THE ROLE OF FIELDS TRIPS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF STRONG LEARNING COMMUNITIES ON THE SEA TO SKY HIGHWAY

Field trips are often held by geoscientists to be peak learning experiences that create strong memories and enhance memory retention. In the past year four very different UBC field trips have occurred in the same region, the Sea to Sky Highway (HWY 99) north of Vancouver, British Columbia. These four trips ran with three very different groups of participants. The cohorts include two self-selected groups of about 30 students form a large enrollment first year Natural Hazards class, a group of 34 students and faculty who either identified as having a disability or are interested in making their classes more accessible, and a group of 20 English as an Additional Language (EAL) students in a first year physical geology course. Of these four trips, two created extremely strong learning communities but in slightly different ways. The accessibility trip created a strong community of learners with a shared focus who are still working together to create and promote accessible learning opportunities. The EAL group bonded so strongly that instructors from their other classes commented on the difference after the field trip, without knowing a trip had occurred. This presentation will share outcomes of student and instructor interviews, post field trip surveys, and observations from these 4 trips. It will focus on features of the groups and field trips, as well as differences in the experiences that lead to the development of these powerful learning communities.