Students can learn much from travel to Washington, DC. Above is a view of the National Mall in Washington, DC, featuring the Capitol building, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial.
Many educators would agree that one of the best methods of teaching is travel. Travel allows the student to fully experience a locale with all senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. And one of the most rewarding destinations for travel for both American students and international travelers is Washington, DC.
Washington, DC, is well-known as the capital city of the United States, and it is one of the most visited cities in the world. More than 20 million people from all over the globe visit the city each year. Covering a scant 100 square miles of land, the city nevertheless hosts the seat of our national government, a myriad of federal institutions, the embassies of 177 foreign countries, and the headquarters for numerous international organizations.
Before our week-long visit to this historic city last month, my husband and I made a list of all the specific sites we wanted to visit. The list was three pages long! DC is like Disneyland: you can’t possibly see everything in one visit. We knew we wouldn’t be able to see every site on our list, but we did manage to make a sizable dent in it.
There is something for everyone in this wonderful city. For the history student, the Smithsonian’s American History Museum, the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the National Museum of the American Indian top the list. And don’t forget the monuments: the Lincoln Memorial, the Iwo Jima Memorial, the Viet Nam Memorial, the Martin Luther King Memorial, and Arlington Cemetery, among so many others.
The student of politics and law will certainly want to visit the US Capitol, the Supreme Court, the National Archives, and the White House. For the science student, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, and the United States Botanical Garden offer a wealth of opportunities for learning. The journalism student will certainly want to visit the Library of Congress and the Newseum. Art students will revel in a visit to the National Gallery of Art, the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Freer and Sackler Galleries.
Whatever the subject, any student can find something to further his or her study in Washington, DC. Why not encourage your students to plan their trip today?
