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Chattanooga: Mobile field trips tour area

By: Chloé Morrison
(Contact)

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Annissa Hackney

In hard economic times, luxuries such as school field trips are scarce, so educators with Chattanooga’s Creative Discovery Museum are taking lessons on the road.

“We go into the schools and basically bring the museum to the school,” outreach coordinator Annissa Hackney said.

On Friday, third-grade students at Chattanooga Valley Elementary participated in the museum’s hands-on workshop about rocks and minerals in their own classroom. Students learned about “fool’s gold” and dug for fossils in a sandbox. During the earth science lesson, they watched some rocks float in vinegar and others sink to the bottom.

“I like to see if these float,” said Maya Burke, 8. “I never knew they could be magnetic,” she said of the rocks and minerals she studied.

Schools have had to cut back on field trips because of high gas prices and tough economic times, officials said.

Georgia’s revenue collections are nearly $2 billion below projections since the fiscal year started July 1, and Gov. Sonny Perdue in August called for a 2 percent reduction in K-12 education spending.

“Thay are using their field trip money to hire us now,” outreach educator Elizabeth Thornburth said. Prices start at $75, she said.

The museum’s outreach program works with schools in North Georgia and Southeast Tennessee, and many teachers are taking advantage of it, officials said.

“From this time last year, we have had a 50 percent increase in the request for outreach,” Ms. Hackney said.

The art and science lessons are aligned with schools’ curriculums and each museum educator is a certified teacher.

Third-grade teacher Christy Harden said the museum’s resources are very valuable. She also hopes to invite the museum back this year to help supplement other lessons.

“We don’t get to do a whole lot of the hands-on things because of the resources we have, so this has been a great opportunity for them.”

Hands-on learning is an important part of education, school and museum officials said.

“The kids have different learning styles and with the hands-on it allows you to reach those different learning styles for children,” Ms. Hackney said. “Hands-on is going to help with retention and the understanding of the concept.”

Another benefit is saved time, Ms. Harden said.

“When you go on a field trip, the bus ride there, the bus ride back, you lose all that instruction time,” she said. “For this, it took two hours and we are finished and we get to go on with our other subjects.”

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