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We all know that experiential learning has great impact on our students \u2013 learning can, and should, happen everywhere. But valuable learning experiences outside the classroom are not easy to plan, execute, and follow up on \u2013 what to do?<\/p>\n
Let the whole campus be your classroom! Despite the challenges, a carefully planned and integrated on-campus field trip offers tremendous learning potential for all students. As a means of offering students multiple means of engagement and representation<\/a> of your content, consider getting out of the classroom and taking advantage of all our campus and location have to offer. Admittedly, meeting students outside of the regular class meeting time can be logistically challenging and sometimes costly. So rather than traveling to distant destinations, consider an on-campus destination that is close enough to walk to (and from) in the 75 minute meeting period.*<\/p>\n There are many potentially educational destinations on or around campus. For example, 9th Street<\/a> is a super place to discuss just about any dimension of the history of Auraria<\/a>. There you will find Casa Maya<\/a>, St. Cajentan’s<\/a> and the Golda Meir House<\/a>. Also right on campus, the Tivoli<\/a> has a colorful history as well as contemporary uses \u2013 including fully function brewery and pub! Additionally our campus is home to several art displays, including the Emanuel Gallery<\/a> which is housed in Denver\u2019s oldest standing religious structure (it’s been a church and synagogue). Nearby, we find the Pepsi Center<\/a> which offers walking tours, as well as, Larimer Square<\/a> that offers an obvious history lesson, and is also a stop on a walking tour of Denver’s Beat Legacy<\/a>. In addition to the obvious lessons in history, lessons in sociology, anthropology, literature, art history, architecture, urban planning, civil engineering, education, and more might be facilitated through an on-campus\/local walking field trip. Really the possibilities are limited only by imagination and preparation!<\/p>\n Here is an example of how to effectively incorporate on-campus field trips, taken from an Environmental Sociology class. After discussing the reciprocal relationship between society and nature in class, students head off to Cherry Creek. Here they start by simply making observations that illustrate the influence of nature (Cherry Creek in this case) on our community, and our community. Inspired by the real-life setting, students never disappoint with their creativity and imagination in this exercise in divergent thinking<\/a>. To allow for multiple means of expression<\/a>, students next identify a \u201csocio-environmental problem\u201d (a prominent topic in the curriculum) involving Cherry Creek, and then choose an additional \u201cfield-trip follow up assignment\u201d from a list of assignments that include:<\/p>\n Practical considerations include:<\/p>\n For additional resources and support in planning field trips \u2026<\/p>\n\n
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Still Thirsty? Take Another SIP of On-Campus Field Trips<\/h2>\n
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