1:45 PM - 2:15 PM
[G02-01] Trends in field excursion participants for high school students
★Invited Papers
Keywords:field excursion, high school students, web site
There are few geological field excursions at high schools, despite the importance of such excursions for geological studies. Some students who participated in our previous field excursions as part of the international science program chose to study earth science at university. We continue to organize geological field excursions for high school students in 2022 and 2023.
Since these field excursions are conducted outside of regular school education, we make certain arrangements. The first point to consider is the requirements for participation. The field excursion takes place over two days. On the first day, we conduct rock and mineral observations along the riverside of the Shimobe River, which flows in front of the Yunooku Museum of Gold Mining History. On the second day, we tour the Nakayama gold mining ruins in the Yunooku gold mine field with climbing the mountain. The primary requirement for participants is from 5th grade to 12th grade, and students under 6th grade must be accompanied by a parent. For students in 7th grade and above, parents can participate if they wish to ensure the safety of their children. Also, younger brothers and/or sisters of primary participants can take part in the field study as a family on the first day only.
The second point is to provide detailed information about the field excursion, such as the background of the geology, local history, and culture, on the website before applying. There are interesting trends in terms of where the participants live. For the 2022 field excursion, we expected participation from the Yamanashi and Shizuoka areas as neighboring regions and informed through the education boards of Yamanashi and museums in Yamanashi and Shizuoka. However, there were no applicants from Yamanashi and Shizuoka in both 2022 and 2023. Applicants in 2022 and 2023 are from the Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba areas. According to the results of questionnaires from participants after the field excursions, some of students, as primary participants, applied after being informed by their high school teachers. This result shows that science or earth science teachers in high schools play an important role in students’ applications.
We tried implementing web marketing for the website and SNS in 2023. We compiled web and SNS access statistics from the start of the application to the field excursion. The application websites received approximately ten times more access than other sites. For SNS, the number of impressions for information about the field excursion accounted for about one-third of the total number of impressions. Regarding the completion rate of YouTube videos, the content of field training had the highest completion rate at 23.3%. The results of web and SNS access statistics show a high degree of interest in field excursions. We are not sure whether the website and SNS are effective in directly attracting high school students, but it seems to have some effects.
Our data about field excursions show some effective elements for students to apply for field excursions outside their school. It suggests that detailed information about the field excursion on the website is an important tool for teachers and parents of students to trust and understand.
Since these field excursions are conducted outside of regular school education, we make certain arrangements. The first point to consider is the requirements for participation. The field excursion takes place over two days. On the first day, we conduct rock and mineral observations along the riverside of the Shimobe River, which flows in front of the Yunooku Museum of Gold Mining History. On the second day, we tour the Nakayama gold mining ruins in the Yunooku gold mine field with climbing the mountain. The primary requirement for participants is from 5th grade to 12th grade, and students under 6th grade must be accompanied by a parent. For students in 7th grade and above, parents can participate if they wish to ensure the safety of their children. Also, younger brothers and/or sisters of primary participants can take part in the field study as a family on the first day only.
The second point is to provide detailed information about the field excursion, such as the background of the geology, local history, and culture, on the website before applying. There are interesting trends in terms of where the participants live. For the 2022 field excursion, we expected participation from the Yamanashi and Shizuoka areas as neighboring regions and informed through the education boards of Yamanashi and museums in Yamanashi and Shizuoka. However, there were no applicants from Yamanashi and Shizuoka in both 2022 and 2023. Applicants in 2022 and 2023 are from the Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba areas. According to the results of questionnaires from participants after the field excursions, some of students, as primary participants, applied after being informed by their high school teachers. This result shows that science or earth science teachers in high schools play an important role in students’ applications.
We tried implementing web marketing for the website and SNS in 2023. We compiled web and SNS access statistics from the start of the application to the field excursion. The application websites received approximately ten times more access than other sites. For SNS, the number of impressions for information about the field excursion accounted for about one-third of the total number of impressions. Regarding the completion rate of YouTube videos, the content of field training had the highest completion rate at 23.3%. The results of web and SNS access statistics show a high degree of interest in field excursions. We are not sure whether the website and SNS are effective in directly attracting high school students, but it seems to have some effects.
Our data about field excursions show some effective elements for students to apply for field excursions outside their school. It suggests that detailed information about the field excursion on the website is an important tool for teachers and parents of students to trust and understand.