Ecological field teaching: how can it be made more effective?

Student perceptions of a virtual field trip to replace a real field trip

“…Interestingly these are all areas which not only impinge upon the general use of IT but, more strikingly, any suggested use of IT to replace field trips. Field trips traditionally comprise of a variety of complex experiences (Openshaw & Whittle, 1993) which although difficult to quantify are regarded as imparting and developing important academic and life skills (Ford, 1981). These experiences involve the ability to take responsibility and be responsible for yourself and colleagues, to work and cooperate with other people and to make friends and win trust.…”

“…Many formal studies have highlighted the importance of proper and effective student preparation for field work/trips. For example Openshaw & Whittle (1993) found that good staff and student preparation before going into the field, minimised the learning difficulties encountered by students during their trip. Killerman (1996, 1998) found that familiarisation with biological material before going out into the field enhanced the enjoyment of the students on the field trip and resulted in better and more reliable identification of organisms by students in the field.…”

The Role of Overseas Field Courses in Student Learning in the Biosciences

“…In this way, the field course project and write-up provided a reasonably "safe" dry-run for the skills required for preparing a final year dissertation project, including independent learning, the research process and time management. It also provided a way for students to adjust to the learning challenges inherent in replacing "tried and tested" experiments 432 in the classroom with real-world practical ecology (Openshaw and Whittle, 1993). It is, however, also important to note that this pattern could have arisen because the students motivated enough to pay to go on a field course might also be the students motivated enough to put extra effort into their studies and improve their grade trajectory.…”

Field-based learning: the challenge of practising participatory knowledge

“…There are, of course, a number of older, long-standing disciplinary traditions of FBL: in earth science, for instance, (Smith, 1995;Trop et al, 2000); in ecology (Wheater, 1989;Openshaw & Whittle, 1993); in social work (Deal et al, 2007;Bogo, 2010); and especially in both physical and human geography (Haigh & Gold, 1993;Tinsley, 1996;Light & Phinnemore, 1998;Nairn et al, 2000;Robson, 2002;Carlson, 2007;Nicholson, 2011;Phillips and Johns, 2012). The discipline of geography holds a tradition of 'fieldwork' that dates back to its military-induced establishment in nineteenth-century Western Europe and its instrumental service in contemporary projects of colonial exploration and mapping (Godlewska, 1994;Driver, 2001).…”