The importance of nature trips as an educational strategy

COMMUNION with nature should be a vital requirement in any educational curriculum. This is especially important today wherein there is an undeniable proliferation of distractions that often eat away at the valuable time of students. From addicting online games to mind-numbing television programs, students are constantly being exposed to factors that either hamper or slow down their educational development. An interesting and effective way of getting them back on track is to have them be involved in wellplanned nature trips. Educational nature trips are very important in the sense that they help bridge the gap between education and hands-on experience.

Education should extend beyond the walls of a classroom. There are things that students can only learn when they are outside. And in many cases, a student would be more enthusiastic in learning about something if he or she is being instructed outside in a natural setting. For example, describing the parts of a tree inside of a classroom using a standard textbook can induce boredom in both students and teachers. Now, imagine if the lesson is being done inside of a forest or a natural park wherein there’s an actual tree. Instead of using a textbook to explain the parts of a tree, the teacher uses an actual tree to point out the different parts.

Majority of students are by their nature, curious and inquisitive. Getting them involved in nature trips is a powerful way to further develop their curiosity and inquisitiveness. Nature trips create an environment wherein the willingness of students to learn are doubled or even tripled. They are more receptive to questions and they are more likely to get involved in the lessons and activities. As I mentioned earlier, nature trips bridge the gap between education and handson experience. And of course, there’s the fact that nature trips can be fun and exciting. Everyone gets to learn a lot of new things while enjoying in the process.

Trips and activities outside of the classroom play a vital role in a student’s educational development. This isn’t a conclusion that was borne out of thin air. There’s a lot of actual research that back up the claim. In a paper that dug deep into the research about school field trips and their value in education, Marc Behrendt and Terese Franklin from the Ohio University came up with the following conclusion: “Field trips offer an opportunity to motivate and connect students to appreciate and understand classroom concepts, which increase a student’s knowledge foundation, promoting further learning and higher level thinking strategies.” The two researchers add that “field trips can stimulate new learning, increase attitude towards science, trigger interest development, and provide many rewards to both the teacher and the students.”

In short, field trips which include nature excursions can play a significant role in a student’s education if these are implemented properly. There are a lot of things that a wellplanned nature trip can accomplish. It provides first-hand experiences. It stimulates interest and motivation in science-related topics. It adds relevance to learning and interrelationships. It strengthens observation and perception skills. And finally, it promotes personal development.

That last one needs a little bit of explanation. Most teachers are aware of the fact that personal development is very important in education because students are in the stage of learning how to think for themselves. They have to be guided in making personal decisions about topics and issues that they care about. Encouraging them to be active in field trips and nature trips can help in providing them with an environment where they can think more clearly and make more rational decisions.

The main takeaway here is that nature and learning make a great combination for educational purposes. Nature trips offer a wide variety of options for teaching both theoretical and practical lessons to inquisitive learners. Students tend to be more conducive to learning when they are close to nature. It’s just much easier for students to grasp concepts if the topic of the lesson is in front of them and not in the pages of a textbook. In the example I provided earlier, a student would be more engaged in the educational process if he or she is staring at a real tree.

I am not at all implying that learning within the confines of a classroom is outdated. It’s still the most effective and most powerful educational setup there is. But it would be wise to sprinkle the curriculum with field trips and nature trips wherein students are allowed and encouraged to commune with nature. I need to say it again. Nature trips help in bridging the gap between education and hands-on experiences. That, in my opinion, is the very essence of the learning process.