Share the Lessons of Gettysburg with Your Students

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Explore how history inspires important topics of today at Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center

A visit to Gettysburg offers educational lessons and activities beyond the textbooks. History comes alive as students learn Gettysburg’s significance while covering topics relevant today. During a field trip to Pennsylvania’s Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site, students find much more than a history lesson when exploring here. Gettysburg’s storied past provides diverse topics and life lessons in perseverance, humanity, creativity and leadership.

The National Park Service and the Gettysburg Foundation offer student groups engaging, interactive experiences and activities in Gettysburg, a popular field trip destination—and the perfect place to share lessons and make lasting memories. The Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center and nearby historic sites and experiences are sure to make your students’ field trip memorable.

Field Trip to Gettysburg

When you begin your journey in the Museum & Visitor Center, the “official start to your visit,” your students will gain insights into the American Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg with A New Birth of Freedom film, produced by The History Channel and narrated by Morgan Freeman. As students experience the Gettysburg Cyclorama—the massive 360-degree painting depicting the third day of the battle—history, preservation and art are some topics they will cover while immersed in “Pickett’s Charge.”

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The galleries in the world-class Gettysburg Museum of the American Civil War provide tangible objects and engaging, immersive experiences with rare artifacts, interactive exhibits and short films. The special exhibit A Rough Coarse Life: The World of the Civil War Soldier offers a window into soldiers’ lives, experiences and memories through unique artifacts, documents and art. The Museum & Visitor Center displays and cares for artifacts from Gettysburg National Military Park’s collection of 1.25 million artifacts, the largest and most diverse publicly held collection of Civil War artifacts in the world.

More Educational Experiences in Gettysburg

Step onto Gettysburg’s hallowed ground when you explore the battlefield with an expert Licensed Battlefield Guide providing the narrative for your tour. Visit iconic battlefield locations with 1,300 monuments and markers throughout more than 6,000 acres of preserved battlefield land. A strategic position for the Union Army’s line of defense and immortalized in films, books and accounts of the battle, Little Round Top ranks as one of Gettysburg’s most visited and cherished landmarks. The recent rehabilitation of this important area of the battlefield reestablished, preserved and protected the features of the battlefield landscape. The newly rehabilitated Little Round Top is now open for student groups to visit, with improved interpretive signage, new accessible trail alignments and gathering areas. These improvements allow groups to better immerse themselves in the historic landscape essential to understanding the three-day battle and the lessons still relevant today.

Children of Gettysburg 1863®

Younger groups discover stories of Gettysburg through the experiences of children, teens and young adults who lived here during the 1863 battle in Children of Gettysburg1863®. Gettysburg’s most family-friendly children’s history museum is designed for families and groups with children in grades K-5 and those young at heart. Student travelers discover Gettysburg’s stories through engaging first-hand accounts. The museum adventure provides a history-based setting for creativity, discovery and learning. Activities and interactive exhibits, as well as living history and events throughout the year, bring the stories to life. With unique galleries, your students will touch, listen and learn their way through a fun and engaging journey back to 1863.

For more field trip ideas and opportunities, keep reading from our 2025 Northeast Field Trip Guide.

Gettysburg Virtual Reality History Experience

Students can step into history with the help of virtual reality technology. Ticket to the Past—Unforgettable Journeys features virtual encounters with historic figures—a nurse, a soldier musician and a Gettysburg resident—with connections to the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg. The virtual reality experience echoes the extraordinary impact the battle and its aftermath had on these unlikely occupants who had important tasks helping others after the 1863 battle. Students will witness these unforgettable journeys and experience President Lincoln’s arrival to Gettysburg’s railroad station in November 1863 for the national cemetery’s dedication. Students can consider how his Gettysburg Address still influences us today.

Gettysburg is an excellent destination for student travel groups looking for an educational field trip. Groups of 16 students or more and their chaperones receive group discounts for tours, experiences and exhibits offered by the Gettysburg Foundation. The Museum & Visitor Center offers group breakfasts, dinners and boxed meal options, as well as convenient on-site shopping in the Museum Book Store.

The Gettysburg Foundation is the official non-profit partner of the National Parks at Gettysburg. Educators and tour operators can arrange their Gettysburg visit with the Gettysburg Foundation’s Guest Relations team by calling 877-874-2478 or 717-334-2436.

Additional information is available at The Gettysburg Foundation Website.