XAL FIELD TRIPS
“I like the fact that Explorer At Large has taken my daughter out of the classroom and given her a hands-on experience. She seems much more interested in learning how things evolve because of this program. There were many times when she came home and said ‘Hey, Mom, you’ll never guess what we did in class today! You’ll never guess where we’re going to go now!’
Classrooms today are just so book oriented. It’s all about getting ready for the next test. I feel like they’re losing the kids’ interest. Kids today don’t want to go to class and just sit in the classroom and go over another book and get ready for another test. Explorer At Large taught my daughter a lot about owls… and poop… and all that stuff. It got her interest by getting her involved, physically involved, and I feel that’s very important.”
- M. Grennan, Parent
Explorer At Large Field Trips empower students to experience exploration.
Explorer At Large (XAL) Field Trips empower students to step outside the confines of their schools and experience what it means to be an explorer in the world. XAL Field Trips demonstrate that exploration truly is a state of mind, that the explorer's mindset and skillset can be applied anywhere and anytime a student wishes. One does not have to travel far to think, have fun, and experience wonder as an “explorer at large,” whether you live in an urban center or a remote town.
Explorer At Large creates Field Trips by providing connected, learning opportunities in nearby locations—local science centers, museums, zoos, nature centers, parks, or other community settings that represent authentic places for encountering scientific phenomena, technology, arts, and engineering. For XAL Partner Cities, we help facilitate the programming and logistics aspects. As we scale to other parts of the country and world, we plan to create self-guided experiences that teachers, students, and parents can use to customize the XAL Field Trip experience to match local resources.
By providing students opportunities to explore sites in their own neighborhoods and surrounding regions, we can help strengthen a sense of pride in their own local communities, a sense of place, and, by extension, themselves. Most importantly, we give students the opportunity to gain confidence as an explorer in a real world setting.
Once students experience exploration, it's time for the final step... XAL Family Moments.