TEACHING GEOGRAPHY IN THE FIELD: EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION AND THE CONTINUUM OF THEORY, PRACTICE AND POLICY

Field-based geography education, or simply the notion of fieldwork, has long been a hallmark of geographic inquiry. In the last few years, leading American scholars have articulated the need for more and better field-based training in post-secondary geography education. Most notably, scholars assert that fieldwork in geography serves to link theory to practice and illustrates conceptual models taught within the discipline. The author aims to demonstrate how a ten-day Geography of Texas field trip presents an opportunity for undergraduate students to engage in a learning continuum from classroom to firsthand experience. The effectiveness of the field trip as an instructional pedagogy is assessed and best practices for incorporating field-based pedagogy in undergraduate degree programs is presented.