Lost in the field: ensuring student learning in the ‘threatened’ geography fieldtrip

Abstract

As a result of its importance to the discipline's identity and epistemology, the nature of fieldwork and the fieldtrip itself have recently come under close scrutiny in the education and geographical literature. Moreover, not only is their pedagogical importance being debated, but also their future viability at a time of increasing pressure on institutions to minimise potential risk situations in the field, offer value for money to students as well as following the increasingly common and popular trend of long‐haul fieldtrips. This paper therefore critically interrogates the role and use of fieldwork within geographical teaching and learning in the light of its changing and increasingly contested status within the discipline in three parts. First, it outlines and reflects upon the current debate surrounding the threat to the primacy of fieldtrips in geography at a time of ongoing upheaval in higher education. Second, through the empirical example of personal experiences teaching on second‐year undergraduate urban geography fieldtrips to San Francisco in December 2007 and 2008, the paper engages with the current discussions of the pedagogical importance of fieldtrips. Third, the paper asks, to what extent teaching in ‘the field’ might foster the ‘experiential’ or ‘active’ learning needed to inspire the kind of ‘deep learning’ approaches that hold the kind of ‘transformative’ potential envisaged as a key goal of education more broadly. Through exploring these ideas with reference to recent and relevant experience, the paper aims to critically interrogate the role and value of fieldtrips at a time when their potential demise is being cast as a fundamental assault on geography's founding identity and pedagogical traditions. The paper concludes that despite the threats it faces, the pedagogical significance of fieldwork means that it must remain a fundamental tenet of the geographical educational experience.

Mobile Learning in a Human Geography Field Course

“…However, being unequivocal in terms of the pedagogic value and effectiveness of fieldwork is more difficult. This matters given the financial context in which we teach, and it makes sense that we re-evaluate the pedagogic benefits of fieldwork (e.g., costly residential field courses) on an ongoing basis (McEwen 1996;Herrick 2010).…”

“…Notwithstanding, the benefits for students gaining active experience of methods in context has been noted (e.g., Healey et al 2005;Scheyvens et al 2008). In fact, as others such as Herrick (2010) have illustrated, training in the class and subsequent fieldwork can go hand-in-hand to produce a much deeper learning experience. Perhaps at the very least, the clear value of fieldwork lies firmly in the affective domain as revealed by Boyle et al (2007).…”

“…One classification of student fieldwork is the two dimensional independent vs. dependent and observation vs. participation framework employed by Herrick (2010) and Panelli and Welch (2005), originally derived from Kent et al (1997). Although this framework was devised as two continua, four categories are frequently identified (e.g., in…”

“…However, we argue that Kent's classification -and in particular the versions in Panelli and Welch (2005) and Herrick (2010) -needs reflection to incorporate the role of mobile technology. For example, participation in a fieldwork context is often associated with the task of data gathering (e.g., Panelli and Welch 2005;Herrick 2010). Although important, Saunders (2011, 185) warns of "… the need to collect 'data' eclipsing the other dimensions of learner engagement, enquiry and thinking in the field".…”

Securing field learning using a twenty-first century Cook's Tour

“…This development of Geography's "signature pedagogy" (Hovorka & Wolf, 2009, 99) is essential if fieldwork is to remain a central, fundamental component of modern undergraduate degrees as so many recognise (e.g. Haigh & Gold, 1993;Kent et al, 1997;Pawson & Teather, 2002;Bracken & Mawdsley, 2004;Stodart & Adams, 2004;Dummer, et al 2008;Maskall & Stokes, 2008;Herrick, 2010). Fieldwork provides demonstrably valuable learning experiences (Kern & Carpenter, 1984;1986;Fuller et al, 2003;2006;Scott et al 2006;Boyle et al, 2007;Fuller et al 2010), including opportunities to acquire 'hands--on' subject--knowledge in the real world, and the glue which bonds together a student cohort (e.g.…”