The place of fieldtrips in New Zealand university geography

Stirling, Susan

doi:10.1111/j.1745-7939.2008.00128.x

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…I initially hesitated in referring to their excursion as a ‘geography field trip’, but a search of the literature indicates that this is the area of any comparable research. While this trip was not the traditional field trip of that type that others, including Sue Stirling (, ) write about, which are embedded in the teaching of geography and used in a taken‐for‐granted way of gathering ‘data’, it still has characteristics of field trips, albeit of a more informal nature. If field trips are seen in the way Falk and Dierking () do, as opportunities for ‘applying prior knowledge and experience to new experiences; [whereby] this effort is normally played out within a physical context …’ (1997, p. 216) then it seems reasonable to describe this excursion as a field trip.…”

Section: Field Trips and Culture Shockmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intermediate school's trip to India: Preparing for competence

Andrews

2014

N Z Geog

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In November 2010, students from a Palmerston North intermediate school embarked on a 2‐week excursion to India. Qualitative research was carried out before, during and after the trip. Results discussed in this article focus primarily on the students' account of their trip, especially their perceived cultural competence and their explanation for it. Accounts of their competence are also offered by the parents and teachers, for example, they especially valued the students' extensive school‐based preparation. Insights gained from the experiences of this trip may be applied to other, including older, cohorts of students embarking on overseas school field trips.

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Section: Field Trips and Culture Shockmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intermediate school's trip to India: Preparing for competence

Andrews

2014

N Z Geog

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“…The identification of these skills forms the framework for construction of a set of developmental, transferable, sequential and assessable skills that have been successfully implemented in multiple field courses (Rydant et al, 2010). Criteria such as those identified by Rydant et al (2010) clearly make more effective arguments in support of fieldwork than do arguments based on the idea that fieldwork is undertaken because of the tradition of doing so, and because it is enjoyable (Stirling, 2008).…”

Section: Fieldworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Approaches to the evaluation of the role of fieldwork in the curriculum include interviews of faculty (Scott et al, 2006; Stirling, 2008), student surveys (Dunphy and Spellman, 2009; Fuller, 2006; Fuller et al, 2006), phenomenographic analysis of student and faculty written comments (Stokes et al, 2011), reflection (Bracken and Mawdsley, 2004; Herrick, 2010) and description of initiatives (McIntyre et al, 2005). In general, there is a strong consensus within all recent studies that fieldwork makes an important contribution to student learning in geography.…”

Section: Fieldworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Undergraduate teaching and learning in physical geography

Day

2012

Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment

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Like other disciplines, physical geography has seen substantial recent interest in research on ways to improve undergraduate teaching and learning. Most of this research has taken place in a constructivist framework in which students construct knowledge in ways that are meaningful to them. Constructivist theory forms the basis for a wide range of active learning approaches, such as inquiry-based learning and problem-based learning. These approaches are inductive in that students build theory and generalizations from case studies rather than more traditional approaches in which the students learn the theory and then study some examples. Students are typically more engaged in their active learning than they are in traditional approaches, but the impacts of the newer approaches on student learning are unclear. Experiential and service learning, together with fieldwork, offer considerable organizational challenges, but the learning rewards are clear and unchallenged. Attempts to replace fieldwork with virtual field trips have met with resistance, but there has been little research on the ways that virtual fieldwork could be improved. Introductory physical geography textbooks have failed to keep up with changes in teaching the subject, although there have been some recent innovations that offer promise. Animations in particular seem to engage students, although there is no evidence that they enhance the learning of physical geography. The nature of the relationship between research and teaching continues to fascinate, yet eludes clarification. The scholarship of teaching and learning physical geography offers challenges and opportunities for new and experienced faculty who have not previously published in this field.

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“…Even the mere juxtaposition of physical and human geography commentaries at the same site can broaden perspectives. None of this activity is out of the ordinary in New Zealand university geography programmes, all of which feature learning in the field (Stirling 2008). There is perhaps less explicit reflection on learning from field teaching in the practice of geographical research, which we argue has been significant in the production of this set of papers and in our reflections on what a new regional geography might look like.…”

Section: Population By Usual Residence: Northland Territorial Authorimentioning

confidence: 99%

Performing a new regional geography

Winder

Lewis

2010

New Zealand Geographer

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In this introduction to the Special Issue ‘Practising a New Regional Geography in Northland’, we call for a new regional geography. We use the experience of a field course to reflect upon the opportunities and challenges associated with doing ‘regional geography’ in the regions, a subdiscipline that has in recent decades been pushed into the backwaters of the discipline. We reinterpret the maxim ‘geography is what geographers do’ in a new way that emphasises pedagogy and research practice. The case of Northland and helping our students to learn experientially about community and environment under the rubric of sustainability allows us to argue the case for a reinterpretation of regional geography in these terms. We position the contributions in this Special Issue in terms of our call.

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The place of fieldtrips in New Zealand university geography

Cited by 8 publications

References 7 publications

Intermediate school's trip to India: Preparing for competence

Intermediate school's trip to India: Preparing for competence

Undergraduate teaching and learning in physical geography

Performing a new regional geography

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