Informal Education in Low Socioeconomic Communities: Teachers' Lived Experiences in Planning and Leading Field Trips

Experiential learning is "the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combination of grasping and transforming experience" (Kolb, 1984, p. 41). Teachers have planned and led field trips as a form of experiential pedagogy and an important role in student learning and development. Well-planned field trips in surrounding communities help broaden children’s concepts of the world around them. In spite of the research that supports the value of field trips, there appear to be fewer field trip opportunities in low socioeconomic schools. Data were collected from 12 teacher participants to gain a deeper understanding of their field trip planning and leading experiences. The purpose of this study was to add to the existing knowledge of institutional and individual pre-kindergarten–fifth grade teachers’ practices in planning and leading field trips. The following research questions guide this study: 1. How do teachers describe their experiences with field trips for children in a low socioeconomic school? 2. How do teachers describe what happens when support for field trips is reduced? 3. How do teachers respond to these situations? Through in-depth qualitative analysis of teachers' lived experiences of planning and leading field trips, four themes emerged: teachers' actions, overall perceptions, challenges, and potential support. The findings along with their sub-findings were explored in relationship to three significant areas of informal learning as offered in the literature: experiential learning, education in low socioeconomic communities, and field trips. Four results of this study emerged and were offered with interpretations by the researcher: (a) field trips integrate and move theory and practice into the real world, (b) field trips afford teachers the rare opportunity to observe their students in society, (c) moving content knowledge into context enhances social and cognitive development, and (d) teachers' collaboration increases the opportunity to plan and lead effective field trips. This study concludes presenting collective perceptions of the participants and recommendations to public school teachers for best practices planning and leading field trips in low socioeconomic schools.Ed.D., Educational Leadership and Management -- Drexel University, 201