VALDOSTA – Students learn in a variety of ways and Saint John the Evangelist Catholic School (SJCS) provides opportunities to enrich students’ knowledge and understanding of classroom lessons through place—based learning. Also known as field trips, these out of classroom activities give students a holistic, integrated picture of what they have learned, an invaluable part of the education process.

“Children engage with learning in a richer way during field trips,” said SJCS Middle School Social Studies teacher Pam Rickman. “Leaving the classroom and stepping into new environments involves more senses and helps students’ brains make new connections.”

Recently, Rickman’s sixth-grade science class traveled to St. Augustine, Florida to reinforce their learning of European New-World exploration and Spanish. Visits to the Castillo de San Marcos and the Spanish Military Hospital Museum reinforced the recent lab work the students completed prior to the trip. A hands-on “maritime CSI” activity identifying shipwreck artifacts at the Lighthouse Museum provided the class with additional scientific exploration and experiential learning.

Place-based learning also provides students the space to learn what they want and to reinforce what they have already learned. Oftentimes, the students don’t even realize they are learning.

“What the students learn in my classroom comes to life on the field trips,” said SJCS fifth grade teacher Corey Wolford. “They love being able to answer questions from their field trip guides using knowledge they learned in class. The special thing about field trips is that they are having so much fun that they don’t realize they are still learning.”

Fifth graders at SJCS recently visited the Okefenokee Swamp to learn more about ecosystems and organism classifications by seeing the plants and animals of the area up close. The trip included boat and train rides where the students learned about the swamp’s history and a climb up a tower to see the area from the sky.

“Students in lower grades at the school always tell me they can’t wait until they are in fifth grade so they can take a field trip to the swamp,” said Wolford. “That speaks to the power of learning outside of the classroom.”

Most of the grades at SJCS, kindergarten through eighth grade, plan at least one field trip each year for students to learn in a non-traditional way.