Recently, Mrs. Castles 8th grade STEM classes went to the zoo for a field trip. Since I went on the field trip, I feel like giving my opinion on it. I think it was a good trip and that the STEM students deserved one since we didn’t go on one at all last year. However, there were a few things that were of need of improvement.
Something I surprisingly enjoyed was the class we took. The class in question was a class about designing zoos and the work needed to do so. We were tasked with designing our own zoo and there were three rounds to finish it. After every round, the instructor came by and identified pros and cons of the zoo you made. In between rounds, you could go up to the instructor and use money in your budget to buy services and animals for the zoo. At the end of the third round you were given an overall assessment of your zoo, and most of them were good.
Another point I’d like to make is the sacked lunches. They were surprisingly good considering it’s school lunch. We weren’t given ample time to really eat them since we kind of had to rush, but they were some good sandwiches.
After we ate, we got to mill about around the zoo and see the animals. There was also a goat petting zoo that had free entry. There was also a playground that we messed around on just for fun for a bit, but after that we got on task. I say that because while we were at the zoo we had an assignment. Which leads me to my next complaint. Since we had an assignment while we were there, there was kind of a looming sense of dread hanging over us. We were only given about an hour to do it. This wouldn’t be bad if the assignment wasn’t running around the zoo taking pictures and solving riddles.
Overall, it was a good trip. I hadn’t been to the zoo in about two years, so it was a nice refresher. It was fun while we were there, but the assignment kind of hindered it. Other than that, it was very relaxing. Hopefully we’ll have more field trips this year.