Supporting Distance Learning with a Family Field Trip
The rollercoaster of 2020 has left many families dealing with distance learning or homeschooling for the first time. While many challenges can result from students changing their learning environment and routine, learning with a field trip can still happen with the family. Adding a bit of fun can be especially important for supplementing science instruction, which is typically accompanied by hands-on activities or labs in school. Zoological facilities like zoos, aquariums, or nature centers offer many opportunities for students to learn about the natural world in informal environments.** Even if your student is not currently studying a particular part of biology or ecology, taking time to learn about nature can be a great stress reliever for the whole family. This blog will outline some tips on how to put together a scavenger hunt of your own, and ways to use computer apps to make it look tidy.
Types of Questions
Most students groan at the idea of a non-school activity having schoolwork attached to it, so it is important to keep the activity engaging and fun. For a scavenger hunt, a mixture of open-ended questions and closed questions is ideal. Closed questions look for one specific answer, while open-ended questions leave room for varying answers and explanations. Open-ended questions in a scavenger hunt will give a student some creative freedom in what they are searching for during the experience, and can encourage critical thinking skills.
Examples of closed questions:
- What classification is a whale? (answer: mammal)
- What is an exoskeleton? (answer: a hard outer body that protects an animal)
Examples of open-ended questions:
- Find two species of fish and draw them below. How are they similar, and how are they different?
- Find an animal that lives in the pelagic zone. What does this animal eat, and how does it find its food?
Reinforce Knowledge & Learn Something New
For a field trip meant to compliment a student’s studies, include topics that the student has covered in lessons to reinforce their knowledge. Since it is an experience, however, you should also include questions that the student will have to search for the answers. Learning new things on a trip is great! Not sure which topics or things to ask about? Zoo and aquarium websites have information about their exhibits online, which typically includes pictures and/or facts about certain highlighted species. This is an easy place to start for questions.
Tips for Age Ranges
Younger students (think elementary school) will likely do well with a variety of questions that use mix and match, filling in words, drawing pictures, and coloring to keep the scavenger hunt fun. Aim for simple wording and larger text with younger students. Older students (think middle school) can complete mix and match, short answer responses, and critical thinking questions. Aim for more complex wording to fit higher grade levels, such as including specific terminology. Critical thinking questions that ask for complete sentences help older students create an argument and support it with their reasoning.
Examples of critical thinking questions can be:
- If you were to create a new animal that lives in shallow coastal waters, what would help the animal survive? Draw your animal and write about its adaptations for the shallow coast.
- (If a touch tank is open and the student is willing/able to touch the animals) Touch some different animals. What did you touch? How do they feel similar or different? How does their body help them survive in their environment?
End of the Trip
During the drive home or that evening at dinner is a great time to recount the day with discussion questions. Asking these questions will review what the student(s) learned, help them relive parts of the day, and share their experience with others. It is also a way to reinforce their ability to state an opinion and explain their thoughts within a conversation.
Example discussion questions:
- What was your favorite/least favorite exhibit? Why?
- What is something you would change about the aquarium? Why?
- What is a new thing that you learned about today?
Making the Scavenger Hunt
The internet is a great resource for instructional materials, especially by utilizing images on the website of the organization you plan to tour and searching for images marked as free to use. A word program such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs works well to create the scavenger hunt. A screen capture tool, such as Snipping Tool in PC computers, can easily capture and save images to add to the document. Pictures that are meant to be colored are a handy learning tool and makes material more accessible for younger students. To find these images, type a term into the search bar along with ‘coloring page’ for free use. If you need to remove something from the captured image, open it with an editing program like Paint or Paint 3D to remove unwanted parts of the image. The example images below were captured and edited for the scavenger hunt by using the eraser tool to remove unwanted lines from the drawing. Once an image has been saved, it can be inserted into the document.
To see a real-world example of a scavenger hunt that has been tested by students and is parent-approved, please click on this link. This scavenger hunt is based on the Texas State Aquarium located in Corpus Christi, TX, and was tested by a military family who are homeschooling for the first time due to the pandemic.
**Please continue to keep yourself and loved ones safe during the COVID-19 pandemic by following the current Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines for safety, and adhering to restrictions or guidelines local to you. Not able to visit a zoo, aquarium, or other science-related center in person? Check out the links below for virtual tours that students and parents can enjoy from home. Students can still complete a scavenger hunt by searching the virtual tour for answers. When creating a scavenger hunt for a virtual tour, ensure questions are based around what a student can discover from a virtual experience (i.e. skip questions related to the senses like smell or touch, and make sure the answer is on the site somewhere).
CuriOdyssey’s list of Top 10 Virtual Tours
Hangry By Nature Blog’s list of Top 18 Virtual Zoos & Aquariums
We Are The Mighty Blog’s list of 28 Free Virtual Field Trips & Activities
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