Education in the green space: developing confidence in fieldwork practicJudith Lock and Jake Snaddon

EFL Showcase event 2017

Developing confidence• For teachers

• For lecturers - meeting the challenge of increasing group sizes and a disproportional increase in mental health problems

• For students – encouraging reflection

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Teachers• From the workshops run with teachers to better understand

the barriers they face when taking children outside and the interviews with experts we found that the barriers they identified fit into six categories;

1. Places 2. Clothing3. Transport4. Knowledge5. School/education system

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Teachers• Example for each category

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Category Barrier Solution

Places Lack of suitable outside space in schools

Develop the outside space available. Concrete playgrounds can have planters put on them. Travel grants for schools to travel to local green space

Clothing Teachers and children not owning/ having access to suitable clothes

Provide guidance sheets on clothing requirements. Welly and coat banks, funded by local community funds (e.g. 5p bag fund)

Transport Cost Travel grants. Walk to local green space. Develop school grounds.

Knowledge Teachers cannot identify species

Site pre visit For own school grounds an interested staff member form the school with more knowledge could run a session explaining/demonstrating to the other staff members The Wildlife Trust run sessions with school staff explaining what they have at their schoolLearn with the pupils using classification keys or online apps

System Lack of time in curriculum (no science SATs)

Cross curricular outdoor activitiesFit into planned times i.e. British Science Week

Lecturers• Pressures on staff

• E.g. Our 1st year residential field course to Spain(during Easter holidays):

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Academic year Number of students2010-11 832011-12 582012-13 662013-14 862014-15 862015-16 118!2016-17 96 (initially we were told

110)

Lecturers• Embed module in the semester:

– Before the trip: briefings and preparatory lectures– During the trip: split the whole group in 2, each half

coming to Spain for a week– After the trip: students’ project presentations took place

back in Southampton

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Lecturers

Dates Day Course eventGroup 1 Group 2

25th March 1st April 1 Fly to Gibraltar26th March 2nd April 2 Local day 1 –

arthropods/plants, ID cards27th March 3rd April 3 Local day 2 –

plants/arthropods, ID cards28th March 4th April 4 Marine day, revision, video

presentations29th March 5th April 5 Spot test, Ojen valley, project

preparation30th March 6th April 6 Research project day 131st March 7th April 7 Research project day 2

1st April 8th April 8 Fly home

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WkDate Time Building

RmStaff Lecture Information

131st Jan 2017 09:00-9:45 02A/2077

(L/T J)Field course briefing

210th Feb 2017 09:00-10:45 02A/2077

(L/T J)Preparatory lecture

317th Feb 2017 09:00-10:45 02A/2077

(L/T J)Preparatory lecture

424th Feb 2017 09:00-10:45 85/2207 Group 1: risk

assessment workshop

52nd Mar 2017 15:00-16:45 67/1007 Group 2: risk

assessment workshop

Group 1 field trip to Spain: 25th March to 1st April 2017

Group 2 field trip to Spain: 1st to 8th April 2017

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27th Apr 2017 15:00-17:45 44/1041 (L/T A)

Group 1: project presentations

(Groups 1 and 2 to attend)

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5th May 2017 15:00-17:45 44/1041 (L’T A)

Group 2: project presentations

(Groups 1 and 2 to attend)

Students

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• Direct, personal experience in the field

• “Physical immersion in nature combined with the foundational knowledge of science and the attention to human emotion and connection to place, coalesce to form a more comprehensive understanding of the ecosystem” (Horshaw, 2009)Ecological Awareness model

Students• Field notebook format

1. Reflective narrative of course – tutorials, seminars, and other relevant things you notice (news items, journal articles etc…)

2. Species list from your weekly 20 minute garden surveys (we will collect a longterm data set for Southampton)

3. Development of taxonomic expertise (focus on UK species)

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Students

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1. Reflective narrative of course and 2. Species list

Students

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3. Development of taxonomic expertise (focus on UK species)

Conclusions• Fieldwork is challenging but inspirational

• Educators at all levels (from primary school to university) need support and recognition of the challenges

• Students will then be encouraged to thrive

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