Field trips

London's Freud Museum

One of the many boons of the Experience Scotland program is the ability to utilize field trips. There have been optional field trips to places like Rosslyn Chapel and Stirling Castle and mandatory field trips like Glasgow. Although London was not technically a field trip, students and I were able to learn about topics in psychology, such as Freud’s work and technology used to study the brain.

Old oaks

In my classes, we have been able to take field trips, too. In statistics, students have been able to go out and collet their own data to analyze. We’ve headed out to the Dalkeith Cemetery to examine life spns and to the old oak grove on the Dalkeith grounds to look at the circumferences of the oaks. Both of these mini field trips allowed us to get out of the classroom and apply what we have been learning.

Old oaks

For General Psychology, we went to the National Museum of Scotland. Students were required to see two exhibits: the Mammoth Exhibit and the Millennium Clock Tower and respond to questions about those exhibits. The Mammoth Exhibit had lots of hands-on activities and interesting learning stations to help us all learn about mammoths and their behavior. The Millennium Clock Tower is a stunning sculpture that memorializes the human suffering of the 20^th century – a powerful topic. Students explored on their own and answered questions about several other exhibits. They were asked to apply psychological concepts such as learning, memory, development, environmental influence, and attraction as they explored the museum. One student said that this field trip had been her favorite because she had been able to explore things that she found interesting.

What is beauty? Duchess Frances Teresa Stewart was considered by many in the 17th century as the most beautiful woman in all of Britain.

Women who took thalidomide (an anti-nausea drug prescribed in the 1950s and 1960s) had children with malformed or absent limbs. This child has prosthetic hands.

Millennium Clock Tower

Millennium Clock Tower

Millennium Clock Tower

Robot at the National Science Museum. You typed your name into a computer, and the robot spelled your name with blocks.

Students in Developmental Psychology took a field trip to Edinburgh College. Edinburgh College has four campuses and tends to focus on some of the similar careers that we do at WITC. However, you can find a broader range of spanning fields from engineering to the performing arts. We visited the Early Education program, which is very similar to our Early Childhood Education program. One of the program instructors gave a lecture and facilitated a discussion on education in Scotland in general. We discussed the similarities and differences between Scottish, English, and American schools and daycare options. Then we visited a classroom where the Edinburgh College students had put together several activities that would be appropriate for early childhood. Of course the activities were also fun for adults! Students from Experience Scotland enjoyed talking to the Edinburgh College students about their different programs and everyone’s various backgrounds. After lunch at the student-run restaurant, we toured the Waterfront Nursery. The Nursery illustrated many concepts that the students were learning about promoting healthy development. Overall, the field trip was very informative.

Chris DeLange and Hannah Space creating masterpieces

Amy Willis and Missy Diehl participate

Students from Experience Scotland and Edinburgh College

Each faculty member has utilized field trips differently, but one bonus is that the students here are a captive audience. We can require them to go to an event at night or all day on a Friday. Even though students at WITC may not have the flexibility to take an all-day field trip, mini field trips can be a part of the curriculum. Thanks to this program I have been inspired to try more mini field trips or self-led field trips where students are required to step away from the computer and go out into their communities.