ERIC Number: EJ856529
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-May
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0309-8265
EISSN: N/A
The Importance of Direct Experience: A Philosophical Defence of Fieldwork in Human Geography
Hope, Max
Journal of Geography in Higher Education, v33 n2 p169-182 May 2009
Human geography fieldwork is important. Research has shown that when students "see it for themselves" their enjoyment and understanding is enhanced. In addition it helps develop subject-specific and transferable skills, promotes 'active learning' and links theory to "real world" examples in a "spiral of learning". Stressing the socially constructed nature of knowledge and identity, however, Nairn (2005) has made a valuable critique of the assumption that human geography fieldwork gives students direct and unmediated access to "the truth". Drawing on qualitative research with students in New Zealand she shows that their fieldwork experience, rather than enhancing their understanding, reinforced misconceptions they held prior to the trip. Using evidence from an action research project on the student experience of human geography fieldwork in the Western Isles of Scotland, this paper argues that while fieldwork can reinforce preconceptions in the way Nairn describes, this is not inevitably so. Fieldwork can give us direct experiences that challenge our preconceptions. The reality of others can "call us to attention" in ways that make them matter to us. This "enhanced affective response" helps deepen our understanding of the wider world and our place within it. It is for this reason that fieldwork remains a valuable mode of learning for human geography students.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Human Geography, Field Experience Programs, Field Instruction, Field Studies, Active Learning, Action Research, Misconceptions, Reinforcement, Student Experience, Qualitative Research, Learner Engagement
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: New Zealand; United Kingdom (Scotland)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A