Field-based Course Research Articles

Are Our Students Prepared? The Impact of Capstone Design Pedagogical Approaches on Student Skill Development During Industry-Sponsored Fieldwork

Capstone design courses are field-based courses in which students work on real-world industry-sponsored projects. The structure of engineering capstone design courses varies between institutions as well as within an institution in the context of faculty engagement, industry involvement, and course learning objectives. We present a summary of an ongoing study focused on assessing engineering skills prefieldwork and postfieldwork experience at two institutions with different course structures in their respective industrial engineering programs. Our research goals are twofold: (1) to develop a framework for measuring the changes in students’ engineering skills during their capstone course and determine how these skills align with industry expectations and (2) to explore how differences in capstone course delivery impact the capstone experience. We developed two assessment instruments, one that involves student self-assessment across a set of engineering skills, and one with which the industry partners involved with mentoring participants in the projects evaluate the same students’ engineering skills using the same assessment items. The results of this case study inform educators on students’ perceived skill levels as well as industry expectations of a newly graduated engineer’s performance across a range of skills deemed important for workplace success. We also discuss the impact of pedagogical approaches and fieldwork course structures on skill development and project success.

Exercise on Transdisciplinarity: Lessons from a Field-Based Course on Rural Sustainability in an Aging Society

Sustainability science emerged as a new academic field to address complex sustainability challenges. To train sustainability experts, sustainability science programs and sustainability-focused courses are offered in higher education, especially at the graduate level. Given the diverse topics and the complex structures of sustainability challenges, what are the required knowledge and skills needed for sustainability experts? Although the earlier literature identified key features and competencies, empirical studies on how educational programs in sustainability science provide the necessary training are still scarce. This study addresses this gap by illustrating how a field-based course can contribute in developing core skills for fostering sustainability experts through a case study of field-based course called Global Field Exercise (GFE) in the Graduate Program in Sustainability Science-Global Leadership Initiative (GPSS-GLI) at The University of Tokyo. Literature review on the competencies in sustainability science suggests a three-way typology of descriptive-analytical skills, solution-oriented skills, and attitudinal skills. A group of students joined a GFE unit in Akita, Japan, and set “local food and place attachment” as the topic for their fieldwork. The participants conducted semi-structured interviews to three generational groups to illustrate the different perceptions of local food and places. The alternative mechanism of knowledge transmission across generations by local festivals and school events was found. The authors observed the implemented field-based course provided unique learning opportunities to acquire: (i) the ability to perform key competencies collectively instead of individually; (ii) an interdisciplinary-mindset to acknowledge multiple views to topics during group discussions among researchers; (iii) a transdisciplinary-mindset to communicate research outputs with local residents in a communicable way; (iv) the ability to be empathetic to people’s experiences when addressing normative dimensions of sustainability. Although different sets of competencies and approaches for fostering sustainability experts have been studied widely, the field-based approach plays an important role in developing transdisciplinary, interpersonal, and normative competences.

Socio-scientific reasoning and environmental literacy in a field-based ecology class

The complex environmental challenges humanity faces require citizens who are scientifically and environmentally literate. Many environmental education programs are situated in the field where students are immersed in their learning. These field-based activities are engaging but may lack opportunities for students to develop critical thinking and reasoning skills necessary to be environmentally literate. We suggest a socio-scientific issue (SSI) based teaching approach can increase epistemic engagement and lead to student gains in scientific and environmental literacy. This study describes how we modified an existing field-based ecology course, framing the learning around a local environmental socio-scientific issue. We used a convergent parallel mixed-methods approach to examine the changes in socio-scientific reasoning (SSR) over time for high school students in this course as a measure of scientific and environmental literacy. Results indicate that a focused SSI field-based environmental education curriculum can support development of socio-scientific reasoning and environmental literacy competencies among high school students.

Immersed in the struggle: confronting whiteness in a sea of whiteness

This paper explores white pre-service teachers’ understandings of racism by focusing on their understanding of one moment in a field-based social studies methods course. Using interview and journal data from two pre-service teachers, this qualitative study brings a nuanced perspective to the response of these two pre-service teachers to the racist statements of a small group of middle school students. Analysis of the data revealed that the participants’ white racial knowledge, based on their own lived experience, was complex and contradictory and revealed a struggle to articulate their understanding of racism. The author concludes by considering how teacher education can help PSTs in understanding white racial knowledge.

Career Development of Outdoor Students in Higher Education: Comparing Methodologies

Students studying outdoor recreation in higher education settings often have two avenues to obtain their degree. One avenue includes traditional classroom instruction in which students gain skills and study theory and content over several semesters, and the other includes an intensive field-based course that uses experiential learning as its focal point (Carver, 1996; Lindsay & Ewert, 1999). This study examined whether the different avenues yielded different student outcomes, skill development, and career development. Subscribe to JOREL

Relationships between Learning Styles, Perceived Advantages of Online Collaborative Learning and Practical Knowledge in Teaching among Taiwanese Student Teachers

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the three learning styles (collaborative, competitive, and individualistic) on the perceived advantage of collaborative learning (PAoCL) and practical knowledge in teaching (PKiT) among Taiwanese student teachers in an online collaborative environment. This study built a Facebook Group and developed the tasks of collaborative learning based on field-experience courses. The participants were required to share various practical experiences as the collaborative learning tasks. A total of 100 student teachers who enrolled in field-based courses between August 2016 and January 2017 participated in this study and were required to complete a validated survey in January 2017. This study determined the relationships between the three learning styles and PAoCL and PKiT and further identified predictors of online collaborative learning. The collaborative learning style of student teachers was positively associated with their PAoCL, while competitive learning style was correlated with their PKiT. Accordingly, teacher educators can encourage student teachers to share experiences about teaching practices during participating in field-experience courses through online collaboration. However, teacher educators should remind the student teachers to transfer the online information into PKiT.

Bringing Practice to the Classroom: Using a Deliberative Learning and Case Study Approach to Teach International Planning

More effective methods are needed to meet the Planning Accreditation Board’s requirement to teach all master’s students about the “global dimensions of planning.” Our survey of accredited US planning programs confirms that field-based courses, traditionally the most effective option, are costly and time-consuming and are therefore occasional, rather than regular, options for exposing students to international planning practice. Based on active learning theories, we suggest that a deliberative learning, case-based approach can facilitate many of the learning outcomes that make travel courses so attractive while also making internationally oriented pedagogies available to a wider range of students and programs.

Influence of an Intensive, Field-Based Life Science Course on Preservice Teachers’ Self-Efficacy for Environmental Science Teaching

Personal and professional experiences influence teachers’ perceptions of their ability to implement environmental science curricula and to positively impact students’ learning. The purpose of this study was twofold: to determine what influence, if any, an intensive field-based life science course and service learning had on preservice teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching about the environment and to determine which aspects of the combined field-based course/service learning preservice teachers perceived as effective for enhancing their self-efficacy. Data were collected from class documents and written teaching reflections of 38 middle-level preservice teachers. Some participants (n = 18) also completed the Environmental Education Efficacy Belief Instrument at the beginning and end of the semester. Both qualitative and quantitative data analyses indicated a significant increase in PSTs’ personal efficacies for environmental teaching, t(17) = 4.50, p = .000, d = 1.30, 95 % CI (.33, .90), but not outcome expectancy, t(17) = 1.15, p = .268, d = .220, 95 % CI (‒.06, .20). Preservice teachers reported three aspects of the course as important for enhancing their self-efficacies: learning about ecological concepts through place-based issues, service learning with K-5 students and EE curriculum development. Data from this study extend prior work by indicating that practical experiences with students were not the sole factor in shaping PSTs’ self-efficacy; learning ecological concepts and theories in field-based activities grounded in the local landscape also influenced PSTs’ self-efficacy.

Teaching Politics in the National Parks

Other than trips to government offices, political science has generally not used field experiences as part of the undergraduate curriculum. To illustrate the possibilities of such experiences, we discuss field-based courses and curricular units at three sites. Each uses a national park to teach students about environmental politics and policy issues. The course designs use experiential education theory to define learning objectives and the means to achieve them. We provide evidence from students’ self-reported academic and nonacademic outcomes that is consistent with the expectations of experiential theory. Not surprisingly, course evaluations are high. More important for experiential curricula, students report high levels of motivation in these courses, whether the experience is long or short, whether advertised in advance or not. Though self-selection may explain some of the positive outcomes, two before-and-after surveys suggest that experiential outcomes exceed expectations in interesting ways. In short, students like field experiences, the field experiences motivate them to learn, they learn more effectively, and they enjoy these courses more. Experiential opportunities should play a more important role in the political science curriculum.

Using Evernote® as an Interactive Notebook with Pre-Service Social Studies Teachers

Teacher educators are expected to create experiences for pre-service teachers to prepare them for the world of teaching and the ever-changing contexts of schools and teaching. In this article, we discussed integrating two different aspects of teacher education—field-based instruction and technology—through the use of Evernote®, a digital note-taking and archiving application, to create digital interactive student notebooks. Our goal was to provide other practitioners with insight into our use of Evernote® to address two different pedagogical goals of a field-based course: 1) to enrich our pedagogies through the use of a digital interactive notebook with pre-service teachers who were spending more time in Pre-Kindergarten-12 social studies classrooms, and 2) to teach pre-service teachers to use a particular cloud-based technology that could be implemented in their future classrooms. We described Evernote®, how we used it to work against the notorious theory and practice gap in teacher preparation, and discussed the importance of taking the time in teacher education to teach technology to digital natives.

Post Modern Image-Based Research: An Innovative Data Collection Method for Illuminating Preservice Teachers’ Developing Perceptions in Field-Based Courses

As part of course requirements twenty -eight preservice teachers in a field- based content reading course create d a series of se lf-portraits that illustrated their concerns and perceptions about teaching content reading. They accompanied their drawings with dialogue. Analysis of the portraits indicates that arts-based techniques have the potential to provide insights about preservice teachers’ perceived realities and understandings that narrative data alone might not reveal. The preservice teachers experienced high levels of stress as they prepared to teach their first lesson and their anxieties continued pas t mid-semester. By the end of the course the majority developed confidence in their teaching abilities and they were able to list a wide-range of content reading strategies however, they overlooked the visual and communicative arts.

Integrating iPad Technology in Earth Science K–12 Outreach Courses: Field and Classroom Applications

ABSTRACTIncorporating technology into courses is becoming a common practice in universities. However, in the geosciences, it is difficult to find technology that can easily be transferred between classroom- and field-based settings. The iPad is ideally suited to bridge this gap. Here, we fully integrate the iPad as an educational tool into two graduate-level K–12 in-service teacher outreach classes, one classroom-based course and one field-based course. We describe our field and classroom course objectives, and the integration of iPads into both settings. We assess the impact of the iPad in these courses through the use of pre- and posttests and surveys. Most participants enthusiastically use iPads once the initial learning curve is overcome. They tend to spend roughly the same amount of time using technology, but they substitute iPad use for laptop use once they become proficient with the iPad. Additionally, when equipped with an iPad, there is a possible increase in overall productivity as the participants spend more time preparing both for their university outreach classes and the classes they teach. However, they do spend more time on certain noneducational activities (i.e., picture/music/movies), but they appear to be more efficient and spend less time browsing the internet and conducting research for their classes. Interestingly, having participants work with iPads appears to increase confidence in general technology use, including laptops, as well as increasing confidence in the iPad as a teaching tool for their own classrooms. Pre- and posttest data suggest that there is no link to increased content knowledge by integrating iPads versus traditional teaching methods.

Blog-Based Support for Preservice Teachers in an Afterschool Tutoring Program

This article reports on findings from a study that explored blogging (a web-based log) as a tool for literacy graduate students to deliver support to preservice teachers who were working in an afterschool intervention program. Its effectiveness is compared to the use of an online literacy instructional module. Analyses of the discussions in nine blogs and lesson plan sets written by preservice teachers indicated that the blogging between the coaches and the preservice teachers aided their learning during the tutoring process. A content analysis of the blogs indicated disparity in both the activities and the types of support in the coach-created blogs that resulted in differences in how the blogs promoted or limited preservice teacher learning. This article concludes with possibilities for using blogs as a mediating tool for learning in field-based courses and teacher training programs.

The Practical Source of Educational Knowledge for Pre-Service Teachers in Confronting Field-Based Challenges in School Practicum

Educational value in teacher education courses is unquestioned; however, there are still many doubts about the practicality of the knowledge acquired from university courses and a field-based course in school practicum. The purpose of this study is to identify the practicality of the educational knowledge from the above courses for pre-service teachers in confronting field-based challenges in school practicum. A survey method was utilized to collect the data about pre-service teachers’ perceptions on the acquisition of educational knowledge as well as practicality of the knowledge. A total of 298 Taiwanese pre-service teachers were invited to fill in a validated questionnaire in January 2013, which is the last month in school practicum. Data were analyzed using the Friedman test and multiple regression analysis. This study concludes that disciplinary content knowledge was perceived as the top-ranked one among six categories of educational knowledge from university courses, while this category of knowledge was perceived as the fourth-highest order on practicality of the knowledge. The finding implies that university courses do not fit to the needs of pre-service teachers in confronting challenges in school practicum. Except for disciplinary content knowledge, other categories of educational knowledge tended to maintain approximate rank-order. Another finding reveals that all categories of educational knowledge from the field-based course were significant predictors of practicality of the educational knowledge, while all those acquired from university courses were not. A recommendation was proposed that teacher educators in universities should build a course version of practical knowledge through integrating field-based experiences into teacher education courses.

Student-centred inquiry as curriculum as a model for field-based teacher education

This research project focuses on teacher education in a field-based methods course. We were interested in understanding what could be when we worked with pre-service teachers in a high school physical education class to assist them in the process of learning to listen and respond to their students in ways that might better facilitate young people’s interest, motivation and learning. To develop a theoretical understanding of what happened in this field-based methods course designed to promote listening and responding to students as a way to guide curriculum, we utilised grounded theory. In this paper, we describe a model, student-centred inquiry as curriculum, which includes a cyclical process of building the foundation, planning, responding to students, listening to respond and analysing the responses. Student centred-inquiry as curriculum is a blending of action in the historical, localised and particular lived realities of students and teachers illuminated through inquiry with the simultaneous engagement of autobiographies, the negotiation of student voice and the social construction of content. We discuss this model as a possibility for transforming the status quo of teacher education and K-12 schools.

Teaching Environmental Geochemistry: An Authentic Inquiry Approach

ABSTRACTA field-based environmental geochemistry course was developed at Western Michigan University for undergraduate geosciences and environmental studies students to (1) improve student understanding of complex environmental systems, specifically targeting lake systems; (2) facilitate student development of professional-level, field- and laboratory-based skills for lake water and sediment analysis; and (3) strengthen student teamwork and communication skills. In this course, students designed and completed a study of water quality in a local kettle lake. The instructor used short “question of the day” exercises, brief lectures, and in-class exercises to familiarize students with analytical and field techniques relevant to the posed problem. At the end of the semester, students presented their work in a public poster session and written report submitted to a local community association. The course was assessed using student work, a preinstruction experience survey, a postinstruction course evaluation, a pre- and postinstruction knowledge test, and a series of interviews with select students. Analysis of the full suite of assessment data suggests that students developed a significantly improved understanding of lake systems and the process of eutrophication and perceived that the course improved their analytical and interpersonal skills. However, lower-performing students (i.e., those with a lower grade point average) and students with weaker backgrounds in geochemistry tended to provide less sophisticated test responses and showed less ability to transfer knowledge gained in the course to other environmental systems. Overall, students reported a strong sense of satisfaction with the authentic inquiry and community-oriented nature of the course. Compared to students in the first year of the course, students in the second offering appeared to be somewhat less excited and engaged, which may reflect a perceived lack of novelty and new discovery about the field site and study question. Thus, to insure continued high levels of engagement of students in subsequent years, we recommend periodically shifting either the field site or the central research question addressed by the class.

Crisis as Impetus Toward Conflict Resolution in Cyprus

In spring 2012, we were enrolled in a field-based graduate course in the International Peace and Conflict Resolution program at Arcadia University titled, Divided Cities: Nicosia, Cyprus. The cours...

Using institutional arrangements to teach undergraduates about commons in Thailand, and beyond

How can we introduce more people to the concepts of commons and institutions earlier in their careers? Despite the wide variety of academic fields that contribute to commons research, there are few undergraduate university courses that center on this theme. This study describes how a study abroad program in Thailand uses guiding questions about institutional arrangements to teach North American undergraduate students about commons resource-dependent communities' control and access regarding coasts, forests, and rivers. Components that will enable students to transfer this learning to other, more familiar settings are built into the field-based courses. This paper outlines how students learn institution-focused questioning on history of local resource management groups, resource access and use, exclusionary mechanisms, strategic collaborations, and power relations in very unfamiliar contexts. Through the lens of political ecology, the paper describes how focusing on institutions has shaped students’ understanding of the commons, and how they have been able to transfer their newly acquired institutional perspective to a range of situations in their home contexts.

Using institutional arrangements to teach undergraduates about commons in Thailand, and beyond

How can we introduce more people to the concepts of commons and institutions earlier in their careers? Despite the wide variety of academic fields that contribute to commons research, there are few undergraduate university courses that center on this theme. This study describes how a study abroad program in Thailand uses guiding questions about institutional arrangements to teach North American undergraduate students about commons resource-dependent communities' control and access regarding coasts, forests, and rivers. Components that will enable students to transfer this learning to other, more familiar settings are built into the field-based courses. This paper outlines how students learn institution-focused questioning on history of local resource management groups, resource access and use, exclusionary mechanisms, strategic collaborations, and power relations in very unfamiliar contexts. Through the lens of political ecology, the paper describes how focusing on institutions has shaped students’ understanding of the commons, and how they have been able to transfer their newly acquired institutional perspective to a range of situations in their home contexts.

The Impact of an Inquiry-Based Geoscience Field Course on Pre-service Teachers

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to determine the effects of a field-based, inquiry-focused course on pre-service teachers’ geoscience content knowledge, attitude toward science, confidence in teaching science, and inquiry understanding and skills. The field-based course was designed to provide students with opportunities to observe, compare, and investigate geological structures in their natural environment and to gain an understanding of inquiry via hands-on learning activities designed to immerse students in authentic scientific investigation. ANCOVA and MANCOVA analyses examining differences in outcome measures between students in the field experience (n = 25) and education students enrolled in the traditional, classroom-based course (n = 37) showed that students in the field course generally had significantly higher scores. Results provide evidence of the value of the field and inquiry-based approach in helping pre-service teachers develop the needed skills and knowledge to create effective inquiry-based science lessons.