Most schools in India these days opt for an Educational Trip to add on to the learning experiences it provides. Every academic session has a few planned visits to different places and with different themes to enrich the experiences of students and to take education beyond the school premises and make educational trips an important part of a student’s school memories. Even though it takes a huge amount of planning on the school’s part to organize these educational trips, for students it proves to be an outing of fun and frolic. There are numerous benefits of these educational trips:
- Students look forward to the educational trips: This is one part of their education that they highly look forward to and are excited about. As such, educational trips become an important source of learning since they give students a break from the routine. It is not a bogging down daily routine but a getting out from the school building for enjoyment. Learning truly becomes fun on these educational trips. Children anticipate these trips in advance and plan exclusively for them. Even before the educational trip begins, it imbibes the spirit of planning and preparation in a child.
- Travel expands horizons: Students experience different landscapes and demographics and get an experience of the real world in its full glory. They experience the multi-cultures and develop the insight to think out of the box and be more creative. They also learn to appreciate Nature and the variety offered by it. The experience of travel gives them the experience of interacting with new people and coming across new situations. They experience a different life and learn how to deal with different circumstances without the protection of their parents.
- Educational trips facilitate learning by experience: An educational trip can awaken the curiosity and the spirit in a child to try new things and to explore the unexplored territories. This is not only crucial for the development of a child, it also proves to be a milestone in developing the learning pedagogies and understanding the different mechanisms of teaching a child will respond to. Students are engaged through visuals, hands-on experiences and community engagement.
- It is an enriching and training experience for teachers and facilitators: While on an educational trip, not on the students learn but the teachers and the facilitators also get a chance to take the much needed welcome break from their routine. It gives them a reprise from their daily hectic schedules. Teachers also find themselves in a setting when they are imparting education in creative ways while being more of a friend and a guide to the students.
- Educational trips are a bonding time for the teachers and students: It makes them grow into a family, giving everlasting memories. It gives time to the facilitators to bond with each other. Not only the students become a team, they grow closer to their teachers and the teaching fraternity also gets to understand each other better to develop the school ecosystem into a more cohesive place.