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Experiential learning
E
ducation about the natural world should take place through observations in the natural world. That seems obvious, but increasingly, what we teach students about nature comes from textbooks summarizing what other people have observed, recorded, cataloged, digitized, and analyzed. This is necessary because the amount of material to be learned is too large to be discovered by each student or even each class. Knowledge has grown so rapidly that more and more instructors feel pressure to forego fieldwork and cover additional material in the classroom. In some universities, even laboratory work has been reduced in favor of "demonstrations" that can be presented at lower cost (and with less commitment of time by the primary instructor) to larger numbers of students. To be fair, the logistical difficulties of extensive fieldwork are very substantial, with costs so high that replacing field trips by virtual fieldwork makes sense. Moreover, remarkable teaching opportunities arise from visualizations aided by photography, models, and computer simulations. Arguably, the value of these alternatives is sometimes superior to the real thing—no human eye can observe hummingbird flight as well as a slow-motion video camera, or the movement of the atmosphere and oceans viewed using satellite imagery. If one measures learning in terms of the mastery of principles, as in the chemistry of ozone smog formation, field experience will never compete with textbook and computer. But there is more to learn in the field than is ever incorporated into an in-class lesson plan. It seems that the value of learning about nature in a natural setting is in some way tied to the fact that we are human beings with a long history of association with our subject. Students who are exposed to nature become interested in it, and interested students learn more. Direcdy, observing nature stimulates us to want to know more about how it is constructed and how it operates. This fascination is not limited to our drive toward scientific reductionism. Studying nature is a bit like studying art: We describe the natural world by its components and show how it follows natural laws, but can never tell the same story as that experienced when immersed in it. Only then is the full impact of nature's totality clear: There science, natural beauty, and our humanity reinforce each otiier, leading us to an appreciation never achieved before a computer screen. Although I have nice photographs of sunsets, none capture (or ever will) the magnificent shifting hues such as occur shortly before and after the sun's disappearance below the sea's horizon at La Jolla cove. No video technology will ever substitute for the experience sensed when touched by gentle breezes wafting in from across the Pacific Ocean amid the sounds of crashing surf and calling gulls. To understand the composition of the atmosphere and ocean and the processes occurring at that moment heightens the experience that is the magic of education but until we personally see and feel the nature that is all around will not really know it As our world and schools become increasingly populated, we must enable young people, especially in their formative years, to touch and be touched by nature. In fact, it's a good way for all of us to spend more of our time.
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William H. Glaze, Editor (
[email protected]) 4 4 2 A • NOVEMBER 1, 1999 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS
© 1999 American Chemical Society
