GT Humanities students will get a chance to enrich their understanding of class material during their field trip to three religious sites the Hanuman Temple, the Islamic Association of Collin County, and Preston Meadow Lutheran Church from 9:30-1:45 p.m. Monday.
“We have been studying world religions as part of our study of world history and our look at worldviews and philosophies,” teacher Elizabeth Evans said. “We’ve talked about how religion affects culture and societies. This is giving them a chance to go into these places of worship and like have a hands-on look at the physical spaces and what we do is we ask each member of each of those places of worship to talk about how that space informs their understanding of the world.”
The field trip will help students learn more about a topic they’re currently covering in class according to sophomore Rebecca Feng.
“By going on the field trip, we’re able to see new religious environments and how they relate to governance, the topic we are currently studying,” Feng said. In addition, our next speech will be about the field trip, so this opportunity is providing us [with] the material and content we need to write the speech.”
Sophomore Sophia Essa is looking forward to observing the effect that culture has on the architecture of the sites they’ll be visiting.
“I’m really looking forward to interpreting the visual design of both the inside and outside of these religious centers,” Essa said. “I love art history and analyzing the many cultural influences in visual design, so applying that to modern buildings with an influence of North Texas culture added to the mix is what really piques my interest.”
Getting to see different types of architecture is something that freshman Syrah Hernandez is also anticipating leading up to the trip.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how different architecture styles are used in the buildings, along with eating lunch at Stonebriar Mall,” Hernandez said.
In general, Nale sees field trips as a way to benefit her learning experience.
“This year for Humanities, we had another trip where we visited the DMA (Dallas Museum of Art) for an editorial writing assignment,” Nale said. “Seeing the artwork gave me the context I needed to finalize my essay, in turn improving it. This highlights the memorable nature of field trips, as not only do they inform but also immerse students into the reality of subjects and how they exist in the world.”
