By Kiara Jones
As universities increasingly shift toward virtual learning, field-based ecology education is quietly disappearing across Australia – despite decades of research showing students learn science best by experiencing it firsthand.
At the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ), students are still swapping screens for greens, through immersive residential field schools designed to bring ecological science to life in real-world environments.
“As a regional university, UniSQ is a real champion for environmental studies,” Deputy Discipline Lead of Agriculture and Environmental Science Dr Christina Birnbaum said.
“Ecology is inherently field-based and cannot be fully understood through lectures or labs alone.
“As environmental challenges continue to rise, the demand for graduates with field experience equipped to tackle them is growing. The future of education lies not just in knowledge, but in how it is applied.”
This approach was brought to life during recent residential schools held at UniSQ’s Ravensbourne Field Studies Centre, located within Ravensbourne National Park, about 50km north of Toowoomba.
During the intensive four-day program, students live and work in the field while learning how ecological science is practised in professional settings.
“Students are based at the field studies centre where they get comprehensive hands-on experiences, including sampling freshwater macroinvertebrate communities, plants, soil, and wildlife,” Dr Birnbaum said.
“They also learn how to analyse and communicate collected data, preparing an ecological survey report as part of their assessment, similar to professional consulting reports.”
Dr Birnbaum said this hands-on focus aligns with decades of ecological and educational research which shows that field-based learning is critical to developing scientific understanding.
“Field studies centres, like the one at Ravensbourne, allow students to observe ecological processes directly and learn how ecological data are generated,” she said.
Following recent upgrades, the Ravensbourne centre now supports extended, multi-night field stays in the heart of a national park environment.
“Without field studies centres, ecology education risks becoming detached from the very system it aims to understand and protect,” Dr Birnbaum said.
“Students get to live and breathe the environment they are studying, while gaining valuable learning experiences and deeper connections to the environment on field trips.”
Learn more about Ravensbourne Field Studies Centre and studying Ecology and Conservation at UniSQ.
