August Scene - Flipbook - Page 12
The benefits and challenges of children learning outside the classroom
If you reflect on your school
years, oftentimes some of the
most memorable lessons and
moments were field trips.
Students can make connections from the classroom to the
world around them through
hands-on experiences at farms,
zoos, aquariums and more.
The benefits of outdoor and
experiential field trips have
been well documented. Nature-based education has been
shown to support children’s development intellectually, emotionally, socially, spiritually and
physically. Studies have found
that being outdoors improves
children’s self-confidence, ability to work with others, caring,
peer relationships and their
interaction with adults.
Staff members and volunteers witness this every day at
the Sunriver Nature Center
& Observatory, including first
graders excitedly pointing at
the swans eating and shouting,
“Look they are dabbling! Just
like the ducks we read about!”
to the fifth graders getting their
first look at sunspots in the
solar telescope.
Field trips provide students
with the opportunity to connect classroom concepts to the
natural world around them.
When Highland Elementary
first-graders start their bird
unit, each student is assigned a
bird to investigate. When those
students visit the Sunriver Nature Center for a field trip, each
of them lights up when they see
their bird on Lake Aspen, meet
our animal ambassadors or get
to hold their bird’s feather in
our classroom.
Unfortunately, kids today
don’t get as many opportunities
to connect with nature as their
grandparents did. Studies have
suggested that this disconnection may be causing physical,
war on weeds
It’s not too late!! Sign up for SROA’s
27th Annual War on Weeds
August 1-14, 2026
Visit sunriverowners.org/noxiousweeds
for details and to register.
emotional, and intellectual
deficits in children’s learning
and development. Children
who participate in nature programs have been found to ask
more questions than others and
were better at problem solving.
Play becomes richer and more
creative when given access to
nature. Nature-based education not only helps individual
children but can instill a connection to local environments
and a passion for protecting
these spaces.
Though we understand the
importance of field trips, many
schools face challenges that hinder students’ ability to participate. Each year, staff members
participate in teacher listening
sessions where our community
and teachers share the challenges they face.
Oregon schools do not receive designated money for
field trips. Field trips are often
funded through PTA fundraising or leftover discretionary
funds. Many schools lack PTAs
or their communities don’t
have the ability to donate. The
financial costs of field trips
include program fees from
the site or provider, buses,
and substitute coverage for
students unable to attend. Bus
availability has been a struggle
with buses often needing to
drop students off at the location and a different bus arriving
later in the day to return the
students to school. This can
prove especially challenging in
rural and farther field trip locations. Outside of the financial
barriers many schools struggle
to find chaperones to help with
a field trip. Chaperones are an
essential component that help
students engage and stay safe
on field trips.
There are many ways to help
schools overcome these barriers, including volunteering to
become a chaperone, donating to your school's PTA, or
donating to fundraisers led by
organizations, such as SNCO,
that deliver these programs.
SNCO’s Field Trip Fund
enables students from underfunded schools to visit SNCO
for immersive learning experiences. Our community has responded with great enthusiasm,
helping raise scholarship funds
to bring local kids out for an
unforgettable day of discovery!
Supporters can contribute to
this fund year-round, but we
are making a concerted effort to
raise scholarship funds for the
2026-27 school year between
now and the first day of school
on Sept. 9.
Visit snco.org/fieldtripfund
to donate to the fund.
Field trip funding is dwindling –
schools can’t afford to send kids
on field trips like they used to.
Help raise scholarship funds for
local students!
12 brings one student to SNCO, and
420 brings a whole classroom!
$
$
Learn More
& Donate
snco.org/fieldtripfund
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AUGUST 2026 SUNRIVER SCENE
