It Is an Experience, Not a Lesson: the Nature of High School Students’ Experiences at A

It is an Experience, Not a Lesson: The Nature of High School Students’ Experiences at a Biological Field Station A dissertation presented to the faculty of The Patton College of Education of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Marc E. Behrendt May 2014 © 2014 Marc E. Behrendt. All Rights Reserved. 2 This dissertation titled It is an Experience, Not a Lesson: The Nature of High School Students’ Experiences at a Biological Field Station by MARC E. BEHRENDT has been approved for the Department of Teacher Education and The Patton College of Education by Eugene Geist Associate Professor of Teacher Education Renée A. Middleton Dean, The Patton College of Education 3 Abstract BEHRENDT, MARC E., Ph.D., May 2014, Curriculum and Instruction, Science Education It is an Experience, Not a Lesson: The Nature of High School Students’ Experiences at a Biological Field Station Director of Dissertation: Eugene Geist The purpose of this case study was to describe the nature of high school students’ experiences in the immersive four-day field experience at Stone Laboratory Biological Field Station including excursions to Kelley’s Island and South Bass Island. Six tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade students participated through interviews, photovoice, observations, and a survey. Pretrip semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand each participant student’s relationship with science. Participants were given cameras to record their field trip experiences to relate what they found interesting, important, and exciting. Back at school after the field trip, the participants were asked to choose their five most meaningful photographs, and write a short essay to describe the significance of each image. A posttrip semi-structured interview explored each participant’s experiences during the field trip. An unstructured interview was conducted to discuss each participant’s full photograph gallery from the field trip. Interview transcripts were member checked with one minor wording change. Analysis consisted of open coding using apriori codes derived from the ecological framework and emergent codes derived from the data. Coding was duplicated through multiple readers. Significant findings included: 1) Prior experience, prior knowledge, and funds of knowledge added relevance and value to an experience, facilitating interest development; 4 2) Experiences appeared to be more meaningful when all the senses were stimulated; 3) Friends and peers were an essential part of a quality experience; 4) Quality experiences included a wow factor, or sudden awareness; 5) Teachers needed to be within the experience, not the focus of the experience, and needed to be available to answer questions, be enthusiastic when a discovery was made, and promote student reflection concerning their perceptions and discoveries; 6) A quality informal learning situation incorporated the cognitive/affective, physical, and social aspects into the experience; 7) Field trips created science interest that students desired to continue when they returned to their classroom; and 8) Biological field stations, in this study specifically Stone Laboratory, and the additional exploratory excursions on the surrounding islands provided high quality experiences that encouraged student interest in the biological and environmental sciences. 5 Dedication To Dad You have always supported and enabled my interests. 6 Acknowledgments This dissertation exists because I had the support of many wonderful and caring individuals. The opportunity to begin the doctoral program was enabled by Dr. Henning. Thank you for encouraging me to take the first course and for your inspiration to continue until the end. To my chair, Dr. Eugene Geist, I thank you for your leadership, patience, and words of wisdom that guided me along the way. To Dr. Krisanna Machtmes, thank you for your enthusiasm, encouragement, and direction. You went beyond the call of duty for me. Thank you!!! To the other members of my dissertation committee, Dr. John Henning and Dr. Aaron Sickel, thank you for your expertise, support, inspiration, and gentle, positive guidance throughout the entire dissertation process. Dr. Danielle Dani and Dr. John Hitchcock, your work with me was instrumental in this achievement. Thank you. Dr. Randolph, although not on my committee, your expertise in qualitative research has been a guiding light through the research process. To fellow doctoral students and best friends Jing An and Jeff Hunter, who have also been working on their dissertations during this same time frame, thank you for motivating me, encouraging me, listening to me vent, advising me, and for celebrating every victory along the way. I pray the bonds that we have formed remain strong and long-lived. To the rest of the Patton College of Education doctoral students, your never- ending cheerleading lifted me through the past three years. Thank you Kris and Joe. Without you, this research could not have occurred. Thank you for opening your rooms to my study. To the students who participated in this 7 study, thank you for your time, and for dedicating your hearts and souls to this project. I look forward to see you advance into your professional careers. I thank the staff and administration of Stone Laboratory, who allowed me to learn the nuances of the biological field station’s operation. In particular, I thank Dr. Jeff Reutter, Dr. Chris Winslow, Mr. Matt Thomas, and Dr. Kristin Stanford. I truly appreciate your support and trust. Thank you to my family and friends who have seen too little of me, but have heard more than they ever wanted about science education. Dad, you introduced me to nature and science. I am who I am because of you and Mom. Mom, I wish you could be here to experience this exciting accomplishment. Keith, as brothers go, you are the best. Your never-ending encouragement got me through the roughest of moments. Thank you! Finally, thank you to my wife and daughter. Barb, thank you for your never ending support and for not taking my locking myself into the computer room personally. You always made sure I was able to concentrate on my work without having to worry about all the household obligations. Your proofreading skills have been superb and are appreciated. And Lauren, anything I do, I know you can do better. Always listen to your heart. Always remember that you can achieve any goal you choose. 8 Table of Contents Page Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 3 Dedication ........................................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... 6 List of Figures ................................................................................................................... 18 Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 22 Background ................................................................................................................... 23 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................. 26 Purpose and Significance .............................................................................................. 29 Definition of Key Terms ............................................................................................... 29 Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................................................ 31 Concerns with Science Literacy .................................................................................... 31 Formal and Informal Learning ...................................................................................... 34 Experiential Learning .................................................................................................... 37 Kolb’s theory of experiential learning. ..................................................................... 38 Reflection .................................................................................................................. 42 Funds of Knowledge ................................................................................................. 44 Historical view of experiential learning .................................................................... 45 Experiential learning and the theory of informal learning ........................................ 47 The Four-Phase Model of Interest Development .......................................................... 48 Ecological Framework .................................................................................................. 52 Field Trips ..................................................................................................................... 53 9 Student engagement during experiential learning ..................................................... 53 Field trips as an experiential tool .............................................................................. 54 Benefits of field trips ................................................................................................ 57 Informal learning research ........................................................................................ 58 Informal venues. ......................................................................................................

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