( CNN ) -- It was just after lunchtime , and 17 kindergartners huddled around a table marked with paint . Teacher Lindy Shoemaker held a vase covered in small objects : an `` I < 3 Tennis '' keychain , a LEGO flag and other goodies the students brought from home . It might seem like any art class , but the students ' piece was inspired by the work of folk artist Howard Finster . The children knew about his colorful , eclectic art because they 'd seen them up close that day at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta . This , their teachers said , is the kind of learning that happens only when schools cut out the classroom and take learning on the road . In late February , students from the independent , private Galloway School in Atlanta spent the entire school day inside the museum . It was closed to the public but wide open to Galloway 's 750 students , ages 3 to 18 , for a day of `` school without walls . '' This was no ordinary field trip , school leaders said . A museum visit typically means a bus ride , a few hours for students to observe the same exhibit , and a lot of reminders to stay quiet and not touch anything . On this day , hundreds of students , teachers and staff members flooded the museum , wearing white T-shirts with red logos that read `` HIGH Energy . '' Movement and noise filled the wings as teachers and students explored lessons in art , music , history , geometry , physics -- all of them designed by teachers in collaboration with the museum 's education department . The experience pushed the boundaries of the usual field trip , Galloway Head of School Suzanna Jemsby said , even in an era when many schools are cutting trips entirely . The school was `` rethinking about it as a carnival of learning , '' Jemsby said . `` There will be chaos , and that belongs to experiential learning , and that is what we 're looking for . We 're looking for a hubbub of activity and student inquiry . '' Teaching from reality . The idea for the `` school without walls '' started simply , with a meeting of the Galloway School leader and the museum director . By allowing students to visit on a Monday , when the museum is typically closed , they could assure more freedom and security for students while still relying on the education and catering staff , they decided . Teachers visited during a professional development day and worked with the museum 's education department to design courses that paired existing exhibits with lessons their students would need even in their regular classrooms . The final schedule spanned 87 sessions for students in pre-K through high school , far more than could be offered during a standard school day , sometimes allowing teachers to break out of their typical subject matter . At the museum , Galloway health and physical education teacher Denny Beatty led a session about the civil rights movement called `` Walking in Someone Else 's Shoes . '' Bayless Fleming 's students searched for shapes in the museum and wrote riddles that incorporated math vocabulary . Jemsby , the school leader , explored the color blue with young students . Museum workers pitched in , too : Director Michael Shapiro analyzed work by Western bronze artist Frederic Remington while Rhonda Matheison explained the business model for museums . `` Teachers had to think outside the box , teach from real things , teach in different ways than they have before , so it 's a big growth experience for them , '' said Virginia Shearer , director of education at the High Museum . `` The difference is that students get to see the real thing up close and personal , and they get to connect all of that background learning to the real thing . '' READ : Students , say goodbye to snow days . It did n't take long for teachers to zero in on unique learning opportunities or for students to break out of a desk-and-classroom mindset . `` They 're much more excited by the learning , so it 'll stick with them more , '' teacher Susan O'Shields said . The hardest part , some teachers said , was to remember what to pack : Without their usual classroom supplies available , they had to plan ahead . `` We kept being like , 'Oh , we need to get this . Oh , we need to pack that , ' `` Fleming said . The value of a field trip . Gas costs , budget cuts and jam-packed school days loaded with tests have all cut back on field trips that used to dot educational calendars . But if schools find a willing partner , they could easily replicate the idea behind the `` school with no walls , '' Shearer said . Some schools are turning to technology , using Google Glass or Skype to take students to faraway places they could n't otherwise go . But even visits to local cultural institutions can hold tangible educational value , said Brian Kisida , an education reform researcher at the University of Arkansas ' College of Education and Health Professions . In a recent study involving nearly 11,000 students from 123 schools , he found that students who visited the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville , Arkansas , demonstrated stronger critical thinking skills , higher levels of social tolerance and greater historical empathy than those who did n't . They also developed a taste for art museums and cultural institutions . He found that benefits were even greater for students who came from high poverty or rural schools , minority students and those who had never before visited a museum . Those students are especially reliant on their schools to provide those experiences , he said . Some have come to see field trips and time in cultural institutions as `` unnecessary frills , '' Kisida said , that slice away at time needed to maximize test scores . He says they 're not . `` Schools certainly have to deal with tight budgets , but they also have to prioritize different ways of spending their resources , '' Kisida said . `` If school leaders are able to see the benefits of these types of trips , they might be able to prioritize them . '' Kisida had n't heard of other schools hosting entire days of school at museums , but some programs are trying to emphasize learning outside the classroom , like the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum School Partnership Program in Boston and Embarc in Chicago , he said . `` It 's a great thing that should be replicated and serve as a model for other institutions and schools looking to expand the types of learning that they 're doing for their students , '' he said . READ : Would you want Google Glass in your child 's school ? Sherri Breunig , a former public school teacher who 's now the director of communications for the Galloway School , said she can understand why some schools would be reluctant to try an entire school day away from the classroom : Worry about `` what-ifs '' can get in the way of experiments , she said . `` There 's an element of fear , whether it 's an independent or a public school , that they have to stay within the lines when working with kids , '' she said . `` You do n't have to be bound by these artificial lines when it comes to educating kids . '' Nourishing the learning process . Throughout the day , the museum was busy not with the usual crowds but with fifth-graders stretching in their movement class , sixth-graders pounding drums and first-graders painting polygons on T-shirts . Cutting out the classroom took some getting used to for some students . First-grader Jake Isenberg commented that he liked the size and variety of shapes inside the museum , while his classmate Nate Oertell said he preferred their regular classroom because it `` feels like more time at school . '' Sixth-graders Vivi Malkonian and Lily Siegel , who went to sessions about African-American art , music and photography , agreed that the museum took them outside their comfort zones . `` At school , we 've been there forever , and we know it like the back of our hand , but here you get to explore and see new things you 've never seen before , '' Malkonian said . `` I got to see a lot of new students I have n't worked with and their outlooks on the art , '' Siegel said . READ : How one teacher is innovating his classroom . Some high school students enjoyed the environment , but with their minds already geared toward college , a day in the museum did n't always help much . High school freshman Alexander Nieves said he saw some limitations to the event . He and his classmates are used to to the speed of laptops and other technology to move them efficiently through material , and with some students minds ' already on college , they struggled to connect with the offerings . Personally , he enjoyed the challenge . `` In school , you 're really just sitting down in a chair getting exercises drilled into your head , but this really allowed creative flow , '' said Nieves , 15 . `` The main idea of school is to prepare someone for life , and the best way to do that is to not have the same environment . Experimenting with different environments gives students a sense of a new area and working and learning in different ways . '' `` Variety , '' he said , `` nourishes the learning process . '' Has your school cut back on field trips , or found new ways to give students hands-on experiences ? Share your thoughts in the comments , on Twitter @ CNNschools or on CNN Living 's Facebook page !
Gas costs , budget cuts and test pressures have led some schools to cut field trips . One Atlanta school took all its 750 students to a museum as a one-day learning experiment . Researcher : Some field trips aid critical thinking , social tolerance and historical empathy .