Decisions, decisions - the importance of choice and ownership in fieldwork based 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