FIRST-YEAR TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS’ REFLECTIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS ABOUT

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ENHANCING LEARNING PRACTICES

Blended learning- Technology-Enhanced Teaching and Learning Environments- project

Anu Liljeström , Henriikka Vartiainen, Petteri Vanninen, Jorma Enkenberg & Sinikka Pöllänen

University of Eastern Finland, Philosophical Faculty, School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education

Savonlinna Campus 

Forest as Learning Environment- project

Background of the study

• The complex and multi-disciplinary nature of sustainable development :• Local <-> Global• Formal <-> Informal• Transdisciplinarity (UNESCO, 2005; 2009)

• Skills for the 21st century (Binkley et al., 2011; NETP, 2010)

Research aims

• To create baseline knowledge about the use of out-of-school environments, expertise and technology in Finnish education

• To find out how the first year teacher education students intent to use the pillars of the learning ecosystem as part of their future teaching

Information resources

School

for organizing, constructing,

and presenting data

Community resources

for making

Extended school

Technological resources

Non-digital Digital

Real-life objects

for searching information

for collaboration

for collecting information

for reflecting on and evaluating

knowledge and information

Conceptual model for learning ecosystem

Phenomena related to SD

Research questions1. How do first-year teacher education students

a) perceive sustainable development?b) see the role of sustainability and forests in the future in work?

2. How much do first-year teacher education students have had experiences in their past education about learning in diverse

a) physical (nature and culture), b) social (extended communities), and c) technological environments?

3. Does the intent work as a teacher depend on the students’ experiences and the relationship to the forest?

Participants

• 121 First-year teacher education students• Class teacher education (N= 46)• Kindergarten teacher education ( N=41)• Home economics teacher education ( N=22)• Textile teacher education (N=11)

• 18-41 years, Md= 20 years, 82 % female

  Quantitative data, close –ended items  (five-point Likert scale):

n=45 Alpha .914

Past education and future work as a teacher

Descriptive statistical methodsKruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance

n=35 Alpha .910

Use of technology and tools

Descriptive statistical methods

n=6 Alpha .749

Data collection methods and analysis

Qualitative data,open-ended items.

SD and forest

Deductive (Brown et al., 1987) and inductive content analysis

Data

n=3

Items ReliabilityAnalysis

.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

61.2

.8 0

24.8

11.6Ecological Social EconomicCombination Other

Perceptions of sustainable development

Perc

ent

(missing 1,6 %)

How do first-year teacher students of education perceive sustainable development?

How do first-year teacher education students see the role of sustainability and forests in the future in work as a teacher?

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

17.9

25.6

1.7

17.1

37.6

0.0999999999999943

SD and future teaching

As teaching content As teaching methodAs learning environment As combinationValue itself Other

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

10.58.5

42.5

34.9

22.6

Forest and SD

As teaching content As enrichment of teachingAs learning environment As mediator Other

Nev

er

Seld

om

Ofte

n

Very

ofte

n

In kindergarten 1 2 3 4 5

In primary school 1 2 3 4 5

In secondary school 1 2 3 4 5

In high school 1 2 3 4 5

Future 1 2 3 4 5

UsingEffectiveness of the usingLearning projects situated outside

A fe

w

times

Research question 2 a: Learning outside school in forest and nature environments

n = 15, (alpha .854), N=121, item medians

Research question 2 a: Participating in learning projects that integrate school subjects

n = 5, (alpha .839), N=121, item medians

Nev

er

Seld

om

Ofte

n

Very

ofte

n

In kindergarten 1 2 3 4 5

In primary school 1 2 3 4 5

In secondary school 1 2 3 4 5

In high school 1 2 3 4 5

Future 1 2 3 4 5A

few

tim

es

Visits to expert communitiesExperts’ visits to the schools

In kindergarten 1 2 3 4 5

In primary school 1 2 3 4 5

In secondary school 1 2 3 4 5

In high school 1 2 3 4 5

Future 1 2 3 4 5

Nev

er

Seld

om

Ofte

n

Very

ofte

n

A fe

w

times

Research question 2 b: Collaboration with expert communities

n = 10, (alpha .866), N=121, item medians

In kindergarten 1 2 3 4 5

In primary school 1 2 3 4 5

In secondary school 1 2 3 4 5

In high school 1 2 3 4 5

Future 1 2 3 4 5

Nev

er

Seld

om

Ofte

n

Very

ofte

n

A fe

w

times

Research question 2 c: Using ICT for collaboration with expert communities

n = 5, (alpha .805), N=121, item medians

Research question 2 c: Frequencies of the use of technology and tools

n=6, M = 2.58, (alpha = .749) N=121, item medians

Never (1)

Seldom (2)

A few times (3)

Often (4)

Very often (5)

´ Mean

Median

Physical tools for making (%) 19.8 37.2 29.8 8.3 1.7 2.32 2Tools for searching for information (%) 6.6 9.9 18.2 43.0 19.8 3.61 4Tools for collaboration (%) 27.3 21.5 24.0 22.3 3.3 2.52 3Tools for collecting information (%) 13.2 27.3 41.3 13.2 3.3 2.66 3

Tools for organizing, constructing, and presenting data (%)

32.2 36.4 20.7 8.3 1 0.8 2.08 2

Tools for reflecting on and evaluating knowledge and information (%)

16.5 41.3 33.1 9 7.4 - (0.0) 2.32 2

Research question 3. Students with least, between, and most experiences and their intent

in their future work.

In past education vs. future intent

Summary of the results

• Understanding the multidisciplinary nature of SD is a challenge.

• The results reveal the problematic interpretations that students have about the nature of SD and role of the forest. Conceptions of manners in integration of SD with school practices vary strongly.

• Students have very few experience of learning which is situated in diverse learning ecosystem. If this trend will continue, it will be very difficult to integrate SD and forest to school practices.

• The experiences in the students’ own school history and their perceptions of the roles of diverse learning ecosystem in their future careers as a teacher are deeply connected

If we agree, (as we should) that SD and forest are important parts of education, we should be able to do in teacher education following:

1. During their studies the students should face with complex and multidimensional challenges, phenomena and to embedded real objects outside of classrooms (cf. Vartiainen and Enkenberg 2013).

2. Students should have opportunities to work with relevant open learning tasks, to design their learning ecosystem and construct collaboratively solutions (cf. Vartiainen et al, 2012, Liljeström et al, 2013, Mitzuko et al, 2013, OpenForest –portal -Vanninen et al, 2013).

3. Learning processes should emphasize self-organization while solving complex multidisciplinary tasks (cf. Mitra 2013)

Implications

References:

• Mitra, S. 2013. Build a School in the Cloud http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud.html?utm_campaign=&utm_source=plus.url.google.com&utm_content=awesm-publisher&awesm=on.ted.com_TEDPrize2013&utm_medium=on.ted.com