Enhancing Science, Technology and Mathematics Literacy with Field-webs - continuation

The model

Prior to the out-of-class excursion, students are introduced to the field-web problem or challenge, the context is described, a planning process is undertaken, materials are prepared, and training opportunities are provided for any low threshold, low friction tools that might be used to support the activity (e.g. GPS, handheld computer, compass, clinometer, digital camera, etc.).

During the field-web activity, each small group of students is provided with an annotated list describing a geographically distributed web of learning points (location specific learning opportunities) and are encouraged to explore the site according to their own needs and backgrounds and make notes to support sharing with peers. Each learning point may have one or more aspects to be explored such as: descriptive information, instructional presentations, discovery opportunities, data collection opportunities, etc., and many of these may take the form of mini-challenges to support continued student engagement.

While some field webs may designed to allow teams to traverse all learning-points of interest within the allotted time, others may require inter-group cooperation with each group having a responsibility to communicate their findings from specific points with the other groups in the class in jig-saw approach.

Soon after the out-of-class excursion, teachers may have students generate a presentation to share their discoveries and observations with the class. At the conclusion of the field-web unit students may share their ‘solutions’ to the presented problem with the class, evaluate their own and their peer’s solutions, reflect on their learning and submit some final product to the teacher for assessment.

Field-webs will be distributed via web site providing the teacher with access to teacher and student resources.

An example

Heron

During the visit to the Heronry, students seek out the learning points according to their plan, review the related documentation (JIT), complete and record their activities at the learning points and collect the data as assigned (e.g., one group may be assigned the task of calculating the height of nests for herons, another group gathers data on the birds feeding grounds, another group maps selected features in the area, etc.).

Upon return to the classroom, groups prepare and share their experiences and their observations with the other groups in the class. Finally, groups are given some time to generate a proposal that they will share with their classmates.

The provided resources will include a teacher’s guide (containing rationale, curricular links, supplementary materials, suggestions for modifications, etc.) an annotated list of geographically linked learning points (located with a map or a GPS unit) and a collection of supporting materials to be provided to the students (e.g., introductory documentation template files, exemplar proposals, and learning point specific resources). The learning point resources might consist of text documents (txt, pdf), audio podcasts (mp3), or video podcasts (mp4) and these resources may highlight a local features, present additional information, demonstrate processes, and/or present a mini-challenge. The equipment used to support this activity might include GPS devices, Handheld computers (to review text/audio/video documents), binoculars, clinometers, digital cameras.

As they participate in the Heronry field web process, students will engage in activities that address many different learning goals and curricular areas

• Information technology (e.g., media, presentations)
• language arts (e.g., notes, presentations)
• Mathematics (e.g., problem solving, reasoning, communication,)
• Science (e.g., observation, ecology, )
• Social studies (e.g., mapping, governance)
• Physical Education (e.g., hiking, walking, orienteering)

Although high-tech tools under-gird many of the activities presented in this prototype field web (i.e. handheld computers and GPS units) the use of such is not intended to be frivolous. We hypothesize that authentic use of tools and the JIT access to highly relevant resources (i.e., audio and video clips) during the out-of-class excursion will help students to build more meaningful connections, and more stable and resilient internal representations of the concepts that are being explored and more efficiently master the skills that need to be applied. While some novelty effect may be observed, such is not the goal of this research and efforts will be made to mitigate such.

Heron

To test our hypothesis (and to provide a practical option for schools without access to these types of resources), we intend to generate an alternative ‘low-tech’ field-web experience and conduct an experiment (randomly assigned groups some supplied with high-tech content and tools in the classroom and low-tech alternative tools and resources in the field, some supplied with high-tech tools and resources throughout). The alternative field-web will use an in-class review of learning point resources and participate in a self-directed out-of-class excursion with access to reference notes and tools. Researchers will observe several rounds of both processes and compare the relative efficacy of the two methods with respect to engagement, attitude, solution quality, transfer and retention.