American Battlefield Trust Gets Students Out Of Classroom To Experience History Where It Happened

25/05/2018 10:34

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In four short years, the American Battlefield Trust's Field Trip Fund has helped 20,000 school students experience history at the battlefields and historic sites where our nation was forged. Thanks to this innovative educational program, students have had the opportunity to travel to some of the most famous places in American history, including Antietam, Chattanooga, Gettysburg, Shiloh and Independence Hall.

Faced with shrinking field trip budgets, K-12 teachers have turned to the Trust's Field Trip Fund to help plan and pay for their classes to visit historic sites associated with the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Civil War. Since the fund's inception in 2014, the Field Trip Fund has enabled educators to lead students from 200 school districts across the country on educational visits to historic sites in 26 states.

The fund's supporters hope such class trips to the nation's "outdoor classrooms," whether battlefields or related sites, spark a lifelong passion for history and preservation. Childhood exposure to battlefields and historic places prompted some of the nation's best historians — including David McCullough, Drew Gilpin Faust, and Ken Burns — to devote themselves to relating stories about America's past.

A recent visit to Gettysburg by students from Grand Rapids Christian Middle School in Michigan pushed the fund past the 20,000 mark. Teachers JoAnne Tousley and Jim Vos' students drilled and maneuvered like soldiers; shouted the Yankee "huzzah!" and Rebel yell; learned about military leadership; were taught the impacts of the battle on Civil War and American history; crawled through the Devil's Den cave; visited places where wartime photographers recorded the dead on the field; and shot a video at the Winfield Scott Hancock monument on East Cemetery Hill.

The Field Trip Fund provides opportunities to teach civics, government, economics, and citizenship. Teachers apply for a grant for transportation, meals, site admission and guide fees.

The American Battlefield Trust is dedicated to preserving America's hallowed battlegrounds and educating the public about what happened there and why it matters today. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization has protected nearly 50,000 acres of battlefield land associated with the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Civil War.

www.battlefields.org

(For longer version of release, visit www.battlefields.org/news.)

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