ENHANCEMENT OF PRESERVICE TEACHERS’ CONTENT KNOWLEDGE AS A RESULT OF FIELDWORK

In the earth sciences field trips have the potential to provide a foundation for learning concepts that cannot be taught in a classroom alone. Many ideas that can be addressed in an abstract way in a classroom can only be fully understood in the field. This research was conducted over two semesters in an earth science course for pre-service teachers. Students completed assessments at specific stages throughout the course to measure prior knowledge before instruction, the results of classroom instruction, and changes in understanding after subsequent field instruction. The instruments tested students’ understanding of facts and concepts related to sedimentology and change through time. The instruments contained matched items to facilitate statistical analysis as well as free response questions to measure qualitative changes in understanding. Selected students were also interviewed at different stages. Three different field trips were administered to different groups of students with the same classroom preparation to test the robustness of effects related to field instruction: one to Torrey Pines State Beach, another at Tourmaline Surfing Park, and a Quicktime VR virtual field trip constructed to mimic the Tourmaline trip. Results indicate an overall increase in knowledge as a result of the curriculum (p < 0.0001) regardless of field trip type. There was a statistically significant difference between students’ scores on the post-classroom and post-field instruments (p=0.010), also regardless of field trip type. All field trips consistently helped student understanding evolve from static memorization of facts related to sediment transport and depositional environments to an integrated understanding of change through time as shown in the rock record. There was no statistically significant difference between the post-classroom and post-field scores according to field trip type (p=0.460), but generally students who took the real field trips field trips showed a greater increase in scores than students who took the virtual trip. Although the classroom curriculum produced quantifiable gains in fact-oriented knowledge, a scientifically sophisticated and integrated understanding of the relationships between sedimentary environments and their migration over time emerged only after the field trip.