How to Create Field Guide Lessons

Develop field guide lessons around education standards that support classroom goals and objectives and create vibrant, memorable field trips. School groups visiting museums and nature centers seek lessons that support standards-based curriculum. Identify grade-specific content that complements your organization's mission; develop lessons for activities that teachers can't replicate in the classroom. Field guide lessons are easy to design and consist of pre-visit, on-site, and post-visit instructional content. Attention to details will create dynamic school group field trips.

• 1

  Identify state education standards and goals that can be uniquely satisfied by your organization. Confer with teachers for the targeted grades and ask for input--determine their needs, what can't they provide using classroom resources, what would bring them to your facility. Prepare lists of resources you can offer the students through your facility's collections.

• 2

  Define one topic for a field guide lesson. Use the state standard's language to develop the lesson's goals. A field guide lesson contains pre-visit material to prepare the teacher and students, on-site lessons for the docents or staff to present and post-visit material that provides follow-up and assessment for the teacher and for your organization's evaluation.

• 3
  Prepare materials and data-recording journals and tables when developing the lessons. financial journal and objects image by inacio pires from Fotolia.com

  Cover vocabulary and background material in the pre-visit lesson. Include practice opportunities for new skills that will be used on the visit, such as collecting data and recording observations on charts. Teachers welcome having the opportunity to practice new skills while in the controlled environment of the classroom. The lesson's design should provide practical experience for applying these new skills, while addressing your organization's behavior expectations and reviewing safety procedures.

• 4
  Field trip locations can offer microscopes and equipment schools can't always afford. microscope image by christemo from Fotolia.com

  Incorporate objectives, vocabulary, materials, discussion topics and sample questions, time allotment and pre-questions for the on-site lesson. Objectives reflect the education standards. For example: "The student knows how to use a variety of tools and methods to conduct scientific inquiry. The student is expected to collect and analyze information using tools, including calculators, microscopes, cameras, safety goggles, sound recorders, clocks, computers, thermometers, hand lenses, meter sticks, rulers, balances, magnets and compasses." In this case, develop an objective that states, "Students will conduct scientific inquiry and collect and analyze information using microscopes, hand lenses, rulers and computers."

• 5

  Conclude field trip lessons with open-ended questions and build in time for group discussion. Test for knowledge through questions that review activities from the field trip. Never ignore those activities in follow-up, or children won't understand the value and consider them entertainment rather than learning experiences.

• 6
  Post-visit lessons encourage in-classroom lessons that reinforce the field trip activity. Portrait of a styled children. Theme: education.. image by Andrey Kiselev from Fotolia.com

  Complete the field trip lesson packet with the equally valuable post-visit component that recommends follow-up activities and extensions of the on-site lesson. Use the objectives and vocabulary to guide this final step. List additional online and book resources for further investigations or expanding the experience. Make recommendations for activities, perhaps collecting a new set of data using the same form but incorporating observations from the schoolyard and comparing the results with those gathered at the facility.