Environmental issues are manifest throughout our lives. Sport is no exception. The concern for sustainable sport management has precipitated efforts to reduce the ecological footprint of sport, and to use sport to raise environmental awareness. This dissertation examines the challenges of reducing the ecological footprint of an urban recreational sport: disc golf. The project consists of four studies. The ecological degradation associated with the sport of disc golf is reported in the first study. It is shown that disc golf increases soil compaction, which yields greater soil erosion and a decrease in vegetation cover. The second study examines player behaviors, and identifies two behaviors that are clearly related to the environmental degradation, and that could be reduced without interfering with the game: (1) dragging bags with disc golf equipment along the ground, and (2) using tress as practice targets. The subculture of disc golfers is explored in the third study in order to identify characteristics of the subculture that could be leveraged to foster the desired behavioral changes. Disc golfers felt a strong sense of ownership and attachment to the park in which they played, and placed a high value on the sport and the park in which they played. However, disc golfers were unaware of the environmental effects of their behaviors. In the final study, a brochure was distributed to players that informed them about the environmental damage caused by dragging bags and using trees for target practice, and that appealed to their sense of ownership and attachment to the park in which they played. A multiple baseline study of disc golfer behaviors in three parks demonstrated that the brochure reduced the target behaviors so significantly that they were virtually extinguished. It is concluded that behavioral management strategies can be useful tools for environmental management of urban sport settings. It is suggested that appeals to supportive subcultural values enable self-policing of target behaviors. It is also noted that education can be an effective intervention when the values are supportive but player ignorance of their impact has allowed environmentally damaging behaviors to be tolerated. / text

Field trips are a basic and important, yet often overlooked part of the student experience. They provide the opportunity to integrate real world knowledge with classroom learning and student previous personal experiences. Outdoor guided field trips leave students with an increased understanding, awareness and interest and in science. However, the benefits of this experience are ambiguous at best (Falk and Balling, 1982; Falk and Dierking, 1992; Kisiel, 2006. Students on an outdoor guided field trip to a local nature park experienced a significant increase in their understanding of the rock cycle. The changes in the pre-field trip test and the post-field trip test as well as their answers in interviews showed a profound change in the students’ understanding and in their interest in the subject matter. The use of the “student’s voice” (Bamberger and Tal, 2008) was the motivation for data analysis. By using the students’ voice, I was able to determine the mechanisms that might influence their understanding of a subject. The central concepts emerging from the data were: the outdoor setting; the students’ interest; the social interaction. From these central concepts, a conceptual model was developed. The outdoor setting allows for the freedom to explore, touch, smell and movement. This, in turn, leads to an increased interest in subject matter. As the students are exploring, they are enjoying themselves and become more open to learning. Interest leads to a desire to learn (Dewey, 1975). In addition to allowing the freedom to explore and move, the outdoor setting creates the condition for social interaction. The students talk to each other as they walk; they have in-depth discourse regarding the subject matter -- with the teachers, each other and with the guides. The guides have an extremely important role in the students’ learning. The more successful guides not only act as experts, but also adjust to the students’ needs and act or speak accordingly. The interconnections of these three concepts-- the outdoor setting, the students’ interest, the social interaction - worked to provide the mechanisms by which the students increased their understanding of the rock cycle. / text

The purpose of the survey was to find out how early childhood teachers work with the curriculum of I Ur och Skur with children between 1-3 years in the forest and how such educators are using the outdoor pedagogy in the forest environment in preschool. In order to answer the study's aim and objectives interviews were performed with six teachers in I Ur och Skur kindergartens. What emerged from this study is that forest excursions are a central part of the curriculum and is seen as their educational place. The teachers are working to create a feeling of security among the youngest children of enjoying the woods and also to raise an interest in the children. Natural materials are used during the forest stay and no other toys or materials. The results reveal that educators work to get the smallest children to use and develop their imagination at play and at the same time they are involved with the children in their discovery of the woods. With the smallest children in kindergarten it involves being on the level of children and as a teacher to have the flexibility to change the forest stay environment if needed.

Syftet med studien är att studera fritidspedagogers olika uppfattningar om barns lärande utomhus på fritidshem. I studien har det använts av kvalitativa intervjuer och frågeformulär där fenomenografi används som perspektiv för att fånga pedagogers olika uppfattningar om lärande utomhus. I resultatet har det förekommit att lärande sker i olika former bland annat ute i naturen, tematisk, i leken och att lärandet utomhus främjar olika förmågor hos barnen. Studien visar att lärande utomhus är obegränsad och att det lärande sker ständigt ute bland annat i naturen, i leken, individuellt så som socialt.

published_or_final_version / Urban Design / Master / Master of Urban Design

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

No description available.

Revised; Originally published: 10/2008 / 3 pp. / Recently, a number of global positioning system (GPS) devices have been introduced commercially which exploit GPS, transforming frequent measurements of time and location, into an estimate of energy expenditure. This fact sheet reviews how GPS watches (GPS fitness units) measure energy expenditure of individual during physical activity. We list popular GPS watches that are on the market and show pros and cons of these watches. After our field testing, we decided that the Garmin Forerunner 305 is our best pick for the GPS watch. We included information on geocaching, which is one of several popular outdoor activities using a GPS receiver or other navigational techniques.

I Ur och Skur preschools base their teaching on outdoor activities and all educators are called leaders, disregarding their educational background. The purpose of this study is to find out how the leaders of six I Ur och Skur preschools are working, specifically with the written language, in the outdoors environment. The study discusses the concept of literacy, methods leaders use and the advantages and disadvantages they experience with outdoors education and the thoughts they have about outdoor activities. The basis for this study is the objective pursued in the curriculum: "preschools should strive to ensure that children develop an interest in written language and an understanding of symbols and their communicative functions". Respondents have also been asked what outdoors education means to them on a personal level. To achieve my research results five qualitative interviews, with room for follow-up questions, were conducted. One of the respondents felt that she lacked time but still wanted to participate and doing so by answering questions by email. A total of six interviews were conducted, transcribed and analyzed. All respondents in this study are active leaders in I Ur och Skur preschools in a major city in Sweden. The results of the six interviews from the leaders show how they work with written language activities for children outdoors. The methods used seem quite similar between the various preschools. The leaders exploit the opportunities that are given, e.g. they write in the snow with watercolors or draw in the sand with sticks. They also read books outdoors for the children. The advantage, according to respondents, is that the material never ends, it is possible to write with almost anything. Possible disadvantages are bad weather conditions or too much background noise that may distract the children at times when they need to concentrate.

Friluftsliv täcker en stor del av det centrala innehållet i Lgr11 i ämnet idrott och hälsa. Syftet med undersökningen är att få en bild av idrottslärarnas syn på, och vision med friluftsverksamheten i skolan, hur den egentligen ser ut samt vad lärarna anser behövs för att visionerna ska uppfyllas. Frågeställningarna är därför: Hur uppfattar lärarna att friluftsundervisningen ser ut i skolan idag? Vad är lärarnas vision av friluftsundervisningen? Vad behövs enligt lärarna göras för att visionerna ska uppfyllas? Undersökningen har genomförts genom fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer med idrottslärare som arbetar på högstadiet. Dessa har sedan transkriberats och analyserats. Resultatet av deras uppfattningar visar att friluftsundervisningen i skolan skiljer sig gentemot deras vision. Den friluftsundervisning som finns i skolan idag är oftast kopplat till ett större projekt som t.ex. friluftsdagar vilket resulterar i punktinsatser. Den samlade bilden av lärarnas vision är att minska punktinsatserna och samtidigt ha möjligheten till att ta med eleverna på längre resor där de kan testa på skidåkning, vandring, fiske, tälta m.m. För att lärarnas vision ska kunna uppfyllas menar de att det behövs tid, pengar och material enligt respondenterna, precis som tidigare forskning också visar. / Outdoor education covers a large part of the core content of Lgr11 in physical education. The purpose of the survey is to get a picture of a group of PE teachers' views on, and visions with outdoor education in school. I´m also interested in how, in fact, the reality looks like and what teachers believe is needed to visions will be achieved. Therefore the questions will be: How do outdoor education looks like in school today, according to the teachers? What is the teacher's vision of outdoor education? What´s needed so the vision will be achieved according to the teachers? The survey was conducted by four semi-structured interviews with PE teachers working at high school. These were then transcribed and the result of their beliefs is that outdoor education in school differs from their vision. The outdoor education that is available in schools today is usually linked to a major project such as sports days and it results in point actions. The overall picture of the teachers´ vision is to reduce point actions while still having the ability to take the students on longer trips where they can try to go skiing, hiking, fishing, camping etc. In order for the vision to become reality it requires time, money and materials according to the respondents, as previous research also shows.