The Aquarium Trip

The Aquarium Trip

A number of years ago, I was teaching at a small private school in California. A day was scheduled for most of our students to be involved in some sort of testing. All but our seventh-graders. The principal floated the idea of taking them on a field trip to Monterey Aquarium which I enthusiastically supported. One catch: it had to be “educational”...

On the day of the field trip, a PowerPoint was presented about the aquarium, and downloaded “scavenger hunts” were distributed by the group leaders (of which I was one) to be completed and handed in for a grade. Needless to say, many young faces were deflated as this was presented. We boarded the buses and away we went.

After a quick briefing at the aquarium, the various groups broke off, maps in hand, scrambling for pencils. I took my group aside briefly, told them not to worry about pencils, and asked where they wanted to go first. Their eyes lit up as they realized that they were going to be in control of their own exploration. I had two rules: stay together, and make sure you can see me at all times. And off we went.

We enjoyed the touch tanks and witnessed shark feeding. We viewed what it was like to be under a wave. We crossed paths with many of the other groups all hastily comparing answers and heading off for the next step of their hunt we convened for lunch at an outdoor pavilion. One group was excitedly talking about their experiences. The others were still comparing notes and furiously filling in the missing pieces of the hunt. Which group do you think was the former? And who do you suppose learned more from their experience? This is the core of self-directed learning.

We spend a lot of time hearing how kids need “structure”. But do they really? Perhaps it’s the adults who need the structure. Kids take energy. Kids take patience. However, it’s not up to them to conform to our world. It’s our duty as educators to meet them in theirs.