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Abstract
Providing undergraduate biology students with ecological knowledge and environmental awareness is critical for developing professionalism in sustainable development. In addition to the cognitive and psychomotor development, outdoor ecological exercises combining place-based education and experiential learning can stimulate the affective domain of the learning process. This action research was done in a course on ecology for third-year biology students at Mahidol University, Thailand. Additional wetland exercises based on Salaya Campus, Nakhon Pathom Province, located in an urban sprawl area about 28 km from the centre of Bangkok, were developed to allow undergraduate biology students to engage with the natural wetlands remaining on campus. Evaluation of students’ attitudes towards wetlands indicated the effectiveness of intensive wetland exercises, which provided a balance between knowledge and the attitudes/values approach. As a result, students learned effectively about general ecological concepts together with exploring values on local wetlands and suburban ecology, in connection to their livelihoods.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Professor Warren Brockelman, Assistant Professor John Milne, teachers, teacher assistants, and biology students of Mahidol University who participated in the Ecology course in 2006 and 2007. We wish to thank Dr Saranarat Kanjanavanit, Professor Susan Jacobson, Professor Martha Monroe, and Associate Professor Linda Jones for literacy in environmental education; Assistant Professor Philip Round, Miss Ornnattha Supatham, and anonymous reviewers for reviewing this paper.
This study was supported by The Commission on Higher Education Faculty Development Project Scholarship, and TRF/ BIOTEC Special Program for Biodiversity Research and Training grant BRT T_350003.