Outdoor Education and Outdoor Didactics, 15 credits

Main field of study

Course level

Advancement level

Entry requirements

At least 60 credits approved on undergraduate level. Documented proficiency in English corresponding to English B / English 6. Exemption from the Swedish B.

Intended learning outcomes

The course will enable students to

• a developed ability to describe, interpret and explain traces of natural forces and human activity in the landscape
• knowledge of the link between nature and human ecology
• expanded knowledge of and accomplishments in natural environments and outdoor life as means and method to develop and exercise practical leadership
• increased understanding and knowledge of the importance of different factors in learning and the impact of the environment on pupils’ understanding
• deeper knowledge of outdoor didactics in relation to different subject areas and themes
• a developed ability autonomously to seek out and critically examine source material relevant to the field.

Course content

Environmental issues, ecology and sustainable development run through the course like a scarlet thread, where the natural and cultural heritage constitute the basis. The course thus elucidates outdoor education as an environmentally focused thematic field of education and research, at the same time as it accentuates the specific aspects of the outdoor didactics field of knowledge: that is to say, the application of both non-textually based practices, such as culture and the natural landscape, and text-based practices are illustrated.

The course also treats how mathematical, physical, chemical, technical and cultural phenomena, traces of natural forces and human activity in the natural and cultural landscape are communicated through the symbols mediated by the landscape.

In the field-based elements of the course are also treated health aspects of outdoor education, different styles of learning and the importance of a varied outdoor environment for concentration, learning, health and motor development.

Teaching and working methods

Instruction takes place mainly in outdoor environments with the natural landscape as point of departure. Forms of work are varied and comprise laborative field studies and field analyses, excursions, lectures, seminars, study visits, literature study, individual written work and self-instruction.

Examination

Testing is done continuously by written and oral individual reflective tasks connected to the activities of each course meeting. Literature is examined in literary seminars.

Applies to all courses regardless of grading scale.

• Students failing an exam covering either the entire course or part of the course two times are entitled to have a new examiner appointed for the reexamination.

If the course has a three-graded grading scale (U - VG), following applies:

• Students who have passed an examination may not retake it in order to improve their grades.

If the course is a VfU course, the following applies:

• Examination of applied social and didactic abilities is limited to three (3) occasions.

Grades

Other information

Planning and implementation of a course must take its starting point in the wording of the syllabus. The course evaluation included in each course must therefore take up the question how well the course agrees with the syllabus.

The course is carried out in such a way that both men´s and women´s experience and knowledge is made visible and developed.

Department