AN ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FIELD TRIPS AS A TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGY: A CASE STUDY OF FIELD TRIP TO THE PARLIAMENT
Keywords:
field trip, design, elements, teaching and learning strategy, legal conceptsAbstract
Field trips can be a valuable tool in making learning more engaging and provide unique
opportunities for learning certain concepts, including legal concepts by putting them into a more
realistic and relevant context. Research studies have shown that there is a significant increase in
participants’ factual knowledge and conceptual understanding after participation in a well
designed field trip. Several important elements should be emphasized in designing a successful
field trip. This paper initially discusses those elements and then reports on an investigation into a
field trip to a Parliamentary Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives) session in November
2015 for students enrolled into the Malaysian Legal Principles course. The report has two main
objectives: to review the overall design of the field trip and to determine whether the trip has
achieved its main objectives through reports written by 41 of the students’ participants. The
findings suggest that although important elements in the design of the field trip were present,
several other elements during the pre and post trip stages were not emphasized upon. However,
responses from the students’ report confirmed that most of the students’ initial view of the
Parliament’s role and importance has changed due to their observation of the session. This paper
advocates that although planning and organizing a successful field trip involved a great deal of
preparation, it would definitely benefit participants and should be made an integral part of
teaching and learning strategy.
References
Higgins, N., Dewhurst, E., and Watkins, L., “Field Trips As Short-Term Experiential
Learning Activities in Legal Education”, The Law Teacher, Vol. 46, No. 2, 165–178
(2012).
Kennedy, Michaela D., “The Benefit of Field Trips”, University Honors Program Theses.
Paper 60 (2014).
Krepel, W. J. and DuVall, C. R., “Field Trips: A Guide for Planning and Conducting
Educational Experiences”, Analysis and Action Series (1981).
Leatherbury, M. C., “Connecting Field Trip and Classroom Learning: Evaluating the Utility
of a Museum-Based Framework in an Environmental Education Context” College of
Natural Resources, University of Wisconsin (2011).
Myers, B., and Jones L., “Effective Use of Field Trips in Educational Programming: A Three
Stage Approach”, Agricultural Education and Communication Department (2015).
Nabor, M. L., Edwards L. C., and Murray, R. K., “Making The Case for Field Trips: What
Research Tells Us and What Site Coordinators Have to Say”, Education Vol 129, No.
, 661-667 (2009).
Orion, N., “A Model for the Development and Implementation of Field Trips as an Integral
Part of the Science Curriculum”, School Science and Mathematics 93, No. 6, 325(1993)
Tal, Revital T. “Incorporating Field Trips as Science Learning Environment Enrichment – An
Interpretive Study”, Learning Environments Research 4,25(2001).
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2016 Journal of Academia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
