THE POTENTIAL OF THE USE OF EDUCATIONAL TOURISM IN NATURAL SCIENCE EDUCATION

Practical training is very important the modern society. Therefore it is recommended to study Natural Science in different environments through observing, exploring, comparing, experimenting and verifying one's own hypotheses, etc. These activities can be realized not only in the traditional classroom, but outside class as well. Educational tourism is a educa-tional activity which is implemented through excursions, tours or trips, and helps to acquire knowledge and skills. One of the most popular forms of educational tourism is the educational excursion, whose importance in education is emphasised in general education programs. In pursuance of reasoning for the potential of educational tourism in Natural Science education, a research was carried out. The subject of the research was educational excursions in the national and regional parks of Lithuania. The aim of the research was to identify the educational activities in the regional and national parks of Lithuania and to establish the areas of Natural Science education in which the aforementioned activities could be applied. In total, 92 educational excursions, which develop skills in Natural Science education, were analyzed. The results of the research suggest that not all the national and regional parks in Lithuania have designed educational excursions and defined specific educational activities. The largest choice of educational excursions is in the national parks of Aukštaitija and Dzūkija, and in the regional park of Kurtuvėnai. The educational excursions implemented mainly focus on Natural Science and Biology subjects, with little emphasis on Physics. In terms of the Natural Science education areas, the largest number of the educational excursions are designed for Continuity and Diversity of Life and Organism and Environment; Biosphere and Man; however, only a few focus on Movement and Cognition of Force and Energy and Cognition of Physical Processes. The most popular activities offered by the educational excursions are discovering, observing, identifying and exploring.