Outdoor environmental education in Goričko region for the first graders

V pričujočem magistrskem delu je bil glavni namen ugotoviti, kako pogosto in na kak način se učitelji prvih razredov pri predmetu spoznavanje okolja na področju Goričkega poslužujejo pouka zunaj učilnice. Naloga je sestavljena iz teoretičnega, empiričnega in praktičnega dela. Teoretični del se razdeli na pedagoško-didaktični, psihološki in geografsko zgodovinski sklop. V pedagoško-didaktičnem sklopu bomo predstavili predmet spoznavanje okolja in podrobneje opisali teorijo v povezavi z izkustvenim učenjem. V sam opis so zajete metode, faze, načela, cilji, okoliščine in vodenje izkustvenega učenja. V nadaljevanju bomo opisali tudi pouk na prostem in se pri tem osredotočili tudi na prednosti in slabosti tovrstnega pouka. Psihološki sklop je namenjen grobemu opisu obdobju srednjega otroštva. Geografsko-zgodovinski sklop pa se navezuje na pokrajino Goričko, ki se nanaša na praktični del magistrske naloge. V empiričnem delu magistrske naloge so predstavljene analize rezultatov raziskave, ki je bila izvedena po goričkih osnovnih šolah, v katero je bilo zajetih deset učiteljev, ki poučujejo prvi razred. S pomočjo anketnega vprašalnika smo ugotavljali, na kak način in kako pogosto se učitelji poslužujejo pouka zunaj učilnice pri predmetu spoznavanje okolja in kakšne pozitivne učinke tovrstni pouk doprinese učencem. Prav tako smo raziskali in analizirali potrjene učbeniške komplete prvih razredov za predmet spoznavanje okolja in proučili, v kolikšni meri so zastopane in predlagane dejavnosti za izvajanje pouka zunaj učilnice. Rezultati empirične raziskave ponazarjajo, da se učitelji prvih razredov poslužujejo poučevanja izven učilnice vsaj enkrat na teden. Navajajo, da ima tovrstni pouk pozitivne učinke na učence v smislu boljše zapomnitve snovi – trajnejšo znanje, uporaba in izraba učenčevih čutil, v ospredje pa so izpostavili tudi povečano motivacijo pri učencih. Učitelji imajo na splošno pozitiven odnos do poučevanja izven učilnice, saj je za učence bolj zanimivo, boljša zapomnitev, pridobivanje izkušenj in drugo. Rezultati nakazujejo, da se učitelji v primeru slabega vremena ne odločajo poučevati zunaj, obenem pa polovica vprašanih trdi, da šolska okolica v njihovih krajih ni primerna za pouk izven šolskih klopi. Na podlagi empiričnih rezultatov smo v praktičnem delu magistrske naloge izdelali primer modela za pouk zunaj učilnice v prvem razredu pri predmetu spoznavanje okolja. Učni model je pripravljen na način, da ga lahko učitelji prakticirajo izven učilnice, s čimer smo želeli nagovoriti učitelje, da je izkustveno učenje pri predmetu spoznavanje okolja izredno pomembno in skorajda neizbežno.The main purpose of the present master\u27s thesis is to define how often and in what way the first grade teachers explore and teach the subject of environmental education in the Goričko area outside the classroom. The thesis includes theoretical, empirical and practical work. Theoretical part covers pedagogical-didactic, psychological and geographical-historical topics. In the pedagogical-didactic part we are going to present the school subject environmental education and its theory connected to experiential learning. This part depicts the methods, phases, principles, goals, circumstances and managing experiential learning. Further on, an outdoor learning is also presented and focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of this type of a lesson. The psychological part offers a general portraying of the middle childhood developmental period. The geographical-historical section refers to the Goričko region which represents the practical part of the master\u27s thesis. The empirical part of the master\u27s thesis outlines the research results gathered from the analysis of teaching by ten first grade teachers from rural elementary schools. From the results of the questionnaire we have found out in what way and how often teachers use outside the classroom lessons for the purpose of educational environment and what kind of positive effects this way of teaching has on students. We have also explored and analyzed approved first-grade textbook sets for the purpose of environmental learning, and examined the extent of proposed activities for outside the classroom teaching. The results of the empirical research have shown that classroom teachers teach outside the classroom at least once a week. They say that such lessons have positive effects on pupils in terms of better memorising of the information - more permanent knowledge, use and utilization of pupil\u27s senses, and emphasized the increased motivation of pupils. Teachers generally have a positive attitude towards teaching outside the classroom as it is more interesting for students, creates better memorising, offers experience, etc. The results suggest that teachers in the case of bad weather do not choose to teach outside, while half of the respondents argue that the school environment where they work is not suitable for outside classes. On the basis of the empirical results we have created a model for first grade learning about environmental education outside the classroom and presented it in the practical part of the master\u27s thesis. The learning model is prepared in a way that teachers can take it outside the classroom, with an intention to present that experiential learning is extremely important and almost inevitable when learning about the environment