Field Studies

One of the things that initially drew me to studying with DIS was all of the opportunities they offer for experiential learning. Every Wednesday is dedicated to class field studies. Instead of having regular classes, professors plan for the class to travel to a local business or place that is relevant to what we have been learning in class. Throughout the semester, each class has two field studies and DIS does an amazing job of making sure that none of your field studies overlap!

After having been here for a few months, I have been on quite a few field studies and have shared some of my favorites below!

The Sensorium

My favorite field study was a visit to the Sensorium with my children with special needs class. We had just finished learning about different sensory systems and my teacher wanted us to see how a local organization was utilizing sensory integration practices to help the local community. At the sensorium, each room had different equipment and materials that could be altered based on the client's sensory needs. My favorite room was the ball pit which mostly provided tactile input and increased body awareness. However, there was also a light underneath the ball pit and music that could be turned on for people who found visual and auditory stimulation relaxing.

What made this my favorite field study was that we got to meet an occupational therapist who worked at the Sensorium! As someone studying OT back home, it was so cool to hear about the differences between OT in Denmark and the US.

The Experimentarium

Since my classes are all similar in content, I wasn't too surprised when I found out I would be visiting the same place more than once. Two of my classes both planned field studies to The Experimentarium, a children's science museum in Copenhagen! It was so much fun playing as a kid and learning about physics, water dynamics, and even economics and trade.

One of the exhibits that stood out the most to me was entirely dedicated to teaching children about trade through play. The room was broken up into two sides, one where children pretended to be workers in Denmark, and another where they pretended to be workers in different cities in Asia. There were computers at each side that gave them a mission and prompted them to send certain products (balls with symbols) to certain cities. The balls would roll down a track that carried them to the other side of the room. They could also pack the products on mini cargo ships and ship them to other cities. I had never seen anything like this at children's museums in the US and it was cool to see how Denmark teaches their children about their relationship with other countries.

Nyhavn Photography

Since my ethics of travel class is three hours long, we usually incorporate field studies into the actual class sessions instead of spending extra time together on Wednesdays. During one of our classes, we visited Nyhavn, a popular tourist destination in Copenhagen. We had a guest lecturer come in to teach us about photography and we started with analyzing the pictures that typically come up when you search Nyhavn. We tried to figure out what made them all look so picture perfect. After a class discussion, we all walked to Nyhavn together with the goal of photographing Nyhavn in a new way, different from the images all over mainstream media. We experimented with different angles, tried utilzing different frames of focus, and photographed areas that aren't typically viewed as the "picture perfect" parts of Nyhavn.

Through this field study, I captured one of my favorite pictures I have taken in Copenhagen. While walking down the sunny side of the canal, I noticed a woman and her dog climbing into one of the boats. It seemed as though the boat was actually a house boat. As she went back to her bike to grab something, the dog stood on the ship, making for a nearly perfectly framed picture.

It has been such a cool experience to meet professionals outside of DIS and get to know areas of the local community that I probably wouldn't see otherwise. If you are someone who appreciates hands on learning and engaging with lcoal communities, I would highly recommend considering studying with DIS! This next week, my class will be traveling to Finland for our long study tour where we will compare Danish values and education systems to those of Finland! I am excited to share all about it when I get back! Vi ses!