Development of a High-School Geology Course Based on Field Trips

AbstractThe traditional use of field trips at the end of a geology course does not realise their learning potential. An introductory geology course for high school students in Israel has been tried as a method of integrating a course syllabus with a field geological inventory of the surrounding area. The course consists of three modules, each of which has a preparatory unit, a field trip and a summary unit. This structure takes into account the didactic desirability of: (1) a gradual move from the concrete to the abstract, (2) firsthand experiences, and (3) a learning cycle and the novelty factors that influence learning ability in the field.KeywordsEducation - secondaryfield tripsgeology teachinggeology - introductory course