The post-secondary geology curriculum typically requires completion of multiple field-based education components. The importance of field-based learning experiences is well documented in geoscience education literature. However, due to these field requirements, persons with mobility impairments face multiple barriers to obtaining a higher education in the geosciences. Furthermore, the lack of exposure to career opportunities in the geosciences potentially creates a perception that most geoscience careers do not accommodate graduates with mobility impairments. As a result, students might feel discouraged from pursuing undergraduate and graduate level degrees in geology.
An assumption exists that most traditional field environments are inaccessible to students with mobility impairments. A main objective of this study was to first determine how experience in a geologic field environment assists in the overall construction of cave geology content knowledge for students with mobility impairments. An effective evaluation of this field experience required an understanding of how students interact with their environment. Individual case studies of the participants’ lived experience with (and within) a traditional field-site provided an understanding of how geological content knowledge was constructed in the face of field-related barriers. Also assuming that knowledge is independent of one’s physical ability, this study focused on understanding the potential environmental and physical barriers that students with mobility impairments maintain with respect to field-based education. Therefore, participants’ experience in a cave geology field environment was investigated through their personal perception of the surroundings. This exploration was not intended to differentiate them from the rest of society by what they do or do not know, what they can or cannot do, but to assist them in obtaining the accessibility and content knowledge of a geoscience field-based curriculum. An understanding of these first-hand perceptions provides a valuable foundation for field-based science educators to include, accommodate and provide equal access for students with mobility impairments.
As part of this study, participants with mobility impairments learned about geologic processes in a classroom setting and then participated in a field-based learning experience relative to those processes. Through an assumption that most traditional field environments are inaccessible to students with mobility impairments, a primary objective of the study was to determine how first-hand experience in a geologic field environment assists in the overall construction of content knowledge for students with mobility impairments. An evaluation of this field experience required an understanding of how these students interact with the environment through daily routines, which was accomplished through six individual case studies of the participants’ lived experience. This dissertation presents both quantitative and qualitative data related to the construction of geoscience content knowledge and how personal, environmental and societal barriers were perceived by the participants and how these barriers could be minimized in the planning of future geologic field experiences.