Beyond the Classroom: The Value of Museum Field Trips for Student Growth

by Kady Yeomans

When you think of a field trip, what do you think of? Maybe the way the excitement on the school bus was palpable or maybe you remember being awestruck at getting to handle items and artifacts that were hundreds of years old. I remember a field trip when I was 6 years old to the Etowah Indian Mounds in Cartersville, Georgia. The guide took us to the top of Temple Mound and we were all sitting in a circle. As the guide talked, I remember looking out over the landscape thinking to myself, “this is what I want to do forever.” I want students to be able to have that same moment of bell-ringing clarity and I firmly believe that visiting Cherokee County History Center on a field trip can bring that moment to life for them.

Historical empathy

One of the greatest takeaways from a field trip is a concept called “historical empathy”. Historical empathy is the ability to relate to people who lived in a different time and place. More than relating, it also gives students the chance to appreciate what life was like for different groups of people, not just their own lived experiences. A study done in 2014 showed that by visiting museums, a student's historical empathy can experience a standard increase of 6 percent (Greene et al.). A greater understanding of where we come from can lead to a greater understanding of what is happening in the world now. As I always tell students: history is now. This historical empathy can also translate into empathy for their peers and teachers.

Relaxed learning

It seems like everybody is in a rush these days: school activities, work, homework, cooking, cleaning, and so on. One of the benefits of visiting the museum on a field trip is a chance to slow down and take it all in - read the signs, study the artifacts on display, and discuss it with your group. Burgard (2019) notes in her study for the National Council for the Social Studies:

Museums are the storehouse of our national historical memory and are an important part of students’ education experience. Trips to museums provide students with engaging ways to learn about history beyond their typical classroom experience and can provide students with a critical understanding of the historic actors and events that make up our nation’s history curriculum.

This time to reflect on what they see gives the students an opportunity to ask questions like: Whose voice do we hear and whose voice is silent and why? It is not often in our busy world we are able to truly stop and reflect on what is happening around us and why it is happening. This skill of recognizing who is being given a voice and who is not can be translated to the modern day and allow students to understand current events and who is being heard.

Live learning through Interactives

Another highlight of visiting museums is the chance to interact with history in a more personal way. There is a difference between seeing a piece of pottery depicted in a textbook or displayed on a monitor and actually being able to hold that pottery in your hand. To draw again from my personal life, my background is archeology, and I can pinpoint the moment my world view completely shifted again. I was working in Belize and had spent the afternoon excavating an intact pot. As I finally lifted my prize from the embrace of the soil, I realized I was holding something that somebody had made almost 2,000 years ago, and they had used it in their everyday life. Other than the material, how was this pot any different from the pot I used back at camp to cook dinner? It was a moment of feeling a deep, personal connection with somebody who had not walked this earth in nearly 2 millennia. It was a profound moment for me, and I hope it will be the same for these students. 

Ultimately, all of this can be summarized in one simple sentence as penned by Greene et al. in their 2014 paper: We don’t just want our children to acquire work skills from their education; we also want them to develop into civilized people who appreciate the breadth of human accomplishments.

Learn more about field trip opportunities at the Cherokee County History Center by visiting historycherokee.org/groups or calling our Education & Programs Manager at 770-345-3288 ext. 4

The Cherokee County History Center is a history museum in downtown Canton with the mission of preserving and sharing Cherokee County’s rich past from pre-history to modern day. Stay in touch with the latest happenings by subscribing to emails and newsletters at the bottom of this page.