Field trip activity in an ancient gold mine: scientific literacy in informal education

Abstract

Considering informal education and field trips as important didactical elements that promote science and scientific literacy (to know, to understand, to apply science), this article presents the work carried out in the gold mines of Castromil (city of Paredes, Portugal), a region with an unquestionable richness in terms of geological heritage. The field trip involved 166 students, ranging from 10 to 21 years of age, and was organized according to Orion’s model. The evaluation of the field trip was observed in three aspects: i) the construction of scientific knowledge; ii) the quality of the activities performed; and iii) the promotion of environmental education. The results were obtained through a questionnaire applied to the participants, and interviews of the two monitors responsible for the field trip. The results allow us to conclude that Orion’s model was successfully applied in an informal field trip activity promoting scientific literacy.