Utomhusundervisning och elevers relation till naturen : En intervjustudie med lärare kring deras utomhusundervisning

Sammanfattning: In today’s digitalised society we spend a lot of time indoors, kids included, and not as much time outdoors in nature. Thoughts that might appear because of this include what children’s relation to nature looks like and what we as teachers can do to improve this relation. The purpose of this study is therefore to contribute with knowledge about teachers’ thoughts and use of outdoor education, and how they view pupils’ relation to nature based on their outdoor education. The method used in this study was to conduct interviews with five different teachers about their work with outdoor education, along with their thoughts and views on it. A thematic analysis was used to extract different themes from the teachers’ interview answers. This analysis resulted in six different themes covering teachers’ thoughts and outdoor education. The results show that outdoor education often consists of group-based activities with a focus on practical work where many senses are activated and stimulated. According to the teachers, the way that they work with outdoor education also contributes to a more positive relation between pupils and nature, by improving their interest, but also by giving a better understanding of the interaction between humans, animals and plants, as well as our connection to them. Based on these findings, it is important that teachers try to use more of this kind of outdoor education to help develop and improve the pupils’ relation to nature, while ensuring a productive and healthy environment.