“Thank you, Marojejy:” affective learning outcomes of student participants in place-based field trips to Marojejy National Park
Keywords:
Place-based, Forest Trip, Education Research,Abstract
Evaluations of conservation education programmes are most often concerned within the cognitive domain, where logical learning takes place. In place-based education, emphasis is instead placed on learning in multiple domains, including the cognitive and affective domains. Here, we quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate student learning in the affective domain following a series of short educational trips to Marojejy National Park, Northeast Madagascar. Student responses to the prompt “write about your trip to Marojejy” were evaluated for content, including emotional responses using cultural consensus, saliency scoring, and qualitative evaluation. The most salient term used in responses were “a good trip”. when tested 1.5 to 2 weeks after their trip. Students wrote about the emotional impact of the trip in four out of five levels of the affective domain. Our findings highlight the value of place-based education for learning in the affective domain. We demonstrated that even over a brief period of three days, place-based conservation education can have a marked impact on the values and emotions of participants.
Résumé
Les évaluations de programmes d’éducation en matière de préservation sont le plus souvent axées sur le domaine cognitif, là où s’effectue l’apprentissage logique. Dans l’éducation effectuée sur place, l’accent est au contraire mis sur un apprentissage multidisciplinaire, qui inclut à la fois les domaines cognitifs et affectifs. Ici, nous évaluons de façon quantitative et qualitative l’apprentissage des étudiants dans le domaine affectif en suivant une série de brèves excursions à but éducatif au Parc national de Marojejy, dans le Nord-Est de Madagascar. Les réponses des étudiants à l’instruction « Parlez-nous de votre excursion à Marojejy » ont fait l’objet d’une évaluation tenant également compte des aspects émotionnels, sur la base du consensus culturel, du score de saillance et du point de vue qualitatif. L’expression la plus saillante utilisée dans les réponses a été « bonne excursion » dans les tests effectués 1,5 à 2 semaines après leur retour. Les étudiants ont relaté l’impact émotionnel de l’excursion dans quatre des cinq niveaux du domaine affectif. Nos résultats mettent en évidence la valeur d’une éducation sur place pour un apprentissage au niveau affectif. Nous avons démontré que même après une brève période de trois jours, l’éducation en matière de préservation peut avoir, lorsqu’elle est effectuée sur place, un impact significatif sur les valeurs et les émotions des participants.
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