Browsing by Subject "Field trips."
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Item Career-focused field trips as experienced by at-risk rural students : a case study.(2010-10-08T16:19:52Z) Hutson, Tommye L.; Talbert, Tony L.; Curriculum and Instruction.; Baylor University. Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction.A lack of recent research focused on field trips as pedagogy in K-12 settings established the foundation for this work. The research design followed multiple-case case study model. The participants were four male students from a small rural high school in central Texas. Each participant, previously labeled as academically "at-risk", had identified an inability to describe connections between academic science content as presented in their common classes and future jobs, vocational training, and/or careers requiring higher education. Because the participants had no directed field excursions addressing this desirable knowledge and/or skill, a career-focused field trip was designed to address the self-identified deficit reported by the participants. The specific research questions were: 1. How does the ability to describe connections between academic science content (biology, chemistry, and physics) and future careers change as rural students experience a purposeful excursion to a post-secondary facility providing vocational training? 2. When do the connection(s) between content and future careers become evident to students? 3. What effect or impact do newly discovered connections have on rural students' aspirations with regard to future career or higher education options? Data were gathered using existing school records, an initial survey, one-to-one interviews conducted before and after the field trip, focus groups conducted before and after the field trip, and observations during the field trip. Data analysis revealed that all participants were able to describe various connections between academic content and careers after the field trip, as well as identify a specific incident that initially established those connections. In addition, all of the participants reported discovering options for careers during the field trip not previously realized or considered. Each participant indicated that they found field trips to be effective. As a result of their singular experience, they collectively voiced a belief that career-focused field trips should be included in all required science classes starting in late middle school and continuing through at least the 10th grade.Item Teachers' reasons for including field trips in the curriculum.(2014-06-11) Shrock, Danielle Lea.; Conaway, Betty J.; Curriculum and Instruction.; Baylor University. Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction.This dissertation examined the reasons' elementary teachers included field trips in the curriculum, whether increasing cultural capital, as defined by Pierre Bourdieu (1973), was one of their primary reasons, what types of field trips teachers included in the curriculum, and what discouraged teachers from including field trips in the curriculum. There is an existing achievement gap between Asian and White and Black and Hispanic students and studies have shown poverty is a primary cause of this gap. One aspect of poverty is not participating in out-of-school learning activities, such as visiting zoos, museums, or libraries, which contributes to cultural capital. Field trips are one way to increase cultural capital. This dissertation used Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital as the theoretical framework, and was a collective, multi-site case study using a constant comparative method for a cross case analysis. Three public school districts in Oklahoma, and three schools within each of those districts were used as sites for this study. Questionnaires were given to approximately 237 elementary teachers, and 88 were returned. Follow-up interviews were done with two teachers from each school, and relevant documentation related to field trips was collected from school and district websites. The findings indicated teachers included field trips in the curriculum for many reasons, for both affective and cognitive gains. Teachers took students on trips that were both fun and educational—they chose places that covered skills and were popular attractions. Most places teachers took students on field trips favored science and history topics. Cost, timing associated with testing, and transportation discouraged teachers from taking field trips. Teachers did want to provide students with new experiences, but were unaware of the research on cultural capital. Recommendations included educating teachers about the latest research on cultural capital, providing bigger field trip budgets or concentrating resources to make a bigger impact, taking field trips throughout the year, especially before testing to truly connect with curriculum, and exploring more virtual or alternative field trips.