The lack of outdoor study threatens the next generation of biologists. Cherry Canovan reports
BRITAIN’s schools may never produce another Charles Darwin because the fieldwork he relied on for his discoveries is a dying art, according to scientists.
Leading biologists say the demise of fieldwork means pupils are missing out on some memorable schooldays. And they say the country is being left without the ecologists and conservationists it needs to maintain the environment.
A new report, published by the Field Studies Council, blames timetabling pressures and health and safety fears, and says children now learn about the outside world through the internet and videos.
The FSC estimates that 80 per cent of pupils under the age of 16 never do any. Two-thirds of A-level biology students have one day or less of fieldwork during their course.
Stephen Tilling, one of authors, said trendy subjects such as genetics and stem cell research were squeezing out fieldwork.
But he said that even something as simple as studying beetles in ponds could capture the imagination and develop a real feeling for the subject. “Students may read pages and pages about pollution, but it is only looking in a stream that really brings it to life,” he said.
On Darwin, the report says: “Most of his facts were observations made outdoors, but founded on interests kindled in his earlier childhood. It is unlikely that a new Charles Darwin could emerge from our schools at present.”
The document, Teaching biology outside the classroom. Is it heading for extinction? also blames the new ASA2 exam structure, saying: “This has dramatically narrowed the window of opportunity for fieldwork, which is being squeezed into short periods of the year.”
Dr Tilling said problems were exacerbated by teacher-training courses, which barely cover fieldwork. “There needs to be a very firm line that training for out-of-classroom experience is a requisite for a biology teacher,” he said.
The scientists, led by the Field Studies Council, called for fieldwork to be made a requirement in the biology curriculum, and for the Teacher Training Agency to issue a statement that fieldwork experience is an important part of science teacher training.
Teaching biology outside the classroom. Is it heading for extinction? is available from www.field-studies-council.orgbiologyfieldwork.
