Why is it called a "field" trip?

Question

Why is the term "field" trip used whenever schools take students on trips to museums and other places?

Where does the term come from?

Answer 1

Broadly speaking, there has always been a distinction made between learning/dissemination of information done in a controlled, formal setting (like a classroom, scientific laboratory, even a TV news studio) and that done by means of going TO the subject under study (whether it's a breaking news story, an archaeological dig, or an interesting ecosystem).
In news reports, they speak of "reporters in the field" to distinguish them from the anchors in the studio.
I would guess the phrase might date to Linnaeus' time... the famous biologist who would gather samples of different plant species literally from the field (in the meantime studying their habitat etc) and, back in his laboratory, painstakingly catalogue the phenotypic differences and attempt to classify each plant by how closely it appeared to be related to others.
Any excursion made in this manner, to gather information at the source, eventually became commonly described as a field trip, even though it may not necessarily involve an actual field.

Answer 2

Because back in the day, when the term was coined in the western culture, school classes would take trips to various fields to learn about the landscape (remember, back then, a field was any area not occupied by buildings or trees, so a field could, by definition, be the Grand Canyon or whatever else was close by of educational importance).

Answer 3

it is called a fieldtrip because the term field means an area we more commonly think of it as a big open space but a feild is just any space at all. So a museum is technically calssified as a field and many other places. Hope I could help! :)

Answer 4

If you are studying a certain field, y'know, the field of science, business, arts - whatever, then you take a trip "into the field" to get real life experience.

Answer 5

They have been initially designed to be field learn parts of school. each so often the learn area of the trip is lacking, that makes them much less helpful to training. even although in case you are able to learn something of value from the trip, many might evaluate it a fulfillment.

Answer 6

Because you're getting out of the classrooom (or lab, or workshop) and "into the field." Not a field of grass, but a situation of actual use or application where theories can be tested.

Answer 7

i think the word came up since people will be leaving the school to get field experience.

Answer 8

because if they called it 'a waste of time and tax dollars trip' no one would go