Outdoor Learning Activities as Facilitators in the Construction of Environmental Citizenship

Abstract

The results of an educational research project on a teaching and learning practice developed in the context of primary school teachers’ continuing education in which didactic-pedagogical practices of outdoor learning are given a main role are analysed. The research followed a qualitative approach. It was assumed that environmental literacy is based on the premise of training for critical and responsible citizenship, with the aim of developing knowledge and skill for active participation in making decisions and following behaviours, of social-environmental interest. In this context, a didactic pedagogical component on the topic of “Water” was developed and implemented. The didactic strategy followed was that of outdoor learning, with a teaching learning perspective based on the interrelationship between the sustainability of natural water resources and individual behaviour. The following categories of analysis were used: didactic transformation of curricular content; environmental literacy; science-child-environment interaction. This training course highlighted the acquisition by this group, primary school teacher’s, of skills that are fundamental to the development of a teaching and learning process that promotes environmental citizenship through the discovery of the surrounding natural environment.