Virtuella och verkliga platsers affordanser för lärande av biologisk mångfald -ett pragmatiskt, ekologiskt perspektiv på undervisning i formella och icke-formella lärsituationer

Abstract

Virtuella och verkliga platsers affordanser för lärande Ett pragmatiskt, ekologiskt perspektiv på undervisning i formella och icke-formella lärsituationer Minna Panas Institutionen för biologi och miljövetenskap Fakulteten för naturvetenskap och teknik Akademisk avhandling för filosofie doktorsexamen i naturvetenskap med inriktning mot utbildningsvetenskap, som med tillstånd från Fakulteten för naturvetenskap och teknik kommer att offentligt försvaras fredagen den 28:e november 2025 kl. 10.00 i Stenbrottet, Natrium, Institutionen för biologi och miljövetenskap, Medicinaregatan 7B. Opponent: Professor Annika Lantz-Andersson Abstract All places contain information that may offer learning opportunities. The perceptual information provided by a place varies, creating different possibilities and limitations for an individual's ability to perceive and process information. In everyday life, proximity to the surrounding, authentic nature offers sensory experiences that, through direct perception, can form the basis for developing a comprehension and appreciation of nature. Children encounter authentic nature both in everyday life and in organised learning situations—in schools and at various knowledge institutions. The studied environments also include a virtual live-streamed lesson and a public marine aquarium. Teaching in formal and informal settings is considered mutually complementary, offering different ways of representing and conveying nature. Learning is understood as situated and is related to ecological literacy, with a particular focus on children's knowledge of organisms in forest, lake, and marine environments. A pragmatic perspective shapes the work, placing experience at the centre of understanding theory. A mixed methods research design is adopted to examine the ecological literacy of children and pupils in diverse educational contexts. The first study in the dissertation investigates students’ biological literacy in rural and urban settings, comparing geographically distinct environments. The second study explores children's knowledge development in a marine context. The third study examines communication between pupils, a museum pedagogue, and a class teacher, as well as the socio-emotional climate of the livestreamed lesson, through verbal and non-verbal interactions. Key findings reveal a wide variation in students’ ecological literacy regardless of place of residence, stronger knowledge of mammals and trees among rural students, greater knowledge of animals than plants, improved taxonomic quality through intensive direct contact with marine organisms, and the importance of the teacher for students’ independent communication during live-streamed lessons. Keywords: Perception, affordances, verbal and non-verbal interactions; pupils, teachers, learning; real and virtual learning environments; West Sweden, language; common nature, museum, biodiversity, mixed methods. ISBN 978-91-8115-503-7 (PRINT) ISBN 978-91-8115-504-4 (PDF) http://hdl.handle.net/2077/89907