Tips for creating meaningful experiences
1) Take time to have everyone get to know each other. At the very first stop when you get your group, take a few minutes to have everyone share what they are most excited about or what they hope to see on the trip. Remember to include a plentiful number of the team building activities (Teambuilding_activities), especially on that first day, but throughout your time together so the students build rapport with you and each other. It will also make your inquiry project go more smoothly if students are able to work together cooperatively because you helped them build trust in each other.
2) Take fun breaks! While we are up there to have students engage in science inquiry, we ask them to focus far longer each day than they ever would in the classroom. We are asking for about 11 focused hours a day, when most kids can't focus in a classroom for a regular 6-7 hour day. We do have the advantage of a very engaging environment and students being invested in projects of their own, but breaks are still needed. So, go outside and have a race, fly a kite (I'm bringing two), do an impromptu scavenger hunt, have your kids meet a tree, play a quick card game, etc.
3) Take time to listen. Kids are too often surrounded by adults who don't listen to them as much as they might like or need, due to busy jobs, inability to relate, family circumstances, and sometimes much worse reasons. Even kids who have wonderful families who are very engaged still seek approval from those they look up to (you!). Take time to listen to their ideas about the world, answer their questions (as long as they're not too personal), and respond with encouragement. It will be greatly appreciated and you will have a new fan club :)
4) Interject math, history, literature, etc. While reading instruments, talk about significant figures; ask students to determine the mean, median, and range when graphing their data; have a discussion about some of the quotes in the back pages of the field guides or share some of your personal favorites; bring your favorite Ed Abbey or Annie Dillard passage to share; tell the history of peoples who have lived in the Sonoran Desert or the history of the Sky Center; talk about what it's like to be a graduate student (try to focus on the positive). Science and our lives do not exist in a vacuum.
5) Let student curiosity lead you. A student remarked on this past trip with Safford that their meadow loop hike was the best hike they'd done (and their teacher takes them out a lot) because they had time and were allowed, even encouraged, to stop to make observations and ask questions. So, stop and smell the roses a bit. Your inquiry project will be the better for it.
