Artskunnskap som introduksjon til naturfag i grunnskolelærerutdanningen <br/>Knowledge about species and field work – evaluation of a teaching program

Abstract

People's contact with nature has become less frequent, and their experience of nature has become less comprehensive than earlier. The level of knowledge about species has significantly decreased and teaching biology outside the classroom has become less common. The motivation for this study is to try to counteract these trends: its aim is to evaluate a teaching sequence in teacher education where a field course and the collection of organisms were central components. Seventeen months after the teaching sequence, fifteen students took a species identification test and responded to a questionnaire, and four of them were interviewed. Findings indicate that although their level of knowledge about species had decreased by 39.1% since they had finished the course, the teaching had positively influenced the students' interest in nature, their pleasure at being out in nature, and their overall experience of nature. Their ecological understanding and understanding of biodiversity and sustainable development was less influenced. The teaching was perceived as relevant for their own future work as science teachers.Innledning «Det var først på ekskursjonen til Fjelldalen at det løsnet, og jeg fikk åpnet øynene for planteverdenen. Det var en ny verden som ble synlig. Da jeg var med familien min på fjelltur en uke seinere, spratt jeg rundt og kommenterte navnet på alle artene jeg kunne. Jeg opplever å ha fått erfare den opplevelsen vi ønsker å gi elevene gjennom artskunnskapen» (Guro, laererstudent, GLU, 1 -7). PER IVAR KVAMMENHøgskolen i Innlandet, Norway per.kvammen@inn.no ELI MUNKEBYE NTNU, Norway eli.munkebye@ntnu Per Ivar Kvammen er dosent i realfagsdidaktikk ved HINN, Høgskolen i Innlandet, Fakultet for laererutdanning og pedagogikk. Han underviser og veileder på barnehagelaererutdanning, grunnskolelaererutdanning og master i realfagenes didaktikk. Hans interesseområder er uteundervisning i naturfag og undervisning i naturfag i det flerspråklige klasserommet.Eli Munkebye er førsteamanuensis i naturfagdidaktikk og er ansatt ved Institutt for laererutdanning ved NTNU. Der underviser og veileder hun på masterutdanning. Hun har et bredt interesseområde, som strekker seg fra den utforskende samtalen som finner sted mellom laerer og elev, bruk av naturen som laeringsarena, baerekraftig utvikling og naturvitenskapens egenart.

Curious children and knowledgeable adults – early childhood student-teachers’ species identification skills and their views on the importance of species knowledge

“…In another recent study, Kvammen and Munkebye (2018) investigated the species identification skills of Norwegian primary student-teachers' attending a science course with focus on species knowledge. They report an average species identification score of 87% immediately after the end of the course and an average 17 month retention score of 53%.…”

Interdisciplinary primary school curriculum units for sustainable development

“…By strengthening the cultural identity, one can also strengthen the individuals' desire to protect nature as developing closeness by becoming part of one's self (Tunòn & Dahlström, 2010, in Munkebye & Fiskum, 2014. Knowledge of plant and animal species, interest in nature and nature experiences have been found to be factors that increase the commitment to sustainable development and conservation of biodiversity (Kvammen & Munkebye, 2018;Lindemann-Matthies, 2006;Palmberg & Kuru, 2000). Conservation of biodiversity can be used as local authentic conflicts of interest, in Norwegian classrooms, as the country continue to develop renewable energy sources, as this adversely affects natural areas, ecosystem and biodiversity.…”

Nordic Student Teachers’ Views on the Most Efficient Teaching and Learning Methods for Species and Species Identification

“…The importance of species, biodiversity and sustainability are continuously emphasized also in the latest school curricula in the Nordic countries [8][9][10][11], and therefore, these issues should also be included in teacher education programs for primary-school teachers. Such is not, however, the situation yet [12][13][14][15], although also student teachers in several countries have clearly expressed the importance of species and species identification in general and especially in their education [1,7,16,17]. Even though student teachers named school and university among their most important sources of information about species, their ability to identify very common species was still very low [18].…”