Field-Based Courses Still Matter, but not Like They Used To

Increasingly, field-based courses are providing the first real opportunities for students to experience nature in meaningful ways. As a baseline, even before the content delivery and the graded assessments, this is already enough to change the way a person feels in the world and to spark an appreciation for the life around them. (Part of a special feature on education in which recent winners of the Botanical Society of America's Charles E. Bessey Award share teaching philosophies and strategies.)