Environmental and Sustainability Education in the Natural and Cultural Landscape, 15 credits

Main field of study

Course level

Advancement level

Entry requirements

• A Teacher or Pre-school Teacher Degree of at least 180 ECTS 
  or 
  Bachelor's Degree, equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen, with a major in Education or the equivalent
• English, corresponding to the level of English achieved in Swedish upper secondary education (English 6)
  (Exemption from Swedish)

Intended learning outcomes

After completion of the course the student shall:

- Demonstrate depended knowledge of historical background and contemporary research in the field of environmental and sustainability education

- Be able to discuss and problematize central concepts in outdoor and sustainability education

- Invent possibilities, and critically analyse environmental and sustainability education in potential and relevant outdoor environments

- Independently plan, conduct and evaluate environmental and sustainability education outdoors, considering risk, safety and equality

Course content

Recent research in the field of environmental and sustainability education is the frame work for the course. Focus is on how learning environment outside the classroom can be a relevant alternative in environmental and sustainability education. The theoretical background of outdoor education as well as contemporary research and praxis is discussed and problematized. Human relationship with nature is one dimension in outdoor as well as sustainability education, and the course considers perspectives on human-place relations. The course includes central concepts in environmental and sustainability education such as planetary boundaries and ecosystem services. The students practice planning, conducting and evaluating outdoor teaching.

Teaching and working methods

The course is based upon a combination of field work, with the local natural and cultural landscape as a point of departure, and lectures and literature seminars. The students are supposed to work individually as well as in groups.

Examination

The students are examined on a written assignment related to practical experiences and the course literature.

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.

The following applies to courses that include a compulsory component:

• If special circumstances prevail, and if it is possible with consideration of the nature of the compulsory component, the examiner may decide to replace the compulsory component with another equivalent component.

If the LiU coordinator for students with disabilities has granted a student the right to an adapted examination for a written examination in an examination hall, the student has the right to it. If the coordinator has instead recommended for the student an adapted examination or alternative form of examination, the examiner may grant this if the examiner assesses that it is possible, based on consideration of the course objectives.

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