Our 4th grade year has become known as "the field trip year", with over 10 trips carefully aligned with learning units across the year. This article describes the first trip of the year, which in many ways sets the stage for students' effective use of field trips as engaging extensions and applications of classroom learning. The Pike's…

In this work, we present a marine ecology inquiry-based activity, implemented with 164 primary school students. The main goal was to evaluate the activity's impact on students' understanding about biodiversity and scientific procedures. We also aimed to analyse the potential use of personal meaning maps (PMMs) to assess the impact of the activity…

The authors collaborated on hosting a "Spring Inspire Day." planned and delivered by preservice elementary teachers as a social studies/science methods project. Projects that have authentic application opportunities can make learning meaningful for prospective teachers as well as elementary students. With the impetus for an integrated…

Animal and plant species identification is often emphasized as a basic prerequisite for an understanding of ecology and training identification skills seems a worthwhile task in biology education. Such identification tasks could be embedded into hands-on, group-based and self-determined learning: a) Teaching and learning should make use of a small…

Suggests ways to help children discover, study and appreciate nature through their senses, by teaching skills in observation, directing discussions of shared outdoor experiences, and helping children do research on a particular topic. (ED)

Lists 17 activities that can be used in the classroom to commemorate Wright Brothers Day. These include making bulletin boards, writing poems, and a field trip to the airport. (MA)

Analyzes the nature of the learning process and attempts to show how the three components of a reinforcement contingency, the stimulus, the response and the reinforcement can be utilized to increase the efficiency of a typical science learning experience, the excursion. (JR)

Provides teaching tips for a visit to the zoo. Includes zoo manners, background information on vertebrates, and activities to do during and after the field trip. (MA)

THE FOLLOWING IS THE FULL TEXT OF THIS DOCUMENT: In this day and age of budget problems, school districts are cutting back on many programs, one of which is field trips. Why worry? There must be dozens of trips that can be made on the playground of your school. Let's look into activities that can be accomplished there. SOIL STUDIES: Have you ever…

Cemeteries can provide valuable teaching tools for studying art, genealogy, botany, math, geology, and local history. Several activities are suggested that will make a field trip to a local cemetery a learning experience. (IAH)

Presents activities for use during and after nature walks to help young children learn about trees. (PR)

Describes a field trip to study, collect, and analyze galls in the field and classroom. Students hypothesize about factors that cause gall formation, develop a basic understanding of the complex and fragile interactions between plants and insects that result in the formation of plant galls, and determine the broader role of galls within the…

Describes a field study of dragonflies and damselflies. After a bit of background reading and equipped with paper, pencil, insect net, and work sheet in hand, students will come to appreciate the behaviors of these insects as they gain a deeper understanding of the natural world. (PR)

Describes science activities for a field trip to the beach for sixth-grade students. Explains how students can save what they find using plaster of Paris to create a sand cast. (PR)