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Engaging students with fieldwork Dr Phil Porter Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography

Engaging students with fieldwork Dr Phil Porter Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography School of Life Sciences. What is fieldwork?. Specific outdoor environments: Mountain, glacial, woodland, coastal, urban, fluvial, arid etc. Visits to institutions:

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Engaging students with fieldwork Dr Phil Porter Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography

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  1. Engaging students with fieldwork Dr Phil Porter Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography School of Life Sciences

  2. What is fieldwork? Specific outdoor environments: Mountain, glacial, woodland, coastal, urban, fluvial, arid etc. Visits to institutions: Hospitals, schools, workplaces, museums, galleries etc. Visits to centres of learning and scholarship: Libraries, learned societies, other Universities etc. Overseas fieldwork Any of the above anywhere in the World!!!

  3. Barriers to fieldwork?

  4. Barriers to fieldwork? Barriers to fieldwork?

  5. Benefits of fieldwork?

  6. Benefits of fieldwork?

  7. Overcoming the barriers

  8. Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education Good practice… 1…encourages student-faculty contact; 2…encourages co-operation among students; 3…encourages active learning; 4…gives prompt feedback; 5…emphasises time on task; 6…communicates high expectations; 7…respects diverse talents and ways of learning. Chickering and Gamson, 1987.

  9. Walk and talk?

  10. …encourages co-operation

  11. …encourages student-faculty contact

  12. …gives prompt feedback

  13. …emphasises time on task

  14. …respects diverse talents and ways of learning

  15. …communicates high expectations

  16. …encourages active learning!

  17. …develops cookery skills!

  18. …encourages drawing and counselling skills!

  19. The missing eighth principle? “What is taught….is at least as important as how it is taught. In contrast to the long history of research in teaching and learning, there is little research on the college curriculum. We cannot, therefore, make responsible recommendations about the content of good undergraduate education. That work is yet to be done.” Chickering and Gamson, 1987.

  20. Teaching “Research and teaching are essential and intertwined characteristics of a University” dfes Research Forum (2004) Links have to be defined and developed, not left to chance Research

  21. Why integrate research? • Research defines us as a University • Students have a right to expect research informed teaching • Shows real-world relevance/practical application • Teaching students to be enquiring/research based is • essential: • “…the changing world to be faced by today’s students will • demand unprecedented skills of intellectual flexibility, analysis • and enquiry”. Jenkins et al., 2007. • Inspiring and enthusing students

  22. Modes of research-informed teaching in HE RESEARCH-LED: curriculum structured around subject content/staff res. RESEARCH-ORIENTATED: greater emphasis on teaching of specific research skills RESEARCH-BASED: curriculum based around inquiry-based activities RESEARCH-INFORMED: teaching/curriculum draws consciously on inquiry into the teaching and learning process Griffiths, 2004.

  23. Good practice in RIT? Role of fieldwork? 1. Include outcomes of recent research in the curriculum 2. Develop an understanding of the history and role of research in the discipline 3. Engage students in discipline-specific research processes 4. Engage students in generic research processes 5. Create a ‘research-rich’ teaching and learning environment 6. Engage students in enquiry-based activities Adapted from Blackmore and Fraser, 2003.

  24. Teaching & learning methods that stimulate research

  25. Using assignments which involve elements of the research process • Use of field instrumentation • Collection of field data • Analysis of field data • Interpretation of results • Application of results to specific research • questions • 6. Discussion of results with reference to • research literature

  26. Use of instrumentation

  27. Collection of field data

  28. Analysis & interpretation of field data

  29. Application of results to specific research question

  30. Meltwater flowpaths Snowpack “Using your field notes for initial guidance and incorporating results from your analysis of data collected in Switzerland, explain how short-wave energy from the sun is ultimately converted to water emerging from the front of a glacier, detailing the pathways that water may take en-route to the glacier portal. Your report should discuss supraglacial, englacial, subglacial and proglacial factors and processes.” Glacier

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