This thesis deals with teaching mathematics - schema oriented education in outdoor environment. It seeks advantages of outdoor education and tries to apply them fully in an innovative way of teaching mathematics for primary schools. It connects the innovative methods of teaching mathematics with our nature, in a peaceful and natural way. Nature is not just an expanded space for learning but it is the means of achieving more effective learning. The thesis informs the reader about the history of outdoor education and it enables deeper understanding of nature's potential and its role in education. It takes advantage of Czech and foreign resources on the matter. The thesis wants to enlighten mathematics students and teachers about the positives of outdoor education by providing a collection of ideas, including their real-life realization and their self- reflection, in the form of prepared mathematics outdoor education material. KEYWORDS Substantial Learning Environment, Schema-oriented Education, Outdoor Education, Outdoor Mathematics

Tidigare forskning visar att lärare i svenska skolor har problem att utföra en undervisning i friluftsliv (Seger 2012; Novus 2016; Backman 2011a). Problemen som lyfts är bland annat att lärarna inte har geografiska, ekonomiska och tidsmässiga förutsättningar till att utföra friluftslivsundervisning. Syftet med denna uppsats var att i motsats till detta undersöka hur man som lärare i idrott och hälsa planerar och utför en välfungerande friluftslivsundervisning. Sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med lärare som undervisar i olika åldrar från hela Sverige och som ansåg sig själva har/haft en välfungerande friluftslivsundervisning genomfördes.  Intervjuerna transkriberades, tematiserades och sedan analyserades sambandet mellan lärares vilja och dess förutsättningar utifrån kvalitativt friluftsliv och deras didaktiska val utifrån Schenkers (2011) analysmodell idrottsdidaktik. Studiens resultat visar på möjligheter att se förbi de tidigare problem som lyfts. Vad studiens lärare understryker som viktigt är att arbeta utifrån progressionen delmoment till helhet och att tillägnar sig gedigen kunskap om friluftslivet. Detta ger förutsättningar att man som lärare kan anpassa undervisningen utifrån befintliga förutsättningar. Slutsatsen blev att om man som lärare tillägnar sig kunskap om friluftslivet, lyckas dela in ämnet i delmoment, ser det som något icke platsbundet och anpassar sig till sina förutsättningar går det att få till en välfungerande friluftslivsundervisning.

Children today are disconnected from the natural environment around them, sometimes finding it annoying, lacking in excitement, and little use to them. Their attention and focus are spent inside watching TV, playing games on computers or a variety of other electronic devices. The purpose of this project was to see if after-school exposure to an Enirovnmental Science Club on the school grounds can impact student attitudes toward our local environment and to increase these third and fourth grade students' knowledge and awareness of their environment.

Abstract A WATERSHED MOMENT: IMPLEMENTING STATE ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY POLICY INTO A CENTRAL VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICT By Melinda J. VanDevelder, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2018 Director: Charol Shakeshaft, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Educational Leadership Policy goals may be impossible to achieve at the classroom level (Ravitch, 2014), as policy depends on those who implement it (Lipsky, 1980). The purpose of this research was to investigate how the voluntary environmental educational executive order, EO42, was implemented and executed in a Central Virginia Public School district. The requirements of EO42 were former Virginia Governor MacAuliffe’s response to a multi-state policy he signed called the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, which called for all Virginia public education schools to implement Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) with students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Interviews of state educational and environmental policy-makers indicated EO42 was a hurried process that came without funding and which was done, in large part, to make a political statement. An interview of the Central County Public School’s science specialist portrays the practices used with local environmental outreach educators in order to prepare 64 middle and high school science teachers to implement MWEE lessons required by EO42 for the 2015-2016 school year. A 2 x 2 Chi-squared analysis done on data collected from teacher surveys indicated a statistically significant difference [Chi-squared (1 d.f.) = 4.17, p < 0.05] between teachers’ professional development attendance and teachers’ perceived ability to complete a MWEE lesson with their students. Analyzed teacher survey data also indicates that teachers who had attempted MWEEs in prior years were more likely to attempt a MWEE with their students [t (61) = -2.846, p = 0.006] than were teachers who had not. Though 83% of teachers reported completing a MWEE with the majority of their students, analysis of teacher-reported lessons indicated that only 22% of teachers completed the four components required of a MWEE (environmental issue definition, an outdoor field experience, an action project, and project synthesis and conclusion). Results indicate that there is much work to be done when introducing new policy into secondary schools (Ball, Maguire, & Braun, 2012).

<p>This is a licentiate dissertation consisting of a summarizing section and two free-standing but coherent articles, one of which has previously been published in ascientific journal while the other is accepted for publication. The unifying link is the theme of attempting to establish the kernel of outdoor education, as it isunderstood by teachers active in the field. The study depicts with the help of semi-structured interviews the respondents’ conceptions of teaching and outdooreducation. The first article is a <em>survey </em>(accomplished in A - School and B - School) of teachers’ perceptions of learning and teaching outdoors in preschool – (to) thefirst year of the compulsory school. The second article is a study of teachers’ perceptions of the possible special nature of outdoor education after having experiencedan <em>educational intervention</em> in the subject (preschool to first year). Both articles treat the special nature of outdoor education coupled with learning and outdoorteaching in light of the overall research question, what perceptions do teachers have of learning and teaching outdoors? The summarizing section which discusses thetwo articles is divided into five different parts.</p><p>Chapter I comprises a social and environmental analysis and indicates the need for research in the field of outdoor education. Chapter II deals with the aim, issuesand theoretical perspectives of learning which are tied to knowledge through action, ecological readability and bodily learning. A number of restricted examples areselected among theoreticians and representatives of these three perspectives within the reform pedagogy movement, American pragmatism, the environmental studymovement and theories of the phenomenology of the body, the learning body in movement.</p><p>The methodological basis for the analysis of the two articles is phenomenographic and is described in Chapter III. In Chapter IV the possible special nature ofoutdoor education is analysed, noting what stands out as especially prominent in the respondents’ answers and in what way, proceeding from questions such as what isoutdoor education for you, <em>what is the difference between learning outdoors and indoors, and why teach outdoors?</em> Four categories of response can be distinguished: aplace for learning, a way of learning, an object of learning and bodily learning. At the end of Chapter IV the results of both articles are summarised. Finally, Chapter Vcomprises a discussion proceeding from a metacategorisation of all descriptive categories from both articles. The discussion has led to the identification of threethematised perspectives, namely the <em>place perspective, the environment</em> perspective and <em>the body perspective</em>. These perspectives, place, environment and body, arelinked back to the technical frame of reference in Chapter II.</p><p>The result of the two part studies, the survey study in article 1 and the educational intervention in article 2, indicates a multiplicity of varied perceptions of thespecial nature of outdoor education and can thus be said to characterise this as richly diversified. As regards teachers’ notions of the principal reasons for learning andteaching outdoors, the following four aspects are foregrounded:</p><ul><li>the place for learning</li><li>the object of learning</li><li>the way of learning</li><li>bodily learning</li></ul><p>Two main categories were identified in article 2 which are treated in education in the subject after a five-day course (10 half study days), teachers who perceive aspecial nature in outdoor education and teachers who do not. Both main categories crystallised out after the educational intervention was implemented in Byskolan andStadsskolan (the Village School and the Town School), the latter being the reference school. One year after the completion of the educational intervention mostteachers in the Village School associated the special nature of outdoor education with a more <em>authentic, body and sensory experience related, movement intensive</em> and <em>health promoting learning</em> than traditional learning in the classroom.</p><p>Proceeding from a metacategorisation the three above-mentioned thematised perspectives are described in Chapter V. These reflect the identified responsecategories in articles 1 and 2.</p><p>The analysis of the empirical material of the investigation reveals that the special nature of outdoor education from the respondents´ perspective is related to place,to the environment and to the body.</p>

<p>”Ta trappan till uppsatsen” är en hermeneutiskt inriktad empirisk studie baserad på en kvalitativ undersökning. I intervjuerna, som är gjorde i två fokusgrupper med hjälp av semi-strukturerade frågor, deltog åtta studenter som går magisterprogrammet i utomhuspedagogik 2007-2009 på Linköpings Universitet (LiU).</p><p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att genom en empirisk studie undersöka hur studenter som läser utomhuspedagogik vid Linköpings Universitet upplever sin process att påbörja, genomföra och slutföra skrivandet av sin magisteruppsats. Jag fokuserar i studien på betydelsen av stöd och vilka eventuella hinder som studenterna upplever personligen, i sin nära omgivning och i relationen med universitetet.</p><p>Resultatet visar att majoriteten av dessa vuxna studenter, som i snitt arbetar ca 90 % parallellt med deltidsstudierna på 50%, ansåg att de viktigaste motivationsfaktorerna inför påbörjandet av uppsatsen var den egna känslan av inre tillfredsställelse samt att få ökad respekt för sitt arbete från kollegor och chefer.</p><p>Under genomförandet ansåg majoriteten att olika ”mentala verktyg” varit till stöd, samt när det fanns en tydlig progression i trappstegsform gällande speciellt litteraturen och reflektionen. Positivt var även att starta med uppsatsen tidigt under kursen. Det fanns en oro för att inte få kontinuerlig handledning och tydlig och konkret information om uppsatsskrivandet från LiU, vilket upplevdes som hinder i skrivprocessen.</p><p>Vid slutet av skrivprocessen hade betydelsen av yttre bekräftelse minskat och den egna inre motivationen var viktigast. Den sociala grupprocessen ansågs ha haft betydelse för kursens genomförande och deltagarna önskade mer webbaserad kontakt mellan träffarna.</p><p> </p> / <p>Abstract</p><p>“To take the stair to the Essay” is a hermeneutically bent empirical study based on a qualitative research. In the interviews, which are done with two focus groups with help of semi- structured questions, eight students participated who studied the Master program in Outdoor Education 2007-2009 at Linköpings University (LiU).</p><p>The purpose with this essay is to examine with an empirical study how students who are studying Outdoor Education at Linköpings University experiences their process to begin, carry out and complete their writing of the Master Essay. In the study I focus on the significance of support and what possible obstacles the students experienced personally, in their surroundings and in relation with the University.</p><p>The result shows that the majority of these adult students, which on average work approximately 90% parallel to the part time studies on 50%, thought that the most important factors of motivations before the beginning of the Essay was the own feeling of inward satisfaction along with gaining increased respect from colleagues and employers for their work.</p><p>During the realization the majority thought that different “mental tools” had been supportive, together with when there had been a plain progress in the step-form applicable especially with the literature and the reflection. It was also positive to begin early with the Essay during the course. There was a concern for not getting continuously guidance and plain and concrete information about the Essay writing from LiU, which felt like an obstacle in the writing process.</p><p>At the end of the writing process the importance of outward confirmation had decreased and the own inward motivation was the most important. The social group process regarded to have had significance on the realization of the course and the participants wished a more web based contact between the meetings.</p>

<p>"Ta trappan till uppsatsen" är en hermeneutiskt inriktad empirisk studie baserad på en kvalitativ undersökning. I intervjuerna, som är gjorde i två fokusgrupper med hjälp av semi-strukturerade frågor, deltog åtta studenter som går magisterprogrammet i utomhuspedagogik 2007-2009 på Linköpings Universitet (LiU).</p><p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att genom en empirisk studie undersöka hur studenter som läser utomhuspedagogik vid LiU upplever sin process att påbörja, genomföra och slutföra skrivandet av sin magisteruppsats. Jag fokuserar i studien på betydelsen av stöd och vilka eventuella hinder som studenterna upplever personligen, i sin nära omgivning och i relationen med universitetet.</p><p>Resultatet visar att majoriteten av dessa vuxna studenter, som i snitt arbetar ca 90 % parallellt med deltidsstudierna på 50%, ansåg att de viktigaste motivationsfaktorerna inför påbörjandet av uppsatsen var den egna känslan av inre tillfredsställelse samt att få ökad respekt för sitt arbete från kollegor och chefer.</p><p>Under genomförandet ansåg majoriteten att olika "mentala verktyg" varit till stöd, samt när det fanns en tydlig progression i trappstegsform gällande speciellt litteraturen och reflektionen. Positivt var även att starta med uppsatsen tidigt under kursen. Det fanns en oro för att inte få kontinuerlig handledning och tydlig och konkret information om uppsatsskrivandet från LiU, vilket upplevdes som hinder i skrivprocessen.</p><p>Vid slutet av skrivprocessen hade betydelsen av yttre bekräftelse minskat och den egna inre motivationen var viktigast. Den sociala grupprocessen ansågs ha haft betydelse för kursens genomförande och deltagarna önskade mer webbaserad kontakt mellan träffarna.</p> / <p>"To take the stair to the Essay" is a hermeneutically bent empirical study based on a qualitative research. In the interviews, which are done with two focus groups with help of semi-structured questions, eight students participated who studied the Master program in Outdoor Education 2007-2009 at Linköpings University (LiU).</p><p>The purpose with this essay is to examine with an empirical study how students who are studying Outdoor Education at LiU experiences their process to begin, carry out and complete their writing of the Master Essay. In the study I focus on the significance of support and what possible obstacles the students experienced personally, in their surroundings and in relation with the University.</p><p>The result shows that the majority of these adult students, which on average work approximately 90% parallel to the part time studies on 50%, thought that the most important factors of motivations before the beginning of the Essay was the own feeling of inward satisfaction along with gaining increased respect from colleagues and employers for their work.</p><p>During the realization the majority thought that different "mental tools" had been supportive, together with when there had been a plain progress in the step-form applicable especially with the literature and the reflection. It was also positive to begin early with the Essay during the course. There was a concern for not getting continuously guidance and plain and concrete information about the Essay writing from LiU, which felt like an obstacle in the writing process.</p><p>At the end of the writing process the importance of outward confirmation had decreased and the own inward motivation was the most important. The social group process regarded to have had significance on the realization of the course and the participants wished a more web based contact between the meetings.</p>

<p>Syftet med denna studie är att försöka reda ut hur utomhuspedagogiken används bland pedagoger på grundskolan. Vi vill ta reda på vilka uppfattningar pedagoger uttrycker kring utomhuspedagogik samt vilka syften och mål pedagogerna har med att undervisa ute.</p><p>Undersökningens resultat grundar sig på en kvalitativ studie där vi har tillämpat halvstrukturerade intervjuer på åtta pedagoger. </p><p>Undersökningen är även gjord på tre olika skolor i Sverige med olika socioekonomiska förutsättningar och olika fysiska miljöer.</p><p>Arbetet resulterade i att vi kom fram till att utomhuspedagogiken används bland pedagoger men dock väldigt sällan. </p><p>Syftet med utomhuspedagogiken bland pedagogerna har teoretiska utgångspunkter, de är alltså väl medvetna om hur metoden kan stimulera barns utveckling.</p><p>Något som framkom var att pedagogerna upplever mycket problematik kring utomhuspedagogiken vilket skapar ett stort glapp mellan teori och praktik.</p> / <p>The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and explain how outdoor pedagogy as a way of education is used by teachers in the elementary school. We want to find out what educationalists’ opinions are about outdoor pedagogy and what purposes and goals they think are associated with outdoor education.</p><p>The results of the investigation are based on a qualitative study where we have used semi-structured interview forms on eight elementary teachers. The studies were conducted at three different schools in Sweden with varying socio-economical and physical conditions.</p><p>In the thesis we concluded that outdoor pedagogy is being put into practice by many educationalists, but very rarely. The purpose of outdoor education among the teachers has a theoretic ground, which means that they are indeed aware of how the specific method can stimulate children’s development. Additionally the study showed us that teachers associate outdoor pedagogy with many inconveniences and problems, thus there is a big discrepancy between theory and practice.</p>

<p>One of our big public health problems in Sweden is that human beings are too inactive in outdoor settings. That is why stress related diseases increase and influence humans both mentally and physical. The physical activity is halved among many children when they start school and the older they become the less they enjoy school. It is also an increasing problem that children and youth in today's society have lack of worthwhile experiences in the nature. The aim of this study was therefore to examine how the experience of outdoor environment had importance for health and learning on upper secondary school pupils. The study is used a questionnaire survey where 192 upper secondary school pupils in nature and farm focused programs, respectively social programs participated. Of the result it emerged that the outside environment was a positive place in order to create health and learning. Although social- and farm focused pupils had different opinions about good outside environments and where they rather learned, the pupils at the social program were less pleased with their outside environment at school, although they already had what they wanted. The pupils at the social program also wanted more outdoor education and more practical education, as the farm focused pupils considered positive for health and learning. Our conclusion is that the pupils’ wishes should be noticed and a more varying education, that include the outdoor environment and experiences in nature, should be introduced in more schools, even in the cities, since the school also is an arena where young people spends a lot of their time. If the school creates an interest for nature it can last for the rest of life.</p>

<p>Sammanfattning</p><p>Både grundskolans och gymnasieskolans kursplaner i Idrott och hälsa, framhäver friluftsliv som ett obligatoriskt moment i undervisningen. Samtidigt visar forskning att det bedrivs relativt lite friluftsliv i de svenska skolorna. Syftet med studien har därför varit, att utifrån de uppfattningar lärarna har om friluftsverksamheten i skolan, utveckla en djupare förståelse för betydelsen av friluftsliv och därmed skapa bättre förutsättningar i friluftsliv för dagens elever.<em> </em>Genom kvalitativa intervjuer med tre verksamma lärare, en idrottslärarutbildare samt en före detta idrottslärare, har jag kommit fram till flera värdefulla resultat. De viktigaste förutsättningarna för friluftslivets existens i skolan, är att den aktuella läraren har ett intresse för att driva en friluftsverksamhet, att det finns ett samarbete med andra lärare och att ledningen driver mot samma håll. Friluftslivets syfte kan beskrivas som att sätta in kunskap i ett större sammanhang. Friluftslivet kan också ses som en arbetsmetod för att nå mål som faller inom hela skolans verksamhet. Det kan t.ex. gälla den sociala eller den personliga utvecklingen hos individen.</p> / <p>Abstract</p><p>The sport curriculum of the compulsory school as well as that of the upper secondary school emphasise outdoor education as an obligatory part of the education. At the same time research shows that a relatively low quantity of outdoor education is being carried out in Swedish schools. The aim of the study was therefore, according to the perceptions teachers have about outdoor education in school, develop a deeper understanding of the importance of outdoor education and hence create better conditions for outdoor education to today’s students. Through qualitative interviews with one former and three active teachers, and one teacher working with education of sport teachers, I have come to more than a few valuable conclusions. The most important conditions for the existence of outdoor education at school, is the teacher’s interest in carrying out outdoor education, the collaboration with other teachers and the directors wanting to achieve the same purpose. The aim of outdoor education can be described as putting knowledge in a bigger framework. Outdoor education can be seen as a method to achieve objectives the entire school is striving to reach. Such objectives are e.g. the personal or social development of an individual.   </p>