AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF GEOGRAPHICAL FIELD TRIPS - METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS FOR THE EVALUATION OF FIELD SITES

A wealth of normative contributions to the didactics of field trips exists. Empirical testings are found on the basis of single field trip groups only occasionally.

For the results of the explanations on hand a one-day field trip was carried out ten times for glacial morphology under similar framework conditions in the Bavarian foothills of the Alps. Participants were groups with 11 grade class of Gymnasium, groups of university students of geography and adult groups.

Only the methodology and the results of the assessment of the field sites are mentioned here.

The evaluation of the field sites was made by all 159 participants in writing for the quantitative analysis with the help of a questionnaire. In addition, a qualitative individual interview of four experimentees was carried out. The Repetory-Grid technology derived from from the theory of the personal constructs was applied.

The quantitative analysis has shown that significant object-independent valuation variances at the field sites can be exclusively explained by different interest. Influence sizes like sex, weather or order of the field sites do not have a significant effect on the assessment of the field sites. The same ranking was given by groups of different interests in the evaluation of field sites.

The quantitative analysis showed that it is not required to demand catalogues of control criterions for every single field site. As a rule, it is sufficient if one or, at the most, two of the three control criterions "conciseness", "fieldwork opportunities” or "aesthetic stimulus" are very distinctive. The qualitative analysis by means of Repetory-Grid technology confirmed these results and furthermore produced broader relevant judgement dimensions such as "rarity value" or "realworld relevance” of a field site.