Field Trip Sites
Place—Field Trip Sites
Summary: Planning a field trip to learn about the Oregon coast? Connect students with your field trip destination prior to your visit, to better prepare them for the experience and to reduce some of the novelty that could inhibit effective use of time while on site.
Concepts to teach: Preparation Phase, spatial location of field trip site, watershed, use of equipment
Goals: It will be clear to the students where they are going on their field trip, what they can expect to see and do there, and what behaviors and actions will be expected of them.
Standards:
SS 03.GE.01
SS 05.GE.01
Specific Objectives:
- Locate the field trip destination on a map and connect it with the school through both a land and water route.
- Preview features of the field trip site through the institution’s website, video, and/or personal contact with staff.
- Practice using skills and new equipment at a familiar site prior to the trip.
Activity Links and Resources:
- B-WET Meaningful Watershed Education Experiences: BWET MWEEs—This document outlines the importance of Preparation, Action, and Reflection phases for experiential learning.
- Connect your local field experiences with distant trips to the coast. Compare and contrast field sites through data collection, journaling, or other activities.
- OCEP Meaningful Watershed Education Experiences: OCEP MWEEs—Steps 3, 4, and 5 of this document describes some specific goals for the Preparation phase of field experiences.
- Research Based Field Trip Challenges and Recommendations
- The following is a list of OCEP partner institutions, most of which offer educational programming for K-12 classes on field trips. Contact the institutions directly to set up a field trip and to access pre-visit materials. Some OCEP institutions may be able to provide a web-based meeting between their staff and your classroom prior to your visit. View a map with the location of all the OCEP institutions.
- South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Charleston, OR
- Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, Charleston, OR
- Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, OR
- Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport, OR
- High Desert Museum, Bend, OR
- Tryon Creek State Park, Portland, OR
Assessment:
- Discuss with students what they know and how they feel about the field trip site, and address misconceptions and concerns.
- Use field equipment properly to collect reliable data in a familiar environment.
- Generate a list of equipment, protocol for collecting data and/or driving directions to the field site
