Fieldwork and Research Impact on Learning of Disaster Risk Reduction

Abstract

Fieldwork has been widely known to be important in Geography and other disciplines. Fieldwork was described as an outside activity where students can see and hear the geography phenomena in the field. It was also believed that fieldwork was an essential way to gain a better understanding of geographical objects. Some previous research had shown the advantages of fieldwork for students. Combining fieldwork and research was possible to gain students' understanding of disaster risk reduction in the school community especially in the disaster-prone areas. This research aimed to know the effect of fieldwork and research on undergraduate geography education' students understanding of disaster risk reduction in the school community. Students engaged in field work and research activities in the southern part of Klaten Regency Central Java Indonesia, which is vulnerable to various disasters such as earthquakes, floods and landslides. The students were evaluated before and after fieldwork using questionnaires. The result showed that fieldwork and research improved students' understanding of disaster risk reduction.