1. The effect of school garden activities on pre-service student teachers’ attitudes to teaching biology outside the classroom
Sabrina Frieß Lissy Jäkel Ulrike Kiehne Heidelberg, Germany
Fig. 1: Pupils understand organisms
Introduction
The Ecology Garden of the University of Education Heidelberg offers many opportunities for outdoor learning, enabling not only pre-service student teachers, but also experienced teachers, who visit the garden with their pupils, to increase and consolidate their competence. It is hoped that outdoor projects and school gardening will increase knowledge and understanding of organisms, ecological matters and sustainable development. Teachers should have PCK for designing effective outdoor learning processes.
The purpose of this research was to determine whether the integration of school garden projects into the university curriculum influenced pre-service student teachers’ attitudes toward nature and teaching outside.
Fig. 2: Learning on original subjects
How do the beliefs of pre-service student teachers change in regard to biological fieldwork?
Methods
The participants in the study filled out a questionnaire (altered according to Weusmann 2015 with a seven-degree Likert Scale; pre- and post-test). This served to appreciate the self-competence estimations of them in regard to biological fieldwork. The questionnaire focused on the following three parts (table 1) :
Attitudes on nature (11 items, 2016 Cronbach´s Alpha .849)
Gardening and didactical abilities (23 items, 2016 Cronbach´s Alpha .912)
Self-efficacy relating to the opportunities (13 items, 2016 Cronbach´s Alpha .884) and limits of outdoor teaching (7 items, 2016 Cronbach´s Alpha .753)
In 2015 pre-service student teachers during their first semester in biology were included in the study, compared in a control and an experimental group. The experimental group had to develop learning material for teaching children outside; the others did not have this challenge.
In addition 2016 pre-service student teachers in advanced semesters choose between different working courses with focus on:
Outdoor teaching
Determination of plants
Gardening
Fig. 3: Improvement of gardening skills
Fig. 4: Promotion of social competence
Participants:
2015 pre-service student teachers (n=30) during their first semester (botany);
2016 pre-service student teachers (n=22) during their first semester (botany),
and advanced semesters (n=93), experienced teachers (n=26), who visited the garden with their pupils and practice outdoor teaching
Fig. 5: Teaching in zoological topics
Results and Discussion
2015
The pre-service student teachers during their first semester consider themselves in relation to their horticultural skills as incompetent. Here they seem to be realistic in their assessments. The didactic skills for field work with children still require further expansion. Positive attitudes towards nature were measurable in pretest and posttest. They remain high over the first semester (table 2).
In summary no statistically significant differences were found between pre- and posttests within one semester in the category of attitudes toward nature and towards outdoor learning opportunities.
2016
The results of the survey of the pre-service student teachers were compared with the results of the experienced teachers. Despite the interventions the beliefs of the pre-service student teachers distinguish significantly from the beliefs of the experienced teachers. Probably this depends on their regular practice of outdoor education.
The beliefs of the pre-service student teachers changed minimally during the semester. The pre-service student teachers developed their skills similar to the focal points of attended courses. For example:
Cultivate vegetables promotes gardening competences.
Practice determining promotes skills in identifying plants.
Educational elements influence attitudes to outdoor teaching, but not gardening skills.
Fig. 6: Motivation is important
Fig. 7: Inquiry-based learning
In order to obtain assessable results in this field, continuous and repeated intensive engagement with pupils regarding fieldwork must be aimed at.
Fig. 8: Close to nature
©Jäkel
Weusmann, B. (2015): Biology teaching and elementary school science outside classroom. Baltmannsweiler: Schneider.
Additional references can be obtained from the authors.