The Value of Fieldwork in Life and Environmental Sciences in the Context of Higher Education: A Case Study in Learning About Biodiversity |
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Authors: | Graham W Scott Raymond Goulder Phillip Wheeler Lisa J Scott Michelle L Tobin Sara Marsham |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Biological Sciences, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK;(2) Centre for Environmental and Marine Sciences, Scarborough Campus, University of Hull, Scarborough, YO11 3AZ, UK;(3) School of Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle University, Newcastle, NE1 7RU, UK |
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Abstract: | Fieldwork is assumed by most practitioners to be an important if not essential component of a degree level education in the
environmental sciences. However, there is strong evidence that as a result of a wide range of pressures (academic, financial
and societal) fieldwork is in decline in the UK and elsewhere. In this paper we discuss the value of fieldwork in a higher
education context and present the results of a case study which illustrates its value to student learning and the wider student
experience. We used qualitative and quantitative methods to compare the impact of two learning tasks upon the affective and
cognitive domains of students. We designed two tasks. One task that included fieldwork, and required students to collect organisms
from the field and make labelled drawings of them, and one task that omitted the fieldwork and simply required drawing of
specimens that the students had not collected. We evaluated the students’ experience through structured and semi-structured
questionnaires and written exercises. Students did not perceive the two tasks as being equivalent to one another. They reported
that they enjoy fieldwork and value it (in the contexts of their learning at university, life-long learning, and in relation
to their career aspirations) and felt that they learn more effectively in the field. Our students were better able to construct
a taxonomic list of organisms that they had collected themselves, better able to recall the structural detail of these organisms
and were better able to recall the detail of an ecological sampling methodology that they had personally carried out in the
field rather than one that a tutor had described to them in a classroom setting. Our case study supports the growing body
of evidence that fieldwork is an important way of enhancing undergraduate learning and highlights some key areas for future
research. |
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