Eighth grade is a big transitioning time for pre-teens, we can all agree. Why not make their last year before high school memorable with an educational class trip catered just for them? Send them off into the future with a bang when you check out this compilation of trips we selected for your 13 and 14-year-olds about to shift into a new social status.
Science - Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL
A stone’s throw from Lake Michigan, your class will find the perfect adventure that will stay with them well beyond graduation. Along with fascinating temporary exhibits, our favorite permanent one is called YOU! The Experience. Your students will learn what makes them tick as they explore the complexities of the mind, appetite, heart, health and well being, physical activity, even a human patient simulator named iStan!
History - Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, VA
This is better than the books; this is living history! 301 acres of 18th century Colonial Revival establishments, cozy horse-drawn carriages, and costumed workers demonstrating life around the time of the American Revolutionary War. Your student group will meet specialists in the trades of blacksmith techniques, brick and cabinet makers, printers and binders, farmers, tailors, carpenters, weavers, gardeners, wig makers, gunsmiths and so much more! This area is even closed to the use of motorized vehicles to preserve the authentic, unspoiled atmosphere.
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Art – The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
A staggering 300,000 works of art in Chicago’s Grant Park take your class on an interactive journey through collections of modern and contemporary art, graphic and industrial design, Asian, African American and European as well as American art, along with Post-Impressionist and Impressionist pieces. One million square feet put this museum at the second largest of its kind in the country, second to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Social Studies – Museum of African American History, Boston, MA
See the oldest surviving black church in the country from 1806, just next door to the Abiel Smith School. Much less a museum by definition, the artifacts on display are secondary to the collection of stories from the Revolutionary and Civil War periods. While your class is in the area don’t miss out on the State House and of course the Shaw Civil War Memorial. Plan your trip for spring to see the Black Heritage Trail, which links over 15 significant pre-Civil War locations.
Mathematics – Tesla Factory, Fremont, CA
There is no doubt that most students ask themselves this while sitting in math class, “When am I actually going to use this in real life?” Therefore, their attention suffers. But a relatively new tour in the industry has arrived; Tesla is opening its doors to the public for the first time in 2015! Students interested in high technology careers will see the critical need for correct math when applied to the state of the art robots, assembly line, body shop, and the overall outcome of a vehicle with proper steps taken to build it.
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