Outdoor school as a place for science lessons in primary school from grade 1 to 5

Outdoor school is an organised form of educational work that the schools in Slovenia offer to the students as a part of the teaching process, during which the students have the option to experience and participate in activities in nature. These activities help them obtain various competences and knowledge that are otherwise harder or even impossible to explain qualitatively in the normal school environment. Pupils acquire knowledge from many different fields including the natural sciences field. The main focus of this Master’s degree thesis is teaching and achieving the goals from the natural sciences field from first to fifth grade of elementary school as a part of outdoor school (further referred to as OS) programme in Slovenian Centres for School and Outdoor Education (further referred to as CSOEs). The thesis is based on educational goals of natural science courses that take place in first and second educational period, modern theoretical approaches to teaching natural sciences in Slovenia and abroad, and the use of both as a part of OS in Slovenian CSOEs. Everything is supported and elevated with extensive research which presumably includes all of the Slovenian CSOEs that offer OS programme for students in first and second triad of elementary school. By means of thorough qualitative research, more precisely by conducting interviews, we have acquired first-hand knowledge about the content of natural science subjects (SPO and NIT) that students get to know through participating in OS programmes. Moreover, we have conducted research on the approach used in the teaching of natural sciences in CSOEs and divulged various opportunities for differentiation in teaching. In addition, we have compared the work of Slovenian CSOE employees with the practice abroad and discovered solutions for any obstacles encountered by OS programme employees. This Master’s degree thesis’ in-depth theoretical and extensive empirical part contributes to the awareness of the importance of OS programmes in reaching the educational goals from the field of natural sciences, awareness of the employees in education about modern approaches to teaching natural sciences and the transfer of good practice information among the employees in CSOEs and school teachers