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Our Field Trips

Explore Our Field Trips

Immersive Experiences for
Every Student

Inspire your class when they engage with nature – and extend their excitement to their community and beyond. We collaborate with school districts and teachers to provide Next Generation Science Standard-aligned, hands-on opportunities to learn in and from nature. Students connect with local natural spaces, experience and develop science skills, and become empowered to protect and care for the environment via their own communities.

Sign up below for impactful field trips in San Diego County!

How Our Programs Work

Our programs bridge classroom and nature-based learning with pre and post activities that support and extend the field trip experience. Students are able to make connections to their own lives and communities, while they practice science skills and explore diverse plants + animals. Programs culminate with student action projects that encourage critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration to promote healthy communities and natural spaces, for all. Our programs are subsidized by generous donations from individuals and foundations.

Available Field Trips

  • Location: Nature Center More info

    Time: 2.5 hours

  • Cost: $12 per student
    Group Size: Minimum 20 / Maximum 50

From the riparian woodland to the saltmarsh lagoon, students will explore the unique habitats of the San Elijo Lagoon ecosystem. Using important scientific skills, including observations and experimentation, students will have an opportunity to discover the variety of plant + animal species that call San Elijo Lagoon home.

The complete Exploring Habitat learning unit is aligned to NGSS: 3-LS4-3.

  • Location: Nature Center More Info

    Time: 2.5 hours

  • Cost: $12 per student
    Group Size: Minimum 20 / Maximum 50

Utilizing the San Elijo Lagoon ecosystem as a backdrop for discovery, student scientists will collect evidence of plant + animal adaptations vital to their survival. Students will have an opportunity to observe and record various birds, plants, and insects as they develop claims supported by scientific reasoning.

The complete Discovering Adaptations learning unit is aligned to NGSS: 4-LS1-1.

  • Location: Nature Center More Info

    Time: 3 hours

  • Cost: $16 per student
    Group size: Minimum 20 / Maximum 50

What living and nonliving things can be found in the San Elijo Lagoon ecosystem? Student scientists will develop critical scientific skills, including observing, recording data, and making claims, as they hike around this exciting ecosystem. Students will identify key interactions within the ecosystem – with a special focus on decomposers, cycling of matter, and human activity.

The complete Ecosystems in Action learning unit is aligned to NGSS: 5-LS2-1, 5-ESS3-1, 3-5-ETS1-2.

A group of students overlooking San Elijo Lagoon Channel
  • Location: Nature Center More Info

    Time: 3 hours

  • Cost: $16 per student
    Group Size: Minimum 20 / Maximum 50

How do humans benefit from and maintain biodiverse ecosystems? Guided by this question, student scientists will investigate the health of the San Elijo Lagoon ecosystem. Throughout the program, students will collect data indicating biodiversity, discuss ecosystem services to humans, and make claims about how humans can impact our natural systems.

The complete Preserving Biodiversity learning unit is aligned to NGSS: MS-ESS3-3, MS-LS2-5