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Case Forest – Sweden. Erika Nilsson, Forest in School, Umeå University Lena Åbom, Swedish Forest Agency Teachers: Thorbjörn Alsing, Gärdesskolan High School Raine Olander, Gärdesskolan High School.
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Case Forest – Sweden Erika Nilsson, Forest in School, Umeå University Lena Åbom, Swedish Forest Agency Teachers: Thorbjörn Alsing, Gärdesskolan High School Raine Olander, Gärdesskolan High School This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Teacher course • Contact with school principals in the city of Bollnäs, Sweden • Presentation of the Case Forest pedagogy • Invitation was sent out to schools in Bollnäs • Minimum of two teachers from each school were accepted to the course
Schedule: Teacher’s course in Bollnäs, Sweden 24.9.2009 and 20.10.2009 Day 1 Thursday 24.9.2009, Bollnäs8:00 Introduction – Case Forest pedagogy, Forests and sustainable development (classroom)9:30 Transport by car to the forest. Introduction of the forest area.11:30 Lunch12:30 Short theoretical introduction. Working in groups with the driving question and the designing and construction of learning objects (coffee). Some collection of data.16:30 Summary and presentation of homeworkWorking separately, in the teachers groups, with homework
Schedule: Teacher’s course in Bollnäs, Sweden 24.9.2009 and 20.10.2009 Day 2 Tuesday 20.10.2009, Bollnäs/Alfta8:00 Meeting at Gärdesskolan, transport by car to Alfta.08:30 Study visit at Alfta Skogstekniska, Trätekniska m.m. Studying forest history and other aspects of the project. Collection of data. Transport by car back to Bollnäs.12:30 Lunch14:00 Transport by car to the classroom. Choosing, organization and integration of the collected data (coffee). Examples and exercises to take home.16:30 Presentation of the learning objects17:00 Summing up the course, course evaluation
Result of the evaluation of the teacher course • - Good feedback • Positive reactions regarding the method • The method make outdoor education easy and meaningfull • The pupils become more active when you combine theory and practical work. Learning in the real world, out in the nature, is more effective. • It is a way to avoid dull, uninteresting, meaningless and noisy classroom situations. And a way to reach new pedagogical rooms. • It gives a lot more to the pupils. We learn in different ways and this gives something for all the pupils.
Photos and documentation Information, materials and pictures from the course published in Wet Paint, and also on Forest in Schools webpage www.skogeniskolan.se/caseforest A CD was sent out to participating teachers Article about Case Forest has been published in Forest in Schools paper
Problems What problems do you see in implementing the Case Forest methodology in your country? We don’t see any problem with that at this moment. Possibilities Do you think the Case Forest methodology can be adjusted to fit your national conditions and in that case how? Yes! We asked the participating teachers to try this out in their own classes, and we met up with them in March to discuss what worked well and what we have to adjust in the course and in the methodology.
Result of the teachers own work • Mainly possibilities (active students, introduction in research methods, easy to combine different aspects of the things they want to teach their students) • They thought that pupils learn more of thinking by themselves and then doing a work by themselves instead of reading and lectures in the classroom followed by tests. • They also came up with some problems, but they mainly reflected the situations on the separate schools (ex. availability to computers, lack of computers and suitable programs, lack of projectors, the schedules). Also that all teachers are not interested in leaving the classroom and that makes planning together with others, that are necessary, hard.
The future • Implementing in Forest in School • 11 regions, one in charge of the activities • Courses for teachers in the regions • Made a project application in Sweden so that we can start carrying this out • Implementing in teacher education in Sweden • New teacher education is under development • In the stage of applying för examrights in different majors • When the new education takes form we start the implementation • Visions and thoughts about it, also involves blended learning • Other ideas, ex. modern casebased lettercourse (by e-mail)
