Children should be encouraged to view the natural world firsthand to fire
their imagination and encourage them to study the subject in greater depth,
it was claimed.
The writer, TV presenter and former Monty Python star suggested that modern
children were not being taken out of the classroom as much as those in the
past.
He also called for an emphasis on the teaching of geographical facts and
figures, insisting that children needed to know "where countries are".
The comments come days after a study showed that pupils in Britain were less
likely to take part in science field trips than in most other developed
nations.
Research from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found
that 13 per cent of schools failed to take children out of the classroom on
a regular basis – placing Britain joint 27th out of 33 countries in an
international science league table.
It came despite conclusions that extracurricular activities were “positively
related to student performance”.
Mr Palin said that field trips were also a vital component of geography, insisting that his interest in the subject was fired by good teaching combined with opportunities to "get out of the school building".
In an interview, he said: “I know it's a bit different now, partly because people have got laptops and don't have to go out.
"We need to make sure that good teachers can fire the imagination of the children.
"I'm not saying that they don't have enough field trips. I suspect it's less now, there are all sorts of problems about taking children out of school, and the resources for the school itself."
He added that it was important for children to see things for themselves.
"You have to show them a mountain, show them a power station, show them a nuclear site," he said.
The comments were made ahead of a speech this week to the Prince’s Teaching Institute – a charity established by the Prince of Wales to improve teachers’ grasp of traditional subject knowledge.
Mr Palin, a former president of the Royal Geographical Society, who is more recently known for his travelogues covering the North and South Poles, the Himalayas, Sahara and Eastern Europe, said that children risked "losing the ability to make up their own minds about the rest of the world" without decent geography lessons.
“Geography itself is such a wide-ranging subject," he said.
“It's really about the study of the surface of the earth, it's relative to every single thing we do, what we eat, what transport we take to work, where we live, what houses are made of.
"It's an issue that directly relates to what we know of the earth.”
He said children needed to be given a thorough grounding in "where countries are”.
Once the groundwork is done, schools can move on to issues like "how we share our resources, population growth, food supplies and deforestation", he suggested.
"Teachers have to have a good tale to tell,” he added. “The next generation, future generations, are going to be around for the next, say, 120 years, they're going to have a lot to deal with and geography is key.”
Mr Palin said that field trips were also a vital component of geography, insisting that his interest in the subject was fired by good teaching combined with opportunities to "get out of the school building".
In an interview, he said: “I know it's a bit different now, partly because people have got laptops and don't have to go out.
"We need to make sure that good teachers can fire the imagination of the children.
"I'm not saying that they don't have enough field trips. I suspect it's less now, there are all sorts of problems about taking children out of school, and the resources for the school itself."
He added that it was important for children to see things for themselves.
"You have to show them a mountain, show them a power station, show them a nuclear site," he said.
The comments were made ahead of a speech this week to the Prince’s Teaching Institute – a charity established by the Prince of Wales to improve teachers’ grasp of traditional subject knowledge.
Mr Palin, a former president of the Royal Geographical Society, who is more recently known for his travelogues covering the North and South Poles, the Himalayas, Sahara and Eastern Europe, said that children risked "losing the ability to make up their own minds about the rest of the world" without decent geography lessons.
“Geography itself is such a wide-ranging subject," he said.
“It's really about the study of the surface of the earth, it's relative to every single thing we do, what we eat, what transport we take to work, where we live, what houses are made of.
"It's an issue that directly relates to what we know of the earth.”
He said children needed to be given a thorough grounding in "where countries are”.
Once the groundwork is done, schools can move on to issues like "how we share our resources, population growth, food supplies and deforestation", he suggested.
"Teachers have to have a good tale to tell,” he added. “The next generation, future generations, are going to be around for the next, say, 120 years, they're going to have a lot to deal with and geography is key.”
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