field trips, another exciting opportunity to be in "the zone"...

ACTION RESEARCH… in action Class field trips are a very obvious and accessable example of action research. The think, talk, plan, act cycle is used by the teacher to research and establish a program suitable for the students age and pedagogical requirements. Desired outcomes, budget, time constraints and subject area are all taken into account to provide an extremely effective distributed learning environment for both students and teachers / supervisors. The teachers / supervisors often then adopt the role of facilitators and or students as both planned and unplanned experiences are presented to individuals and the group. Previously organised guides adopt the role of teacher and unexpected experiences are to be expected, particularly when there are so many individuals travelling as a group An excellent learning experience for all. A great example of this is our year 9, 2003 “desert trip”. Our class journeyed approximately 14,000ks in one month. We left the north coast of N.S.W. heading NthW, or so we thought. Actually, we were no more than 1hr along the Pacific Highway when we discovered that the foul, burnt rubber smell we were noticing was coming from our hired trailer. Brand new but evidently never road tested. The left side had collapsed enough to allow the wheel hub to rub on the tyre. So, our dawn start and fabulous pre planned, systematically organised packing of the trailer was soon tossed out the window and into the car park of the nearest shopping centre.

So, the best laid plans were changed, and instead of having 7hrs of white lines and landscape behind us we had 3 attempts at packing and unpacking the trailer only to change it for a smaller, less efficient but tried and true one. We left Brisbane around 1pm.

..where was that amenities block?

a storyteller from the bush

... a little bit of fire and a little bit of stick...

... insect.

no sunburn for this girl.