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Field Course (field + course)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences60%

Selected Abstracts

,I Can't Eat That, It's Purple': a Geography Field Course in Vanuatu and Fiji

GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2006
JOHN CONNELL
Abstract A month-long field course in the Pacific island states of Vanuatu and Fiji focused on development issues, involving lectures, seminars and much informal interaction. Students completed daily journals as a means of learning, a form of self-assessment of learning, a way of evaluating their participation in the course and their perception of its value. Journal themes reflected an evolution from unsettling rhetorical questions towards notions of discovery, autonomy, reflexivity and emerging cultural sensitivity. Students developed valuable social skills, and gained first-hand experience of various concepts of development and social justice. Grading the journals was difficult because of the extent of subjectivity and diverse personal experiences. The course, and the journals, emphasised the diverse values and roles of courses both on, and particularly in, developing countries, despite the substantial costs. [source]

The challenge of integration in interdisciplinary education

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHING & LEARNING, Issue 102 2005
Michele Minnis
Focused on an interdisciplinary graduate program in water resources management, this case study illustrates how theory-into-practice integration occurred in a field course and clarified students' expectations that faculty model interdisciplinary ways of knowing. [source]

Thinking with images in non-representational cities: vignettes from Berlin

AREA, Issue 3 2009
Alan Latham
Thinking about and with images has long been central to the practice of geographical fieldwork. This paper considers how the participation of images in urban-based fieldwork might be understood in the wake of non-representational theories. Drawing upon our experience of co-teaching an urban-based field course in Berlin, we discuss three ways in which such theories allow us to make more of the participation of images in the thinking-spaces of urban fieldwork. Specifically, we consider how images afford opportunities for attending to everyday ecologies of materials and things; for thinking through the rhythms of urban environments; and for producing affective archives. In concluding we suggest that thinking with images in urban fieldwork can be understood as part of the elaboration of ecologies of non-representational ethico-aesthetic practices. [source]

Putting the community back in community ecology and education: the role of field schools and private reserves in the ethical training of primatologists

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 9 2010
P.A. Garber
Abstract In 1993 and 1999, with the assistance of a Nicaraguan family, we founded La Suerte Biological Research Station in northeastern Costa Rica and Ometepe Biological Research Station in southern Nicaragua as a privately owned conservation-oriented business. Our goal was to develop a program of sustainable community ecology focused on education, research, and the conservation of primates and tropical forests. In order to accomplish this we developed field courses in which undergraduate and graduate students conduct scientific research, experience local cultures, and learn about conservation. Over 120 of these students have received doctoral degrees or are currently in graduate programs. Four doctoral dissertations, several MA theses, and some 20 scientific articles have been published based on research conducted at our field stations. In order to achieve our long-term goals of preserving the environment, we also needed to engage directly with local communities to address their needs and concerns. To this end, we developed a series of community-based initiatives related to health care, bilingual education, and conservation education using traditional and on-line teaching tools. In this article, we describe our efforts in Costa Rica and Nicaragua teaching conservation-oriented field courses and working with the local human communities. Building upon these experiences, we outline a set of ethical considerations and responsibilities for private reserves, conservation-oriented businesses, NGOs, and conservancies that help integrate members of the local community as stakeholders in conservation. Am. J. Primatol. 72:785,793, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]