Browsing by Subject "maasto-opetus"

The aim of this qualitative study is to produce descriptive information about children's connections to nature and the possibilities of primary school teaching to support that relation. The subject is viewed through the perceptions of the professionals in environmental education (EE). Relationship with nature is a multiplex phenomenon that builds up by factors of physical and sociocultural environment. According to researchers the most determinative causes are authentic connections to natural environments and the role model given by adults. It is also stated that the relationship with nature also deals with wellbeing of human and environment, which serves as a basis for this study. The first part of the study discusses children's relation to nature on a general level and the second part is examined from the viewpoint of environmental education in primary school. The data was collected through the interviews of four experts of environmental education in December 2014. A semi-structured interview was used as the method of collecting data, which consists of 4,5 hours of recorded material. The analysis was accomplished by adapted qualitative content analysis: the analysis was connected to the collected material and also to the theoretical framework. The interviewees' perceptions were considered to indicate a wider professional view on the phenomenon over the ideas of an individual. The professionals of EE thought that for supporting children's relation to nature it is crucial to secure their authentic experiences of nature. An important factor associated with it was the importance of benefiting the nature nearby. Parents were considered an important role model when building up a connection to nature. However, there seems to be a great variance in the nature education that families give to children: some get a lot of experiences and guidance while others lack the support to engage with nature. Primary school was also considered as an important agent in supporting children's relation to nature, although its possibilities were seen as limited. According to the interviewees the pedagogical approach to help children engage with nature is based on authentic experiences in natural environments and the active role of a student in the learning process. Outdoor learning was considered as the most efficient way to set EE in practice in primary schools.

Environmental education takes place everywhere, not just in school. At school, environmental studies are the most natural way to implement environmental education, but in accordance with the principles of the basic education curriculum (POPS 2014), environmental education is implemented extensively in all school activities. The ideology of inquiry-based learning and field education as a way of working implement the basic principle of environmental education, ie commitment to nature. Previous research has shown that teachers are interested in implementing the principles of environmental education and field education, but there are also challenges in its practical implementation. The third sector implements environmental education outside the school and the digital material it produces is easily accessible via the Internet. The aim of my research is to find out teachers' perceptions of field education and its implementation in teaching. In addition, my aim is to find out how teachers view collaboration with the third sector or the digital material they produce. Finally, I will find out what kind of digital material the third sector provides to support field education in environmental studies. The research material was compiled by interviewing two teachers and examining digital materials provided by the third sector. Interviews were used to gain teachers’ views on field education and the co-operation with the third sector. Digital material was analyzed by a criteria based on the criteria created by the National Board of Education for e-learning materials The study confirms the results of previous studies that teachers appreciate the importance of field education in teaching environmental studies and would like to implement it more than at present. Co-operation with the third sector brought not only material and ideas but also concrete human resources to field education. A study of third sector digital material showed that the third sector produces a lot of diverse and high quality material for teaching environmental studies based on its own expertise and that its use is likely to lower the threshold for teachers to implement field education in their environmental studies teaching when they just have time to search for and find all this material.