Every 12-year-old Researcher, sooner or later, bumps into the same question: after the green card, is there anything more? There is. It is called the advanced class, and the Researcher's is the one whose name confuses people the most — because folks write it one way and the official document writes it another.
You have probably seen "Fields and Forests Researcher," plural, in WhatsApp groups, on posters, even in uniform shops. But the official material from the South American Division (DSA) writes "Field and Forest Researcher", singular. It is not a technicality: knowing the right name keeps you from buying the wrong card and looking for a requirement in the wrong place.
This article deals only with that advanced class — Field and Forest, for age 12. If you want the regular Researcher class, it has its own page; if you want to understand what the advanced classes are in general, see the overview of advanced classes. Here we get into the card, the 11 requirements, and who decides what. Data verified on 07/22/2026 in the official sources listed at the end.
Is it "Field and Forest" or "Fields and Forests"?
Let us settle the confusion right away, because it clogs up everything else. The official name of the advanced class, on the DSA page that gathers the requirements, is "Field and Forest Researcher" — field singular, forest singular. That is how it appears in the heading of the advanced section of the official document.
In everyday speech it became "Fields and Forests," plural. It also turns into "Field and Forests Researcher," a halfway version. None of these versions is in the official material — but they all point to the same class, so no one will correct you at the meeting. The problem is practical: when you search for the card or the requirement under the wrong name, sometimes you do not find it, or you find a table from another club that copied it wrong.
There is a second, more serious confusion worth clearing up: "Researcher" and "Field and Forest Researcher" are not the same thing. "Researcher" alone is the regular class for age 12, the green-card one. "Field and Forest Researcher" is the corresponding advanced class, one more step at the same age. Many people complete the regular class and think they are done — when, in fact, the advanced class is precisely the invitation to go deeper in that same year.
Keep the rule handy: singular and official is Field and Forest Researcher; it is advanced, not regular; and it is for age 12, the same age as the ordinary Researcher.
What is the Researcher's advanced class?
The regular Researcher class is the stage for age 12, marked by the color green, according to the official DSA program. Every regular class has a corresponding advanced class at the same age — and the Researcher's is Field and Forest.
"Advanced" does not mean "older." It means deeper. You do not wait until you turn 13 to start it: it belongs to the same year, the same age card. While the regular class introduces the topics, the advanced class asks you to apply them — more field, more honors, more service, more autonomy. The name helps you remember this: field is open ground, forest is the woods. The Researcher's advanced class is the one that pushes the 12-year-old Pathfinder out of the classroom and into nature, with method.
It has its own card, separate from the regular class's card, with an investiture space all its own. And there is relief for those in a hurry and a brake for those who want to skip a step: the advanced class is not a prerequisite for the next regular class. At 13 you take Pioneer whether or not you have completed the Field and Forest advanced class. But anyone who dreams, further down the road, of the leadership classes will need the advanced classes along the way — so it is not exactly a disposable "extra."
What does the Field and Forest advanced class ask for?
The official DSA page lists 11 requirements of its own for the advanced class, on top of the regular class's requirements. Below are the areas of each one — the titles, not the answer key. You fulfill the detailed content and the solutions with your instructor, card in hand; here it is just so you know the size of the undertaking before you say yes.
| # | Advanced requirement area |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Pathfinder flag and the Unit pennant |
| 2 | The story of J. N. Andrews or of a pioneer from your country, and the great commission (Matthew 28) |
| 3 | Invite someone to a program (Club, Bible Class, or Small Group) |
| 4 | An honor: Christian Grooming and Courtesy or Family Life |
| 5 | A 10 km hike, with a list of equipment, clothing, and footwear |
| 6 | Help organize a Club event (investiture, scarf induction, or World Pathfinder Day) |
| 7 | Identify six animal or bird tracks and reproduce three in plaster, clay, or cold porcelain |
| 8 | The four basic lashings and building a camp piece of furniture |
| 9 | Plan a vegetarian menu for a three-day camp |
| 10 | Send and receive a message by semaphore, Morse, Sign Language, or Braille |
| 11 | A new honor in household arts, science and health, missionary, or agricultural skills |
Notice the design: the Field and Forest advanced class does not repeat the regular one — it pulls toward the outdoors and hands-on work. Animal tracks, lashings, camp furniture, a menu for three days in the woods, a long hike. It is genuine field nature, not just notebook work. Hence the name. And, as you saw, several requirements let you choose between options (the honor, the form of communication, the event). That choice is yours, with the instructor's approval.
An honest note: the official texts list the 11 requirements, but they do not include a paragraph stating whether the advanced class can only begin with the regular one 100% closed. In practice, most clubs release the advanced class only with the regular one completed or well underway. If your club does it differently, that is a leadership decision, not a rule violation.
Read alsoPathfinder Researcher ClassRule, practice, and principle: separating the three layers
Almost every argument about classes is born from mixing up three things that are different. It is worth separating them, because each one has an owner.
1. The written official rule. This does not change from club to club: the advanced class is called Field and Forest Researcher, it is for age 12, it has 11 requirements published by the DSA, it has its own card, and the class investiture is approved by the Regional. It is on the official site and in the Pathfinder Club Administrative Manual (2020 edition). No one in the club has the authority to rewrite that.
2. The practice that varies — and who decides. The schedule (when the advanced class begins, whether it runs alongside the regular one or in the second half of the year), the pace of completion, and which of the optional honors you will do are decisions of the club leadership together with the instructor, within the Field's calendar. Two clubs can organize the same class in different ways and both be right.
3. The educational principle. Beneath the rule there is an intention: the class was designed for the mind and body of a 12-year-old. The advanced class does not advance the age — it deepens the age. Keeping this layer in view avoids the trap of treating the class as a race for stamps. The gain is not the signed card; it is what stays with the Pathfinder after the card disappears into a drawer.
Why is "nature study" the heart of this class?
If you look at the regular Researcher class, you will see an entire Nature Study section — recognizing constellations such as Orion and completing an honor in the field (astronomy, cacti, climatology, flowers, or animal tracking are among the official options). The advanced class takes that thread and pulls it out into the open field.
That is why the tracks requirement is so characteristic: identifying six animal or bird trails and reproducing three of them in plaster is not decoration. It is observation training — learning to read the floor of a forest the way you read a page. Add the camp menu, the lashings, the camp furniture, and the 10 km hike, and you have the portrait of the class: a researcher who goes out into the field, not one who merely memorizes.
There is a spiritual root in this, and it is not accidental. For the Adventist, studying nature is a way of knowing the Creator — the "book of nature" alongside the book of Scripture. The Field and Forest advanced class weds the two on purpose: on the same card you identify tracks and study the great commission, plan a menu and invite someone to a church program. Field, forest, and mission in the same stage.
Who assesses and who invests in the advanced class?
Here lives the most common mistake, and it costs the investiture. Many people think that, once the advanced class is finished, the club director approves it and that is that. It is not the director.
The flow has two owners. The class instructor follows along and signs off on each completed requirement, one by one, on the card. But the final assessment and the approval of the investiture for regular and advanced classes are, according to the Administrative Manual (2020 edition, DSA), the exclusive responsibility of the Regional — or of the District, when authorized by the Regional. After everything is completed, it is the Regional/District who performs the overall assessment and signs the final part of the card, reserved for that.
Two deadlines that save the ceremony: this final assessment must take place at least three weeks in advance of the investiture, precisely to allow time to fix pending items; and the investiture happens at most twice a year — the main one at the closing and another mid-year, for those who were left with a missing item. According to the official guidance, the assessment falls on the class's final portfolio — the work, reports, and the signed card —, which the Conference/Mission Youth Ministries evaluates through the Regional/District before authorizing the investiture.
The official record, finally, lives in the SGC, the DSA's Club Management System — that is where the completed class stays in the Pathfinder's history. Club tools such as Desbravai help track progress day to day, but the official validation is always in the SGC.
How to start the advanced class well
Whether you are the Pathfinder — or the instructor guiding one —, three moves prevent most of the frustration.
Ask for the right card. "Field and Forest Researcher," separate from the regular class's card. Buying or printing the wrong card (or a table copied from a blog) is the most common start of a headache. The reference is always the official DSA page, not the group screenshot.
Agree on the schedule with the instructor. Will you run the advanced class alongside the regular one or after it? Which of the optional honors will the group do? That is a club decision, and it is better defined in February than discovered in November. One detail that changes every year: the reading course book is updated periodically by the DSA — confirm with leadership which title is valid in 2026 before buying last year's.
Notify the Regional with plenty of lead time. Since it is the Regional who assesses and approves the investiture, they need to know about the group weeks in advance — not the night before. If your club changed regions or you switched clubs mid-year, this counts double. And do not rush to cut it short: the Field and Forest advanced class was made to be lived in the field, at age 12, without shortcuts. It is nature, mission, and hands-on work in just the right measure for the age — and that measure does not come back.