5th–10th-grade in-service teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for sustainable development in outdoor environment

ABSTRACT

Teachers’ experiences and attitudes play a critical role in outdoor education. In this study, we aim to explore how 5th–10th-grade (10–15 years-old students) teachers use the natural environment in their teaching practices, with special attention to the link to sustainable development (SD). In total, 42 in-service teachers were invited to participate in the study. The data collection was based on the participating teachers’ individual written texts concerning their previous outdoor teaching practices, the link to SD and the related assessments. Based on content analysis, three main themes emerged from the data, including (1) teaching biology/ecology concepts, (2) exploring visible pollution and (3) applying a context- and inquiry-based approach. However, we found that outdoor teaching was scarcely linked to SD. The research results’ implications for outdoor education and teachers’ professional development are discussed in this paper.

KEYWORDS:

• In-service
• 5th- to 10th-grade teachers
• sustainable development
• pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)
• outdoor teaching
• outdoor environment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Charlotte Aksland

Charlotte Aksland is an assistant professor of science education in the Department of Primary and Secondary Teacher Education at Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) in Norway. Before starting at OsloMet in 2015, she had been a biology and chemistry teacher in upper secondary school for 20 years. Her research focus has been on the natural environment as a learning arena and on students’ understanding of science concepts.

Shu-Nu Chang Rundgren

Shu-Nu Chang Rundgren is a professor of didactics and the research leader of the group called Competences for Modern Citizenship (CMC) in the Department of Education at Stockholm University in Sweden. Before joining Stockholm University in 2014, she was a professor of science education for four years at Karlstad University in Sweden. Currently, she is also a guest professor in the Department of Primary and Secondary Teacher Education at OsloMet in Norway. To achieve sustainable development and responsible citizenship, developing teachers’ professional knowledge and competencies in teaching and assessing students’ key competencies (with a focus on critical thinking and argumentation skills about controversial issues) have been her research focus.