Field Trip

Chapter 8

Field Trip

Introduction

• Today, educationists have come to realize that the immediate Environment is a wonderful curriculum laboratory providing extremely dynamic, interesting and real-life opportunities for learning. In its historical records every Environment has the stories of people and resources woven into the pattern of national development. Basic social processes and problems operate in every Environment in action for or against. As we investigate social problems, they become concrete in our own communities. Thus, the Environment provides concrete data on cultural, industrial, political and geographical facts and relationships. As these data are tangible, seeable and describable the school should take itself to the Environment, regard it as laboratory, discover its resources, understand its culture, appreciate its problems and also suggest solutions to these problems. Through the use of resource people, field trips, environment surveys, service projects, etc. it should open doors for experience for a child to have knowledge about the factories and farms, social agencies and museums, council sessions and union meetings.

• The school and the Environment must work together in the process of education in a co-operative and collective quest. In the absence of this living, dynamic relationship between the two, education will be anemic, unreal, and unable to make any abiding impact on the mind and character of children. The life of the Environment is powerfully influenced by social purposes the techniques of production, knowledge and culture. Not able to keep pace with these changes and adjust its programmers to them the school becomes an outdated, backward-looking agency. Modern school cannot be an island in the midst of the Environment. It must enrich the Environment and the Environment must support it. The two-way traffic should not only be possible but also pleasant and useful.

• Let us study the Environment, use the Environment, serve the Environment and involve the Environment in the educational process.” Let Environment Education reform shall start with the relining of the school to Environment and the restoring the intimate relationship with the environment.

Methods of Utilizing Environment Resources

There are basically two ways in which the teacher may make use of environment resources—

• Taking the school to the Environment 
• Bringing some of the Environment to the school

METHODS OF TAKING THE SCHOOL TO THE ENVIRONMENT

he emotions of children are most easily reached not by words but by sights and sounds. This is possible through field trips, surveys, camping, service projects, etc.

Field Trips

• Environment Education teaching programmers are not complete without a field trip. Field trips may be undertaken for securing information, changing at des awakening interest, developing appreciation, promoting ideals, enjoying new experiences. Initiating a unit of study, they can be a part of the core of it or they can give it the finishing touch. They are a means of getting first-hand knowledge and confirming and supplementing second-hand knowledge. They are a means for sharpening observation, testing principles and doing everything, which Environmental Science requires.

Types of Field Trips

• Complex undertakings—These require elaborate transportation, full-day planning, and additional adult helpers. These longer trips to historical sites and special events beyond the local Environment have exciting destinations to be explored for problem-solving and project executing the offer valuable opportunities for observation of the easily planned visits to factories, radio stations, newspaper plants, wholesale and retail establishments, libraries and the like.

• Simple undertaking—These may be embarked at the moment of conceiving the idea—the walk around the block to see nature and man getting ready for winter, the Journey to the neighboring farm, the walk through the park to gather some needed specimens etc

Uses of Field Trips

• Stimulating imagination and laming through sensory perceptions—Some examples are the taste of fresh milk, the breathtaking heat of a glass furnace, the metallic hum of a weaving room, the sight of real things in the real world of adults. 

• Integrating classroom instruction—This is done by exposing the artificiality of traditional subject-matter divisions and enabling the pupils to view facts and forces as they exist in their everyday relationship in living communities. 

• Environment Realization through the field trips the student may come to realize Environment in ways different from bookish laming. They may come to know, see and feel their Environment as a way of life, “acting with vividness”.

• Laming the art of living with others—Traveling in the same conveyances, sharing rooms, sitting at the same table, participating in the same experiences are helpful on marking. Character qualities and defects come to the surface

Procedure of Field Trip

• Preparation A field trip should be planned democratically, organized properly, and executed carefully. Permitting our pupils an immediate reconciliation with “life in the round” requires a preface and follow-up connected with and extend to classroom study. It should be much more than “going to places and seeing things.”

• Objective Every pupil, as well as the teacher, should become fully aware of the objective why this particular trip is being planned, and of how it is related to his own classroom experiences and activities.
• Guidance Appropriate audio-visual aids may be used both for initial motivation and for general orientation to what will be seen on the trip itself. It will be better if the teacher suggests guide questions, which the pupils might put, while approaching Environment leaders from whom they want useful information about the various aspects of Environment life. Major purposes should be clarified and made specific.
• Information The teacher should be thoroughly familiar with the best route, bus stops provisions for guide service, things to be seen and done by the group, aspects or phases of the resource centre to be stressed or ignored, eating arrangements, time needed at each stage of the trip, etc.
• Definite follow-up activities These also form an integral part Utilizing Environment Resources in Teaching Environmental Science of any well-arranged trip. They may take the form of reading books on the places observed, writing reports or descriptive accounts, preparing scrap-books, panel or forum discussions.
• Evaluation Trips should be evaluated in terms of the originally established purposes. Mistakes and difficulties should be diagnosed; the conduct of the group should be discussed. The letters of thanks should be written to the persons concerned.

ENVIRONMENT RESOURCES

Environment surveys provide excellent educational experience to senior pupils. They constitute an organized and systematic method for an accurate determination of social or physical data.

• Surveys foster comprehensive understanding of Environment structure and processes in their everyday operation, interaction and complexity. 
• They are extremely useful in stimulating depth of insight into vital Environment problems, which should be met. 
• They suggest possibilities for student participation in the affairs of the Environment. Such constructive participation imparts training to the pupils in democratic citizenship. 
• They develop awareness of human inter-dependence and of the practical necessity of general civic cooperation in carrying on successful individual group living. 
• Existing conditions can be critically examined and the way it is prepared for superior citizenship

Scope of Environment surveys

• Any aspect of the Environment, which has meaning for young people. 
• Past history of the locality, the social institutions, the customs, the traditions, the conventions, the ceremonies, the folk ways, the folk songs, and folk stories.
• Problems of the Environment such as the problems of housing, health, sanitation, employment, taxes, traffic is some problems in which pupils will be interested

 School camping

• The drift to cities and the rapid tempo of modern living is creating a need for developing a closer relationship between human beings and natural resources. Called a classroom in the woods, the camp is a part of the larger Environment. The outdoor environment, in and around the camp, offers tremendous possibilities for true education. The opportunities to learn, work and play amidst the natural resources of the area stimulate interest and concern for the protection and wise use of the natural resources of the Environment.

Advantages of School Camping

• Learning by doing School camping encourages direct learning experiences and has potential life-situations that are conducive to the most effective teaching methods, through learning by doing, seeing, hearing, testing, smelling and feeling with a minimum of answers given by teachers and resource leaders.

• Miniature environment the school camp is a miniature Environment with the campers and teachers as citizens. Many of the problems, faced by the Environment are inherent in the camp social as the handling, preparation and eating of food, sanitation, sewage disposal, housing health habits, social and cultural differences and the process of representative government.

• Democratic group life Camping experience is democratic group living, which proves useful in inculcating good qualities in the pupils. It enables the pupils to understand the physical environment and to use natural resources wisely. It provides additional real situations including work experiences, where may be applied many of the ski1I and attitudes developed in the classroom.

• Duration and types of Duration of the camping will depend upon the age of the pupils. Camping can be taken during school time for a one-week period, two weeks or a longer period. Similarly, the types and patterns of camping will vary according to the. age of the pupils. Appropriate activities can be taken up by the campers depicting the folklore and history of the area, Indian life, transportation, correction of soil erosion, excavation of relics, etc.

Examples of Service Projects

• Social service among the backward population of the town. This includes cleanliness, ‘anti-mosquito campaigns, bathing young children, attending on the sick. 

• School labour service being organized on special occasions. These may be Republic Day, Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti and Gandhiji’s Death Anniversary. Activities like planting of trees, road repairs and erection of platforms, cleaning of drains, digging of manure pits and drain, may be taken up.  Animal welfare. This may be done through provision of water facilities, fodder and medical aid.  Beautification of villages. This may be done through’ planting of trees, laying out of avenues, clearing up of public places like streets, temples, drains, etc. 

• Relief Parties. Relief parties consisting of teachers and pupils may go out in the service of the Environment at times of natural emergencies such as floods, epidemics, fire, earthquakes, etc., They may leave their classrooms to plant trees in out-of the way places of the Environment. They may help the Environment on fairs, festivals, and elections. They may undertake anti-mosquito campaigns, attend the sick, etc., or work on fund raising for the welfare of the poor

Advantages of Environment Service Projects

• They lift education from the dull routine of leading each generation in the footsteps of its predecessor, to earnest yet joyous adventures in cooperative welfare. 

• They help in raising the status of the pupils. Their all-round growth and development is stimulated. Service projects help in making world citizens out of provincial youngsters because they lift the imagination from personal matters of the moment of the enduring life concerns of all peoples everywhere. 

• Children have a hunger for participation, which may be fed by experience. Schoolroom walls should disappear. The school and Environment must combine to meet the challenges of the crises that may beset the Environment so often

Precautions in Use of Environment Projects

• Service projects undertaken by the school should not be too complex, costly, dangerous, involved or delicate. These should be discovered through Environment surveys and other informational learning activities. 
• Education weeks, clean-up weeks and youth weeks, projects in public safety, civil beauty, health, agricultural and industrial improvement, local history and protection of resources are some of the projects through which the pupils and Environment can mutually benefit.
• Teachers of foresight and patience shall do much to provide functional, realistic and democratic education through such Environment service programmers. 

METHODS OF BRINGING THE ENVIRONMENT TO THE SCHOOL

• People as well as books are desirable sources of information and inspiration. In every Environment no matter how small or isolated, the scores of people of rich and varied background, who can open doors to vivid learning experiences? These include the banker, the doctor, the engineer, the merchant, the artist, the sarpanch, the municipal commissioner and the editor. These are Environment’s human resources, which can be utilized by the enterprising teacher to enrich and vitalize the school programmed. These distinguished men are resource persons who can explain to students their own important role in the Environment and services rendered by them to Environment in the different directions. Important persons from other towns, states and countries can also be invited to create better understanding of different types of people. This will help students identify themselves with other people and their problems.

• Lectures by resource persons provide the students opportunities for developing social skills in real life-situations such as letter writing, making introductions, receiving guests, carrying on conversations, listening attentively and leading discussions.

Form of Data regarding the resource person's Name:

• Parent-teacher associations It has been well said that people “care when they share”. Parent-teacher associations create a constructive involvement of parents in the school policy and programmed planning, execution and evaluation. They co-operate in making the school a real Environment Centerton locate and list resource visitors to the classroom, to assist with field trips and surveys and to develop the Environment programmed generally. Parents’ participation in the school programmed is also an intrinsically rewarding process for them. They know what is going on in the school and what is expected of their wards. When the parents of the children in his charge appreciate the work of a teacher, it gives him encouragement and inspires him towards better and greater efforts. Thus, parent-teacher associations serve as two-way channels of communication between school and Environment.

• n these associations, parents meet the pupils in the school and relate their experiences. Their success serves, as mottos and failures as eye-openers for the pupils. When they ‘talk’ to children in the school the gulf between and Environment is bridged. The experiences from the parents may be used in socio-drama in which children play the role of parents and other important characters of the Environment. The characters acted out by the children can be made use of in teaching to give factual information regarding skills, biographical comparisons, local customs and individual’s peculiarities. It can be a rich source of conveying social, economic and moral values.

• Social service activities the school furniture; the rooms, the playgrounds, the school hall, the school gymnasium and audio-visual aids may be lent to the adult Environment for purposes of education and recreation. School can be made the centre of social education. Bulletin Boards may be set up, containing daily news and other useful information about the local Environment in particular and the country in general. 

• Celebration of festivals and national days Environmental Science teaching can be improved with the help of fairs, festivals and national days celebrated in the Environment. Every child is told about the significance of these social events, which provide opportunities for dynamic, interesting and real-life learning. Celebrations of the birth and death anniversaries of great men like Janm-Ashtami, Good Friday, Easter Day, Shabe Barat, Id-ul-Zuha, etc, make the children familiar with the noble ideas and deeds of the great men. These can tell the children about the different religions and the beliefs of India. Familiarity with them can develop in the children a noble ideal of toleration and a spirit of accommodation. Cultural festivals like Raksha Bandhan may help to give an insight to the children into Indian culture. Festivals like Lohri and Basant Panchami, national days and U.N. Day, Human Rights Day and Red Cross Day may develop international understanding and make the children understand the life of human beings allover the world. Celebration of Children’s day may enable them to realize their own charter of rights. Observance of Social Education Day may show them the magnitude of illiteracy in our country.

•  Local fairs and festivals A number of local fairs and festivals are celebrated in every locality. These can enlighten the pupils about the local traditions and local customs. Interesting talks may be arranged on how to celebrate local fairs.

Advantages of Utilizing Environment Resources in Environmental Science

• Natural way of imparting education. A study of the Environment is useful for imparting education in a natural way. Proceeding from the known to the unknown and from the near to the distant it is natural process of establishing relationship, particularly suitable to young students. 

• Growth of new interests. A survey of the Environment and a study of its problems, provide opportunities for the growth of new interests, which are natural and creative, not imposed from outside but developed from within.  

• Choice of vocation. Study of Environment offers a wide choice of vocation to school children who observe various groups of people in the Environment engaged in different economic activities for the welfare of the Environment. This observation creates interest and urge in the minds of some boys to explore industries, means of transport and communication, trade, commerce, business, agriculture and so on in their adult life. Some girls may feel inclined to home nursing, preparation and distribution of food, teaching or religion. Thus, a choice of vocation for adult lifemay be made by students right from the primary or secondary school stage. 

• Social use of leisure. Interested in the Environment outside the school, the student would spend his spare time in the study of some specific portion of the Environment life. Carrying this interest beyond school days, he may acquire a technique for using the increased leisure at his disposal creatively and usefully. 

• Development of skill and attitudes. After studying the problems of one’s Environment, one may think of development of one’s city, town or countryside. The students may 

Suggestion

• Environment experience enrich social study instruction, in order to achieve the purpose of Environmental Science, the child must become a real part of the Environment in which he lives, interact with it and contribute to it. He must become a responsible member of Environment with civic attitudes and ideals compatible with the spirit of democracy. Again, venturing into the Environment, gives children an opportunity to observe and to participate in the basic human activities that characterize living in the social group under the careful guidance of the school and of cooperating Environment groups and field trip is the best way to develop these type of skill in the students at school leve.