklinks/FeesFund.asp.

   Information about charging non-instructional fees for field trips can be found in Procedure 9 from the K-12 Learning System Policy, Regulations and Forms Manual, Section 1 - Education Programs and Services Policy Requirements, Types of Schools / Programs, Policy 1.1.3 - Early Childhood Services, at
   https://www.education.gov.ab.ca/EducationGuide/pol-plan/polregs/113.asp

   ECS Program Unit Funding: A Handbook for ECS Operators for the 2006/2007 School Year (http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/k_12/specialneeds/PUFHandbook_2006-2007.pdf) provides information about allowable transportation costs for field trips.

   Chapter 4: School, Family and Community: Sharing the Responsibility of Our Words, Our Ways (http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/k_12/curriculum/OurWords/o05.pdf) suggests using sensitivity to families' economic stresses when setting field trip fees.

2. Field Trip Safety
   
   It is recommended that teachers refer to locally-developed guidelines and the Safety Guidelines for Physical Activity in Alberta Schools October 2003
   (http://www.ei.educ.ab.ca/documents/resources/safety_guidelines_2003.pdf) when preparing for a field trip.

   Safety in the Science Classroom (2006)
   (http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/k_12/curriculum/bySubject/science/
   scisafe.asp) offers specific information regarding science field trips. See Chapter 3: Facility Design and Safety Equipment for information on Number 1 first aid kit requirements for field trips, and Chapter 4: Risk Management and Chapter 5: Biology Hazards for information about planning various types of field trips.

   For more information about field trip safety, see the YouthSafe Outdoors reference below.

3. Virtual Field Trip Resources Available Through LearnAlberta.ca and the Learning Resources Centre
   
   The LearnAlberta.ca web site provides a couple of virtual field trips. The site also offers several resources that can be used in combination with other web-based materials and classroom-based activities to develop a virtual field trip. Some examples are provided below:
   
   
   • The LearnAlberta.ca web site provides virtual field trips to Spanish- and German-speaking countries to support German and Spanish Language and Culture 10 programs. These resources are animated audiovisual learning experiences that take place in various cities. Each tour presents the user with a variety of activities based on a vocabulary theme. Location specific cultural notes, worksheets and strategies are also included. Experience these tours first hand at http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/ilglt/Flash/index.html?launch=true and http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/ilslt/Flash/index.html?launch=true.
     
     
   • Grade 4 students can explore a Ukrainian learning environment on the OomRoom web site at http://www.oomroom.ca/eng/students/index.htm where they will find web links, forums, free graphics, as well as a Ukrainian encyclopedia and dictionary. Teachers can assign curricular-based tasks that require students to visit this learning environment.
     
     
   • Performing a search of the LearnAlberta.ca web site using the keywords 'Earth Voices', yields over 120 video clips of interviews with Aboriginal Elders, athletes, artists, activists, businesspeople, educators, journalists, musicians, and politicians who are primarily from Alberta. The interview segments are organized according to 11 themes which follow the Aboriginal Studies 10, 20, and 30 Programs of Study. Combined with curricular-focused pre- and post-learning activities, these interviews have the potential to provide opportunities for students to hear from community members without the need to travel. For more information about the Earth Voices Video Series see http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/asevvs/html/index.html?launch=true. Note: UserIDs and passwords are required. See http://www.learnalberta.ca/Browse.aspx?View=About for information on how to obtain userIDs and passwords.
     
     
   • Virtual Visit: Step Inside the Alberta Legislature found at
     http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/ssvv/default.html?
     page=welcome&lang=en&launch=true is an interactive virtual tour of the Alberta Legislature. It provides a realistic, three-dimensional environment replicating the layout, scale, lighting, and features of the Legislature building, where the user is able to look and move around as they would in the real building. Users create their character, and can choose to take either a guided tour or explore the building on their own. Detailed information about the paintings, displays, and other objects found in the Legislature is available. Multimedia activities that align with Alberta Programs of Study are also provided.
     
     
   • The video clips provided in the National Geographic Science Centre at http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/ngs/index.html?launch=true provide visits to Arctic, desert, grassland and rain forest communities that can be used as part of virtual field trips. The National Geographic Science Centre also offers teachers' guides, activity sheets, data pages, maps, graphics, games, articles, and assessment items which are correlated to several natural science topics. Note: UserIDs and passwords are required. See http://www.learnalberta.ca/Browse.aspx?View=About for information on how to obtain userIDs and passwords.
     
     
   • LearnAlberta.ca also provides Video Space: Social Studies, which contains a collection of videos selected to support the learning outcomes identified in the Social Studies Program of Studies. The videos present stories that promote student learning and inquiry into issues of sense of self, community, and responsible citizenship in an inclusive democratic society. For example, Our National Parliament: The Inside Story (Series: Government in Canada), found at http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/ssvs/movieLauncher.html?
     movie=smil/national_parliament_inside_story.smil, offers students an opportunity to visit the national parliament virtually.
     
     
   • Students can also visit a sawmill to learn about sawmill processes (see http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/ctmr/MovieResourceLauncher.htm?
     asset=MovieResourceLauncher.htm?asset=movies/FOR2070BE.mov). This virtual field trip is part of a series of resources designed to support Alberta's Career Technology Studies, specifically For2070. See
     http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/ctmr/index.html?launch=true for more information.
     
     
   • SciQ: Science Revealed (http://www.sciq.ca) periodically offers virtual field trips and podcasts to students in Alberta's classrooms. The most recent field trip, March 13, 2007, involved putting students in contact with experts and researchers through a live virtual field trip to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump located in southern Alberta. Check out the QLIVE section of the site for information about upcoming virtual field trips and podcasts as well as the technical requirements.
     
     
   • Wetland Explorer is a CD-ROM-based learning resource that supports Grade 7 science and is available through the Learning Resource Centre (http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/lrdb/detail.asp?id=10360). Students experience a virtual field trip to a prairie wetland and get a close-up view of its inhabitants. They can explore six wetlands through scrollable panoramic photographs and by selecting tools such as binoculars, a dip net, and a guidebook, which give information about flora and fauna or the ecosystem itself. Sound effects and movie narrations are included. Students can take pictures and paste them into a personal journal where they can also type their own notes. These pages can be printed as a report on their activities and what they have learned. A Teacher guide with classroom worksheets is included.
   
   
   
4. Curricular References to Field Trips
   
   Field trips have the potential to enrich student learning experiences in many, if not all curricular and cross-curricular areas. A couple of examples are provided below:
   • Career and Technology Studies, Enterprise and Innovation Module, Guide to Standards and Implementation, Intermediate Assessment Tools
     (http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/k_12/curriculum/bySubject/cts/eandi/
     interent.pdf) suggests that students achieve the learner expectations related to venture financing by arranging a guest speaker and/or field trip to determine franchise operations and to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of equity financing and debt financing.
   • Chapter 7: Meeting the Needs of All Students of the French as a Second Language, Guide to Implementation 7-9 (Interim) suggests using field trips as a means of enhancing students' naturalist/physical intelligence (see http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/french/FSL/implGuides/7_9/default.asp for more information).

Alberta Teachers' Association
http://www.teachers.ab.ca/

The Alberta Teachers' Association states that "field trips mix the real world with classroom theory and give students experiences that would be impossible in a classroom." The ATA web site provides excerpts from Jane Bluestein's Being a Successful Teacher that offer several suggestions for effective field trips. See http://www.teachers.ab.ca/Quick+Links/Publications/The+Learning+Team/
Volume+9/Number+4/Planning+successful+field+trips.htm for more information. Questions about field trip supervision are also answered at http://www.teachers.ab.ca/Quick+Links/Publications/ATA+News/Volume+41/
Number+13/QA+41-13.htm.

Canada Safety Council, Field Trip Safety
http://www.safety-council.org/info/sport/outdoor.html and YouthSafe Outdoors, Field Trip Safety for Alberta Schools
http://www.youthsafeoutdoors.ca/YABS.html

These web sites offer information of value to those planning outdoor activities for students and are considered the preferred resources for field trip related information by school boards in Alberta. Resources include trip planning checklists, emergency protocols, student rights and responsibilities contracts, informed consent, and much more.

Sampling of Virtual Field Trips
A quick search of the World Wide Web revealed thousands of sites offering virtual field trips. Electronic or online tours of galleries and museums are the most prevalent. A sampling of ten virtual field trips, both local and far-a field, is provided below. These virtual experiences can be used to support learning outcomes in second languages, social studies, science, visual art, and history programs of studies.