Background: During transport to and from outdoor education field trips, students experience a period of togetherness and minimal imposed structure. Transport time also appears to align with Oldenburg's third places, where people spend time together without a particular agenda. Purpose: To examine educators' perspectives on the contribution that…

In 2022, New Zealand history will shift from an optional to a compulsory subject across all levels of schooling. Teaching about New Zealand's difficult histories has the potential to reconstitute settler-Indigenous relations to show how historical colonial injustice impacts people today, but it raises questions about whose history will be…

The growing recognition of virtual field trips (VFTs) to support classrooms has led to increasing use of these tools in science classrooms. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the Ministry of Education has underscored the need for educational experiences that are inclusive of Indigenous Maori worldviews. Here, we present the potential of the LEARNZ natural…

Changes to the New Zealand Ministry of Education's funding for access to specialist education services in museums and art galleries in Aotearoa New Zealand (enriching local curriculum) has created the potential for an increase in visits to these institutions by young learners, and particularly those in the early childhood education (ECE) sector. A…

A pragmatic response to the government announcement that New Zealand histories will be taught in all schools by 2022 are the questions of what should be taught, and how? I argue that iwi and hapu must be at the forefront of conversations. This article looks critically at how Janene, a Pakeha museum educator, taught Year 13 history students about…

Physical field trips have long been used in education, but virtual field trips are increasingly being used to enhance them. This article focuses on the use of mixed reality to enhance a physical field trip before, during, and after the field experience as part of a project in teacher professional development. The context is a field trip to a…

Distance online learning connects students to education opportunities without having to be present at the institution offering the learning module. This case study involved development of a dual on-campus and distance course into a fully online course. It required a student-focused approach and an innovative application of learning technologies,…

Learners with disabilities are often denied field-based learning experiences in naturalistic disciplines. Geology can present substantial barriers due to rugged terrain in difficult-to-reach locations. In 2014, a field trip was executed with the dual purpose of 1) designing inclusion in field learning and 2) demonstrating to college faculty an…

Field education is a critical and enriching component of the undergraduate geoscience curriculum and is enhanced when combined with a study abroad program. The affective domain -- defined in geoscience as emotion, motivation, and connection to Earth -- is an integral part of the field experience. Using questionnaire data collected at the start of…

Excursions (field trips) can provide new and exciting learning opportunities outside schools and early childhood education (ECE) centres, adding new dimensions to an education programme. This article presents the findings from two doctoral studies by Terreni (2017) and Ryder (2019). Terreni, as part of a mixed-method approach, undertook a…

Children often learn information in a context that is vastly different to the one in which they are asked to recall or use that information. Despite this, little is known about the effect of context change on children's recall of educational information. Here, 197 5- and 6-year-olds were taught the same interactive lesson in their classroom or on…

This study compares the field experience and development of sense of place (in this case, human attributed meanings and attachments to the field area) in geoscience students on three separate course sections of a six-day introductory geological mapping field trip. Students stayed in a small farm station within their 4 km[superscript 2] field area,…

There has been increasing debate about the role early childhood education and care (ECEC) plays within local and wider communities. This article reports on a small-scale case study that explored the views of teachers, management and parents from a privately owned ECEC centre in New Zealand about the notion of community. Rogoff's planes of…

Field trips are recognized as an essential component of the study of geography. They are popular with learners and teachers, but their value as learning experiences is largely assumed. What is needed are interactive and relevant learning activities like "drawing in the sand," a participatory learning activity that has been introduced…

Background: Recent research and curriculum reforms have indicated the need for diversifying teaching approaches by drawing upon student interest and engagement in ways which makes learning science meaningful. Purpose: This study examines the integration of informal/free choice learning which occurred during learning experiences outside school…