Centre for Teaching and Learning
- Instructors
- Instructional Strategies
Field-Based Learning
What is field-based learning.
In field-based learning, teaching is extended to a site outside of the classroom or laboratory, exposing students to a real-world setting. Students learn though direct interaction with an environment that reflects taught concepts rather than learning through indirect presentations of the setting such as textbooks or lectures.
Queens’ Bader International Study Centre (ISC) at Herstmonceux Castle in Essex, U.K., uses field based learning as an essential part of the curriculum.
Why use Field-Based Learning?
Field-based learning may serve a diverse range of teaching aims and goals as students are provided with a perspective of materials, objects or phenomena that are not accessible in, or fully appreciated through, other settings.
Field-based learning is generally chosen because the experience:
provides an opportunity to present materials, objects or phenomena that are not accessible otherwise to students in a way that enables direct contact and interaction provides students with an opportunity to practice skills or techniques that cannot be carried out elsewhere stimulates higher understanding and reinforcement of previously learned classroom material stimulates an appreciation for, concern or valuing of the visited environment (Lonergan, N. & Andresen, L.W (1988) field-based education: some theoretical considerations. Higher Education Research & Development, 7 (1) 63-77.)
Field-Based Learning Teaching Strategies
Resources for field-based learning.
- Articles and Books
Adams, A., Davies, S., Collins, T., & Rogers, Y. (2010). Out there and in here: design for blended scientific inquiry learning. In: 17th Association for Learning Technology Conference ALT-C 2010 -, 07–09 Sep 2010, Nottingham, UK.
Atchinson, C. L., & Feig, A. D. (2011). Theoretical perspectives on constructing experience through alternative field-based learning environments for students with mobility impairments. In, A. D. Feig & A. Stokes (Eds), Qualitative Inquiry in Geoscience Education Research (Special Paper 474). Boulder, CO: The Geological Society of America Inc.
Bogo, Marion (2010). Achieving competence in social work through field education. University of Toronto Press.
Caprano, M. M., Caprano, R. M., Helfeldt, J. (2010). Do differing types of field experiences make a difference in teacher candidates' perceived level of competence?. Teacher Education Quarterly, 37, 131-154.
Nicholson, D. T. (2011). Embedding research in a field-based module through peer review and assessment for learning. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 35 (4). doi: 10.1080/03098265.2011.552104
Research in the Geosciences
Field-based coursework for business students
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