EVALUATION OF THE FIELD TRIPS TO ENVIRONMENTS FOR INFORMAL LEARNING: CASE OF THE 'ENERGY PARK

Abstract

Informal education needs to organize activities in accordance with goals as with formal education institutions and consider how efficient these activities are in reaching predetermined goals. However, the learning gains might become limited when the informal education was not organized to accompany formal education or according to the attainment targets determined. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the field trip to "Energy Park" in terms of prospective science teachers' learning about some of the science concepts and their ideas about effectiveness of the field trip. In the present study a pre-post test experimental design was benefitted. Final year prospective science teachers (n=30) participated in this study. A questionnaire was designed and used as data collection instrument. To trace the changes in their ideas the questionnaire was used prior to and after the field trip. Questionnaire possessed open ended questions, some of which asked prospective teachers' expectations from the Energy Park. The rest of the questions aimed to gauge prospective teachers' learning of the science concepts addressed during the field trip. Visual resources (such as video, photographs, etc.) were also collected and used as data source for mapping out prospective science teachers' performance during the visit. The results of the analysis indicated that field trip helped prospective teachers to progress and strengthen the scientific concepts such as bio energy and air pollution whereas they learnt new concepts such as Perlite and Zeolite.