The field course effect: gains in cognitive learning in undergraduate biology students following a field course

Easton, Eric; Gilburn, Andre S.

doi:10.1080/00219266.2011.568063

Cited by 48 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Although many biology teachers in universities hold the opinion that fieldwork is valuable, there is little objective evidence of the benefits of fieldwork (Maskall & Stokes, 2008). Participation of UK undergraduates in a residential biology field course has been shown to promote cognitive learning in subsequent biology modules (Easton & Gilburn, 2012) but this is in the context of what appears to be an on-going decrease in the amount of UK student fieldwork both among 16-19-year-old pupils (Lock, 2010) and university undergraduates (Smith, 2004). That the Hull students had an equally positive perception of fieldwork and (unquestionably essential) laboratory work is justification for maintaining and developing fieldwork within the biology curriculum.…”

Section: Perceptions Of Field and Laboratory Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Students' Perception of Biology Fieldwork: The example of students undertaking a preliminary year at a UK university

Goulder

Scott

2013

International Journal of Science Education

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It is widely held among biology teachers that fieldwork is valuable, but little is heard about students' perception of fieldwork or about the reasons for their liking or disliking fieldwork. This paper uses data from students to explore the hypotheses (1) that biology students with a positive perception of fieldwork have a less positive perception of laboratory work and vice versa and (2) that perception of fieldwork is related to demographic/personal factors and/or to pre-university perceptions and experience of fieldwork. Numeric indices of appreciation of biology field and laboratory work (I field and I lab ) were determined using questionnaire information from 54 students. I field and I lab were positively correlated and there was no evidence of polarization of views; the problem that some students have a poor perception of both needs to be addressed. Mature students had a more positive view of fieldwork than 18-20-year-olds. However, regression analysis of I field against principal components suggested that demographic/personal factors had relatively little overall influence (, 20%) on appreciation of fieldwork. Perception of fieldwork at university was related to the rank given to fieldwork when choosing a university course. However, students who had participated in pre-university fieldwork did not have a more positive perception of university fieldwork; although students who recalled a worst memory of pre-university fieldwork had a less positive perception of fieldwork at university. The seeming mixed relevance of pre-university fieldwork suggests that the relationship between perception of fieldwork undertaken at university and quality of pre-university fieldwork is an area for future research.

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Section: Perceptions Of Field and Laboratory Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Students' Perception of Biology Fieldwork: The example of students undertaking a preliminary year at a UK university

Goulder

Scott

2013

International Journal of Science Education

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“…According to several researchers, fieldwork in a natural environment including hands-on experiences develops students' understanding of taxonomies and the anatomy of organisms [42,[44][45][46]. Fieldwork also increases students' attainment, improves their cognitive learning [47,48], and develops their observation skills [49]. 'Experiential learning' is authentic, first-hand, sensory-based learning through a specific experience [50].…”

Section: Teaching and Learning Of Species And Species Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…'Experiential learning' is authentic, first-hand, sensory-based learning through a specific experience [50]. The importance of first-hand experiences of the natural environment has therefore been emphasized in several studies around the world [42,47,[51][52][53]. However, teacher education programs seldom include practical methods for fieldwork or outdoor education [54,55].…”

Section: Teaching and Learning Of Species And Species Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nordic Student Teachers’ Views on the Most Efficient Teaching and Learning Methods for Species and Species Identification

et al. 2019

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Teachers need knowledge of species and species identification skills for teaching the structure and function of ecosystems, and the principles of biodiversity and its role in sustainability. The aim of this study is to analyze Nordic student teachers’ views on the most efficient methods and strategies to teach and learn species and species identification, and to find some trends about how well their views are reflected in a species identification test. Student teachers in Finland, Norway, and Sweden (N = 426) answered a questionnaire consisting of fixed and open-ended questions, and a species identification test. An analysis of variance, Chi-Square, and t-test were used for quantitative data and an inductive content analysis for qualitative data. Results showed that outdoor teaching and learning methods are more efficient than indoor methods. The majority of student teachers considered outdoor experiential learning with living organisms as the most efficient teaching and learning method. Student teachers who highlighted outdoor experiential learning and outdoor project work as their most efficient methods received significantly better results in the species identification test than the others. Field trips and fieldwork were emphasized as the most important sources in schools and universities, while the Internet was the most important source among media. The student teachers underlined teachers’ expertise in the form of in-depth understanding of subjects and supervising skills for efficient teaching both outdoors and indoors. Therefore, teaching and learning of species and species identification as the practical part of biodiversity and sustainability education is emphasized as an integral part of teacher education programs.

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“…The benefits of field experience in education as an important mode of active learning have been demonstrated (Boyle et al 2007;Easton and Gilburn 2011;Goodenough et al 2014), and are crucial in placing the subject in its real-world context. Field work can be of benefit to a wide diversity of students (Fuller et al 2006) and it provides a novel learning environment away from traditional classroom teaching (Falk et al 1978).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of mobile apps in teaching field-based identification skills

Thomas

Fellowes

2016

Journal of Biological Education

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It has been suggested that few students graduate with the skills required for many ecological careers, as field-based learning is said to be in decline in academic institutions. Here, we asked if mobile technology could improve field-based learning, using ability to identify birds as the study metric. We divided a class of ninety-one undergraduate students into two groups for field-based sessions where they were taught bird identification skills. The first group has access to a traditional identification book and the second group were provided with an identification app. We found no difference between the groups in the ability of students to identify birds after three field sessions. Furthermore, we found that students using the traditional book were significantly more likely to identify novel species. Therefore, we find no evidence that mobile technology improved students' ability to retain what they experienced in the field; indeed, there is evidence that traditional field guides were more useful to students as they attempted to identify new species. Nevertheless, students felt positively about using their own smartphone devices for learning, highlighting that while apps did not lead to an improvement in bird identification ability, they gave greater accessibility to relevant information outside allocated teaching times.

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The field course effect: gains in cognitive learning in undergraduate biology students following a field course

Cited by 48 publications

References 15 publications

Students' Perception of Biology Fieldwork: The example of students undertaking a preliminary year at a UK university

Students' Perception of Biology Fieldwork: The example of students undertaking a preliminary year at a UK university

Nordic Student Teachers’ Views on the Most Efficient Teaching and Learning Methods for Species and Species Identification

Effectiveness of mobile apps in teaching field-based identification skills

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