Graham Scott Choice and ownership in field learning
- 1. Decisions, decisions … the importance of choice and ownership in fieldwork based learning Graham Scott @grahamscott14 @HullSTEMEd
- 2. Session outline • Explain my early experiences of fieldwork teaching • Share examples of my attempts to improve my fieldwork teaching • Share some words of caution • Present a case study of recent work • Welcome your feedback
- 3. Students all doing the same thing at the same time. All collecting lots of ‘data’. The ‘traditional’ approach
- 4. Working long into the evening all doing the same thing to generate a spreadsheet of death and a single ‘correct’ analysis/output/report
- 5. • Large groups all doing the same thing • Pressured pace of work • Lots of waiting for other people to finish • Need for synchronous breaks • Unhappy students • Frustrated staff • Lots of opportunity to disengage (in field and lab/classroom) Traditional problems
- 6. How to move from disengaged to engaged?
- 7. Choice and ownership are important Whales, Sharks and Dolphins Classroom based module Small group learning Student focused Students determine module content Students have choice and ownership Scott (2017) Active engagement with assessment and feedback improves group- work outcomes. Higher Education Pedagogies 2(1), 1-13. 2002 Let students decide what to learn and marks will go up.
- 8. Extending whole class knowledge • Allowing the individual some control over what is learned e.g. 52 students in Dalby forest: Total n of tree species identified Conifers 18 Broad-leaved trees & shrubs 27 Total n of tree species drawn, labelled and annotated Conifers 12 Broad-leaved trees & shrubs 12 Goulder, R., & Scott, G.W. (2009). Field study of plant diversity: Extending the whole-class knowledge base through open-ended learning. Bioscience Education(14).
- 9. Doing less to achieve more •Focus clearly on outcomes rather than upon the tasks themselves. •Build confidence through re-iterative tasks of increasing complexity. • Goulder, R. & Scott, G. (2006) Phytosociology for undergraduates with minimal botanical background. Journal of Biological Education 41(1), pp26-29.
- 10. A word of caution: students may not recognise or like independence Hypothetical figure to illustrate ‘the moving goal-post model’ Essentially a Red Queen Effect Henri, Morrell & Scott (2017) Student perceptions of their autonomy at University. Higher Education, 75(3), 507-516. Scott, Furnell, Murphy & Goulder (2014) Teacher and student perceptions of the development of learner autonomy; a case study in the biological sciences. Studies in Higher Education, 40(6), 945-956
- 11. I don’t know. Yeah! Lets find out. He’s a bit rubbish – avoid his modules! More words of caution: a tale of two students
- 12. Expectation, motivation, engagement and ownership: Using student reflections in the conative and affective domain to enhance residential field courses
- 13. The participants Prof. Stuart Humphries Dr. Dominic Henri … colleagues and 34 students Scotland Brazil Mallorca
- 14. Scotland 3 days of guided learning 2 days of independent working Mallorca 4 days of guided learning 1 day off 2 days of independent learning Brazil 1 day of guided learning 2 days of independent learning 2 days of guided learning 1 day of independent learning
- 15. Cognitive Psychomotor Affective Conative Fieldwork Balanced Reflection* prior to each activity * Blair & Deacon (2015) Reflective Practice 16(3)
- 16. Reflections in the affective domain 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Scotland Mallorca Brazil %ofreferences Positive reference Negative reference positive negative scenery boredom serenity anxiety sense of place lack of freedom nostalgia expectations not met weather weather sense of ownership Intrusion by others project motivation doing other peoples work Brazil Brazil & Mallorca Independent learning * * * * *
- 17. Reflections in the conative domain Drivers of lower motivation • Weather • Tired/hungry • Boredom/repetition • Wasted time • Doing other peoples work§ • ‘Tourism’ opportunities* • Lack of freedom to explore§ • Anxiety (strangers/places/risk) • Novelty (fear of unknown) • Novelty (lack of confidence in ability) *particularly Mallorca after ‘day off’ §particularly Brazil during first days Drivers of higher motivation • Anticipation (novelty)* • Weather • Doing own project§ • Working with right people • Deadline to collect data • Intrinsic interest • Familiarity (of location/habitat) • Familiarity (confidence in ability) *often short lived & on day 1 §often associated with pride Scotland & Mallorca students significantly during independent learning.
- 18. Scotland 3 days of guided learning 2 days of independent working Mallorca 4 days of guided learning 1 day off Hotel induced tourism tension? 2 days of independent learning Brazil 1 day of guided learning 2 days of independent learning 2 days of guided learning 1 day of independent learning Brazil 1 day of directed learning 2 days of guided learning 2 days of directed learning on other students project 1 day of guided learning Conclusion: What have we learned from our students? ‘Manage’ expectations Design in autonomy & ownership Avoid tension points Build in familiarity & confidence And what can we do about it?
- 19. Thank you I welcome your questions and feedback