Isla Mar Research Expeditions How to Plan Your Field Course

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fiel dcourse

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It can be ver y over wh el m in g
to even begin to th in k abou t
devel opin g a fiel d cou r se for
you r stu den ts. W h er e do you
star t? W h at in for m ation do you
n eed? H ow m u ch wil l al l of th is
cost? W e h ave cr eated th is
gu ide to h el p you al on g th e way.

Fir st, open u p a discu ssion am on g you r
stu den ts to get an idea of wh er e an d wh at
th ey wou l d be in ter ested in doin g. As a
u n iver sity pr ofessor ,you m ay al r eady
h ave a gen er al idea of wh at type of cou r se
you wan t to offer. You can adapt a cu r r en t
cou r se for a fiel d exper ien ce (i.e. m ar in e
ecol ogy), u sin g por tion s of you r
establ ish ed cu r r icu l u m th at wou l d be
m or e appr opr iate for ou tdoor ,h an ds-on
l ear n in g. Du r in g you r cl ass, gau ge th e
in ter est of you r cu r r en t stu den ts in
par ticipatin g in su ch a fiel d cou r se.
Pr epar e a l ist of in ter ested stu den ts an d
pl an to m eet again to discu ss it fu r th er.
As a h igh sch ool teach er ,you wil l wan t
to con sider sever al oth er factor s befor e
pr oposin g a fiel d cou r se. Th ese in cl u de
th e stu den t m atu r ity,abil ity to wor k in
gr ou ps, an d abil ity to accl im ate to
differ en t cu l tu r es an d h abitats.

Al l stu den ts sh ou l d be m ade awar e of th e gen er al con dition s of in ten sive fiel d
cou r ses. Th ese ar e: l on g h ou r s ou tdoor s, l on g days in th e fiel d, cl ose con tact
with each oth er for l on g du r ation s, sh ar ed l ivin g spaces, l on g h ou r s in a car
between sites an d exposu r e to su n , in sects or poten tial l y h ar m fu l an im al s.