Short-term effects of field programme on students’ knowledge and attitude toward biology: a Slovak experience

Field trips are ideal for increasing students ’ experience and perceptions of various organisms and their relationship between the original habitat. However, in general field trips are greatly neglected by teachers and their short-term effects are thought to be questionable. Therefore, we conducted a one-day field trip for both improving students ’ knowledge in ecology and for examining short-term effects. Based on the results of the research conducted 3 days after the trip, we found a significant and positive increase in students ’ attitudes toward biology, natural environment outside and future career in biology. Moreover, students displayed a better understanding of ecology concepts like ecosystems and food webs. However, no similar pat-tern was observed for the control group experienced only traditional biology settings. Thus, this study is unique showing significant short-term effects of a field trip on students ’ attitude and knowledge toward biology. KEY WORDS: attitudes; ecology; field tri