Experiential Learning Techniques in Fieldwork.

Within academia, I have experienced a recurring and niggling doubt about the value of fieldwork and fieldwork assignments and an implicit trust in the value of library and lab work. The latter constitute traditional ways of exploring content in most disciplines. They tend to take place on campus, and they provide a safe means of extending students' knowledge, attitudes, and skills. However, students often find such assignments ill-suited to their experiential mode of learning. They prefer first hand experience. As a college teacher, I have found myself defending fieldwork, trying to put forth arguments to legitimize its use in higher education. For this reason, I was par ticularly struck by a section in Glaser and Strauss' book on The Discovery of Grounded Theory (1). In the chapter on "New Sources for Qualitative Data," the authors contrast library/lab work with fieldwork and draw several helpful analogies.