Tillmann, V. A., & Wunderlich, J. (2017). Dewey鈥檚 concept of experience for inquiry-based landscape drawing during field studies. Journal of Geography Higher Education, 41(3), 383鈥�402.
In this example, the philosophy of John Dewey is used as a theoretical basis to analyze processes of knowledge construction during geographical field studies. The authors are from the Department of Human Geography, Institute of Physical Geography, and eLearning Center at Geothe-University Frankfurt, Germany. Trainee teachers at the end of their second year participated in a compulsory three-day fieldtrip with a strong emphasis on physical geography. The act of drawing a perceived landscape was introduced to stimulate students to develop their own hypotheses on the landscape development of an unknown area, and to reflect on individual drawings in a group discussion. The aim was to foster the self-organized acquisition of relevant skills to explore, describe and reflect on subjective mental and linguistic concepts in relation to scientific landscape models. Evaluation data was collected during four consecutive years and comprised students鈥� drawings, responses to questionnaires (intrinsic motivation, n=93 and experience of flow, n=91) and a review of students鈥� reflective notes. Results indicate that students were motivated to learn about the processes which formed the landscape and that they perceived the method of inquiry after Dewey positively. The approach presented serves not only to transfer knowledge about geomorphological processes but also to broaden views about knowledge acquisition and development.