Are field trips wasted on kids vs teenagers?

[YuneKirby]

Field trips at a young age are meant to inspire kids and spark their interests in areas they may not have explored before. Done well, I think this still works today, even though they may not "learn" as much.

Field trips for teenagers can definitely have value too. A lot of public schools won't do them because high school class sizes tend to be much larger, making it too expensive or impractical. It varies from school to school.

[Nadiru]

Field trips aren't wasted on teenagers, but the propensity for teens to fuck off and do something else is pretty high. Younger kids are a little harder to keep track of, and so require one or two more adults to keep an eye out, but the kids are way more easily impressed, and their brains get a lot out of experiencing new stuff, maybe even moreso than teenagers, I don't know.

[Danifilth]

field trips happen less for teenagers since they become trouble makers around that age.

[Kaleredar]

It's much more difficult to wrangle the schedules of high school students than that of elementary school kids.

Elementary school kids, for the most part, have a single teacher all day. High school students have five or six. What if a test is scheduled on the day of the field trip for another class? Or a presentation? Or two tests? Do all the teachers from one subject have their classes go on the same day? If so, you're essentially pulling the entire grade base off to some location for an entire day, leaving the other teachers to do... what, exactly?


The only classes subject to "field trips" at my high school were specific electives and AP classes. I got to go on fieldtrips for both beginning and Advanced robotics; Advanced robotics saw you competing at a three-day long event with the robot you had built, and the beginning robotics students were privy to a fieldtrip for one day of the events. In AP Environmental science we went to a wildlife refuge, and for AP Art History we went to the Getty Art Museum.

[dextersmith]

Why is that? To me its wasted on them since they are too fixated on fun and really don't learn anything.

Books don't teach social values or life experiences like how farm animals stink. Ever went to a convention in grade 6, befriended kids from other schools, prepare a short skit with transient strangers, and perform it before 300 kids? Parents can't give you that. No fear of public speaking here.

[PACOX]

My favorite trip was going x-mas shopping since my parents never took me. That wasn't educational but it taught friendship, kindness, quality time, generosity, and sharing.

My elementary school would set up a mock store in an empty classroom so that they could go Christmas shopping. You were heavily encouraged to not buy gifts for yourself and there was credit (I guess money donated to the school or whatever) for poorer kids so that they could by something for their family.

[dextersmith]

My elementary school would set up a mock store in an empty classroom so that they could go Christmas shopping. You were heavily encouraged to not buy gifts for yourself and there was credit (I guess money donated to the school or whatever) for poorer kids so that they could by something for their family.

We met Santa at the mall!

[Adio]

I use to love going on field trips when i was a kid. We'd travel to space, go back in time to see dinosaurs, travel through other children's digestive system. Loved Miss Frizzles class

[Polyxo]

I loved a lot of the places field trips would take us to. I hated most of the field trips that took us there. Stumbling around in a group of 30 kids, especially when you're always the shortest person in the room means I spent my whole day standing there, staring at someone's back, and hearing some tour guide drone on. There were some field trips wthat were sort of enjoyable (class trip to Washington Dc, where we could explore in small groups was fun), but most were just terrible for me.

[Deleted]

Field trips ARE a general waste of school money. They're fun for the kids but they don't learn jackshit.

[nextormento]

I took a lot of field trips in school in the younger years. Had a blast. Learned next to nothing despite going to places like the science center(place near my area), the zoo and other places with animals. As I am out of school now, I look back and remember no field trips in highschool. I would have loved them, and probably learned a Lot more. I mean, a teenager can understand everything better and really study what they are viewing. As kid really wont be good at doing that and will care about having fun more then learning anything.

So I ask, who here believes the same thing? Should field trips happen to highschoolers / teenagers more and for kids less?

You learned that those places exist.
When you have the power to decide which one you fancy the most -such as when you are a wee older- you go. By yourself.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Wasted on younger kids, can provide a few good pointers for teens around the age where they leave for uni, still mostly useless in the grand scheme of things unless it fits the current curriculum of the students and they actively prepare/review the learned things. My experience is mostly that it is used as an excuse for a day off (even for the teachers), only exception were excursions in 12th grade and uni done by the STEM field teachers, which to the horror of half the class actually had the goal to teach something.

[Acelius]

In my experience field trips with older students are often a waste. Most students dont care about museums and whatnot and it is always such a place the teacher will take the class. It encourages childish behaviour and ruins it for the few interested.