Fieldwork in Biology education offers contingent and unique experiencesin establishing relations with nature which may not be as easily achievable in the classroom. However, research has shown that there are a number of barriers to ecological fieldwork for teachers to overcome including for example school culture and confidence in teaching outside the classroom. The overall aim of the study is to explore the importance of fieldwork for the development of ecological literacy in students. The study explores the practical and emotional management of field work practice by drawing on actor-network-theory and posthumanist science studies. From the theoretical framework of actor-network-theory and posthumanist science studies, human actors are seen as entangled with nonhumans. Humans and nonhumans have their own agency and are constantly doing things, forming relations and alliances in the world. The main research questions are: How do relations between humans (teachers and students) and non-humans emerge during field work? In what way do these relations contribute to development of ecological literacy in students? What is the importance of closeness with non-humans for the development of ecological literacy in students?

The study is based on data from ethnographic participant observation of ecological fieldwork in upper secondary school. The fieldwork analysed includes an over-night fieldtrip where a group of students and teachers went to experience black grouse lekking in a nature reserve. The data consists of film- and audio-recordings during the fieldtrip; from afternoon to early morning.

The preliminary analysis shows examples of how relations emerge between different actants. Particularly important actants are the black grouses, sphagnum, labrador tea, a small lizard, students, teachers, golden plover, common snipe and binoculars. The teachers, and the students help each other in establishing relations to the different actants, relative to the actants’ actions. Example of events where relations are established include handling of binocularsto capture the agency of different birds, unexpected vocalization of birds not yet seen, smelling the labrador tea, imitating and acting like birds and performing care towards nonhumans. The importance of the establishing of these relations are discussed in light of the aim to develop ecological literacy in students. To establish relations to, for example sphagnum, in the classroom through a text, a picture, a lecture, or even a piece of the moss is different than experiencing it in its place. The feeling of sphagnums’ full agency would be lost indoors.