Field Trips
San Diego is home to remarkably diverse landscapes and habitat types, and our mild Mediterranean climate makes this an ideal place to recreate outdoors and connect with nature year-round. Unfortunately, not everyone in San Diego County enjoys the same access to these natural spaces.
Nature bestows a wealth of benefits, but children who live in San Diego’s “park-poor” neighborhoods suffer physically, psychologically, and academically from a lack of access to green space. Children in these communities also miss out on the opportunity to learn about nature and experience its benefits first-hand.
Equitable Access to the Outdoors
Numerous studies have shown the more people understand about the environment, the more likely they are to protect it. The goal of our student field trip programming is to ensure as many kids as possible enjoy the opportunity to learn about and personally experience our wild landscapes. This is how EDI builds equity in our communities, and supports the next generation of environmental stewards.
Our Approach
Our field trip program offers students the opportunity to learn about nature by experiencing it in-person, and in places they rarely, if ever, visit otherwise. We provide two outdoor field trips per classroom: one trip to an inland/upper watershed location, and a second to a coastal/lower watershed location. For many students, coming on these outings with us serves as their first time visiting a native habitat.
Field trip activities are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards and include a variety of environmental science topics. During the program, they become scientists for the day making observations, asking questions, and forming/testing hypotheses. Our field instructors guide each activity with cultural sensitivity, encouraging students to feel confident and empowered to continue exploring and learning about (and helping!) nature throughout their lives.
"This is better than Disneyland!"
-4th grader during a field trip at Crestridge Ecological Reserve
