Fieldwork techniques

Here a specialist fieldwork teacher in an environmental education centre demonstrates to his peers how the cross curriculum Sustainability priority can be applied to the Mathematics Year 8 curriculum. The activity takes place in a national park in Sydney and involves a visiting school whose teachers required support for teaching mathematics in the field. Using an outdoor setting the fieldwork teacher employs engaging teaching practices to show the relevance of mathematics to making decisions for the natural environment, first by using conventional measuring activities and then using selected apps from an ipad to check their accuracy. In spite of the bad weather conditions teachers and students also learned to appreciate the value of ICT to fieldwork activities.

The Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre is one of twenty two Environmental Education Centres operated by the NSW Department of Education and Communities to help students and teachers with fieldwork, environmental education and education for sustainability. In this fieldwork activity, the teacher emphasises the importance of mathematics in real-world decision making by asking students take on the role of a national park ranger to consider the growth rates of trees in the park and the need to renew the boardwalks in wetland areas. Students use both traditional methods of measurement and ICT to calculate the cost of replacing timber.