9th Graders on Mt. Falcon/Field Trips
For the past several years the freshman class has spent a day in September “out in the field” conducting an outdoor lab for biology class. The location this year remained the same as it has for the past three: the west entrance of Mt. Falcon State Park. Once there, students spread out in groups of three to observe and record what they see and hear in a specific 10 square meter area. They take a soil sample, sketch a diagram and answer several questions about the zone they have chosen. All of them bring their trusty iPads and use those throughout the day.
After completing this task, students were joined at the site by the 23 Community Leadership Team (CLT) seniors. Everyone ate the sack lunches that had been provided, and the seniors divided the freshmen into advisory groups for other activities. The purpose of this part of the day was to encourage greater camaraderie amongst these advisories and to build trust with the CLT members who will be meeting with these 9th graders throughout the year. The interactions and activities were fun and allowed us to take full advantage of being outdoors together.
I joined the contingent this year for the first time since 2013; that year the weather was very cool and foggy and for a few hours those students (now this year’s seniors) could barely see twenty feet in front of them! This past Friday’s conditions were much different, as the calm, sunny skies prevailed before ultimately giving way to quite a bit of wind. The students seemed to have a good time and learned quite about the various ecology out on the mountain--with a focus on human impact on this area.
Generally speaking, we believe that field trips are a very positive part of a student’s learning experience in Upper School. (Over fifty students in Physiology took a trip out to Berthoud Pass this past week as well.) Of course, in many cases we have to weigh the value of the trip vs. the relative cost of missing other classes that day. Too many interruptions of the normal academic program, no matter how valuable the out-of-school experience, will be counterproductive, so the class deans and I consider the proposals for field trips very carefully. We want to be sure there is ample benefit and strong connection to the curriculum being studied.
On this most recent 9th grade trip, the disruption to the academic flow and to the rest of the school was minimal, as most freshmen take classes that are exclusively in their grade level. There was also the added benefit of combining academics with a “retreat” experience in which all 100 students had a shared community experience. Perhaps next year we will venture out to a new location -- many students have been to Mt. Falcon more than once in their CA careers -- but the overall goals will remain the same. Many thanks to the biology teachers (Martha Smith and David Frankel), as well as 9th grade dean Meg Hill and CLT so-sponsor Liza Skipwith.
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