Fieldwork as a rite of passage: Its implications for diversity in the geosciences
Abstract
Geosciences is among the least racially/ethnically diverse fields. This ethnographic research addresses learning in geosciences fieldwork and how the dynamics of exclusion can affect such learning. To date, scholarship about geological fieldwork has primarily been located in the geosciences discipline itself. Yet, higher education scholarship on diversity and learning has considerable potential to expand the understanding about the extent to which fieldwork activities engage diverse populations in inclusive ways. In this study, we apply established higher education lenses to explore relationships between cognitive development, social identities, and learning environments in fieldwork. Based on 275 hours of "ethnographic fieldwork on geological fieldwork" and 32 interviews with instructors, teaching assistants, and students, we identify how fieldwork reveals three cultural characteristics of field-based learning environments with implications for inclusion and exclusion. These three dimensions involve cognitive, physical, and social disequilibrium. Specifically, field-based course experiences mark a key transition in geology students' cognitive development and socialization into the sciences, where interpreting the history of the natural world through physical encounters with it presents cognitive disequilibrium. Because fieldwork can also present physical and social disequilibrium, addressing social identities and interactions is crucial to enhance cognitive development in fieldwork, to build inclusive environments where diverse groups construct new understandings. Providing a balance of challenge and support attuned to social identities and interactions, as well as to fostering cognitive development, can maximize benefits of fieldwork. Based on this research, we provide recommendations for building more inclusive environments in field-based education.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFMED44A..02N
- Keywords:
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- 0810 Post-secondary education;
- EDUCATIONDE: 0820 Curriculum and laboratory design;
- EDUCATIONDE: 0840 Evaluation and assessment;
- EDUCATIONDE: 0855 Diversity;
- EDUCATION