The distance traveled and the duration of the field trip will vary, depending on its purpose. A short walk through the school building to study energy use, a trip across town to tour a shopping mall, or a day long study of the mangrove estuary at the Cockroach Bay Environmental Studies Center are all valid forms of field trips. Field trips are rich in educational possibilities because students learn from actual firsthand experiences, rather than by simply reading or hearing about something. Involvement in a real world experience makes learning more meaningful and memorable. Since field trips can add variety to the regular instructional program, they tend to be special and enjoyable learning experiences, ones which develop positive attitudes in students toward related classroom activities.
Field trips make students aware of learning activities in everyday life.
Visits to supermarkets, shopping malls, or urban centers are typical field experiences which teachers may overlook. Field trips help the students appreciate the relevance and importance of what they learn in the classroom. Determining blood type is a skill which can be learned in a school laboratory setting, but students may not learn the importance of this skill until they observe what goes on in a real hospital where life and death of real patients may depend on this skill. Comparative shopping is another lifelong skill which, though it may be learned in the classroom, takes on a whole new meaning at a shopping mall or grocery store. Field trips provide an opportunity to involve students, parents, and the community in the instructional program.