Field Trips
I think field trips are a GREAT way to connect the course information with real life work experiences. Also including time for Q&A with a couple of employees of different status helps connect the experience and even motivate the students to want to excel at their studies.
April,
This is great! One field trip in a class would be very nice, multiple field trips seem like that would be awesome. The follow-up activity takes just the simple "being there" experience to a higher level when you ask your students to recall and relate their thoughts on the experience. I think this helps cement positive memory that student has, and for you, reading your student essays may give rise to place additional emphasis on some segment that some (or many) students still have misunderstanding, misconceptions, or maybe just providing the whole class with clarifying or supplemental information.
Barry Westling
Another step besides the Q & A with employees, is that I ask my students to give an essay as to how this relates to the course as well as how it relates to the real world experience. THis way it gives the student to put themselves into the postion and determine how this would fit into their expections. I also try to schedule a variety of trips so the student is aware that there is more than one area to show interest.
