Field trips
How can field trips truly impact career college students?
Hi Stevie:
Definitely - to reiterate what you've stated, these activities can be a great way to motivate your students, and renew their interest in the topics you've been discussing.
Regards, Barry
Hi Darlene:
Most local hospitals will coordinate a tour of their nutrition and kitchen areas to show a group of interested individuals the day to day processes. You might contact a hospital human resource department to try to arrange a tour of that nature.
Regards, Barry
Hi Vicki:
Yes! This is a great way of giving the students the chance to speak to others that work in an area you've been discussing, and provide them with another perspective.
Regards, Barry
Hi April:
Field trips and guest speakers can offer the student a fresh perspective of the material you've been covering.
Additionally, they may get the chance to speak with people who are working in the very field they want to work in.
Regards, Barry
Hi Danielle:
That's so true.
In general, these kinds of activities can be a great way to renew a student's interest in the topic at hand.
Regards, Barry
Hi Jamie:
That's right! Guest speakers and field trips are an excellent way to renew the enthusiasm a student may have for a particular topic you've been covering.
Regards, Barry
I believe field trips are a great thing to offer at career colleges because you are showing your students what is in their career path! As a massage therapy instructor I am continually taking my students out into the community for field trips to give members of the community that normally wouldn't receive massage a chance to receive chair massages from my students. Every time we go out we make a positive impact on our community while educating the public about massage therapy and its many benefits. I also talk to the students about how important it is to give back to the community and that in doing so you are marketing yourself in a very positive way. Therefore, when they are out starting their own business or working for someone else they have no qualms about going out into the public to give away their services once in awhile. I believe we all need to give a little in order to succeed as a whole and that's what my students are learning by doing.
Hi Miguel:
Field trips are dynmamic and nearly impossible to duplicate in the classroom as your example confirms. But they can be very inspirational and motivational as well. When student can invision themselves in a potential susccessful job, that's a powerful inner stimulus.
Regards, Barry
As both a corrections professional and an instructor for criminal justice students, being able to bring them into the jail setting and allow them to see first hand the things we read about and discuss has proven to be invaluable. I can talk about what it's like to enter a jail, but when the student experiences the sound of a security door slamming shut, the smells from the inmate kitchen, and the sight of hundreds of inmates and staff intermingled in the halls, it brings a whole new dimension to the lesson.
Hi Pamela:
Field trips are awesome tools and a type of activity that can't be duplicated in the classroom. So many students get really inspired by this relatively simle activity.
Regards, Barry
Hi Darlene,
I know it can be hard to come up with field trip ideas but one thing that I have learned is many hospitals and private doctors offices who deal with eating disorders have nutrional counselors that may be able to point you in the right direction as to where you could access viewing of a nutrional setting.
I implement field trips in my classroom because it allows the students to make an informed decision about different specialty dental offices. This past semester I taught a dental specialties course and we went on 6 field trips to different types of dental specialty offices. The students could not stop talking about it and they said it reinforced what I had taught them in the classroom. This is also a great motivational tool for career placement.
Hello, I would like to do a field trip but have limited thoughts for nutrition. Do you have any suggestions?
I have found that field trips give the students an opportunity to picture themselves in their chosen career field. By having that mental picture of themselves in their career field it can spur them on when coursework becomes difficult or they become frustrated.
Hi Don,In my opinion field trips are important teaching tool about the chosen field in career colleges and vocational schools and should be incorporated in the curriculum.They provide an opportunity for the students to see themslves already in the future successful and impacting peoples' lives and give them an early exposture to what real life in the field looks like.
That is a really good point. I wouldn't say it has anything to do with your status, but just getting the opportunity to see the reality of what you are getting yourself into.
I FEEL LIKE IN MY FIELD OF STUDY, THAT FIELD TRIPS ARE IMPARATIVE BECAUSE THERE ARE OLDER GENERATIONS JOINING THE FIELD AND I WANT THEM TO SEE FIRST HAND WHAT THEY ARE GOING TO BE DOING. WORKING WITH ANIMALS CAN BE VERY TIRING AND STRESSFUL. I WANT THEM TO BE ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT THEY ARE UP TO THE TASK AND ARE WILLING TO GIVE IT 110% AND GO THE EXTRA ROUND WHEN NECESSARY.
Hi Don:
I think many voc-ech students only have a vague idea about the career field they've chosen, and sometimes they might have major misconceptions about what the profession entails.
A good field trip can open the eyes of a student. It can "inspire their desire", motivate from within, and prove to be the spark that gets them working harder in class.
Why? Because they may have recieved a newfound vision of a possible future that's better and greater than most things they've ever done in their lives. An inner drive like that is hard to accomplish by other means. And I'll take that any day.
Regards, Barry
Field Trips are awesome for career college students because they get to see up close and personal what they are going to be doing and also allows them to network.
