| Abstract | Fieldtrips are useful in a variety of disciplines for gaining practical skills, sensory experience, and multiple perspectives on a topic. However, fieldwork as a method of teaching and learning is broad, encompassing many different strategies and techniques. The ‘Cook’s tour’ approach to fieldtrips is purely observational; students are led from site to site and expected to absorb information from mini-lectures in the field. In this study, I propose that a more hands-on, active learning approach to fieldtrips results in higher engagement and motivation on the part of the student, and ultimately more positive outcomes in both cognitive and affective realms. Specifically, I will assess the merits of a more participatory approach to a traditionally tour-style fieldtrip taken by undergraduates enrolled in General Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. First, I will redesign two afternoon fieldtrips to Baxter’s Hollow, a Wisconsin natural area. In previous years these fieldtrips have utilized a Cook’s tour approach, and students have complained that, while they enjoy the fieldtrips, they wish that they were more hands-on. I will structure the fieldtrips so that they utilize student-led group work, field research, and problem solving rather than a simple tour through a natural area. I will distribute pre- and post-fieldtrip questionnaires to the students to assess their level of cognitive knowledge about concepts covered in the fieldtrip (such as vegetation structure, stream quality, and geologic landforms), as well as affective feelings about the natural environment and the practice of fieldwork. I will also hold a voluntary focus group after the fieldtrip, during which I will lead students in a discussion about the merits of active learning in the field. This research will help to further understanding about the value of fieldtrips in general and, more specifically, different approaches to teaching and learning about Ecology outdoors. |
