This study focuses on the role of play and imagination in the fostering of ecological literacy in education. The aim is to explore how playful learning activities in ecological fieldwork in adult education could support ecological literacy and what aspects of ecological literacy might be afforded. Theoretically, the study draws on the work of Donna Haraway, employing her concept of becoming-with, and symstories. The research questions are: (I) What characterises the forest encounters emerging in playful pedagogical activities during fieldwork? (II) What stories of encounters unfold in the participants’ conversations about the playful pedagogical activities afterwards? The study is based on ethnographic fieldwork in a folk high school course on nature connectedness. Twenty students participated in the course which ran part-time over a full year with activities one weekend a month. The data consist of video- and audio recordings during an overnight field trip. During the field trip, various play and awareness activities were intertwined with reflections and practical tasks. The play activities were both physically and emotionally challenging. The results reveal how the inhabitants of the forest become partners with the course participants and the teachers in fieldwork. The play activities included aspect of vulnerability and afforded possibilities for the participants to imagine new worlds.

This thesis is about fieldwork in ecology education. We live in a troubled era of ecological breakdown and as we witness the effects of the climate crises and the loss of biodiversity, questions of education are brought to the fore. The aim of the thesis is to empirically and theoretically investigate what ecological fieldwork does and what significance ecological fieldwork can have for ecological literacy. Research on ecological literacy includes ecological and socio-political knowledge, awareness of environmental issues, environmentally responsible behaviours, cognitive skills (scientific inquiry and analysis), and affect. Occasionally, critical aspects and holistic and spiritual components are included. Research on fieldwork ecology education highlights the importance of place, opportunities for slow explorations, emotional experiences, the inevitably unpredictable nature of the field, and aesthetic dimensions. New materialist and posthumanist perspectives have had a major impact in research on children’s encounters with other species. I extend these perspectives to older learners and highlight the role of materiality in fieldwork as central to the growth of ecological literacy. The dissertation contributes to the conceptualisation and understanding of ecological literacy and the scope of ecological literacy is broadened to include material relational aspects. The theoretical framework is non-anthropocentric, relational and process oriented. Theoretical positions and analytical concepts of mainly Donna Haraway and Bruno Latour are employed for understanding encounters with other organisms and materiality in ecological fieldwork. The overarching research questions are: How do students establish relationships with other species and non-living things in ecological fieldwork? How are relationships significant for ecological literacy in education?The study is ethnographically inspired and based on researcher participation in two educational fieldwork settings in Sweden. The first study is of an upper secondary school nature guide course. Two teachers and a student group overnight in a nature reserve to experience black grouse lekking and the ecology of a bog. The second is of a folk high school course focusing on sustainability and nature connectedness. This one-year part-time course had outdoor gatherings arranged around different themes one weekend a month. The empirical material consists of video and audio recordings from both locations with a focus on nonhuman–human encounters and relationships. The results show that fieldwork provides opportunities for students to encounter nonhumans in a way that is not possible in a classroom. The practicality of the fieldwork foregrounds the actual nonhuman–human encounters, and the notion of ecological literacy is reformulated and expanded to include a practice of becoming-with grounded in relational materialism. The results can be used to further explore how fieldwork education practices can be developed to acknowledge nonhuman–human relational aspects and to incorporate emotions along the whole register. Contemplative practices and serious playfulness may work as educational means and contribute to emotional fieldwork events. Education must offer spaces for learners to explore and tell new stories of becoming-with, about living in a shared complex world in which grief, loss and suffering are entangled with joy and wonder.

Fieldwork in ecology education does things. By employing Donna Haraway’s concept becoming-with companion species and Cathrine Hasse’s emotional collectives to explore fieldwork practice on a bog in Sweden, a piece of the doings will be told. The aim of this study is to explore how ecology fieldwork affords emotional engagement and facilitates growth of ecological literacy in the emotional collectives of students, teachers and nonhumans to become-with each other. The study is based on an overnight field trip with upper-secondary students experiencing black grouse lekking and the ecology of a bog. The empirical material consists of video and audio recordings. In the study, becoming-with is operationalised through the notion of emotional collectives. The result shows three orientations of becoming-with: mimetic, anthropomorphic and fact oriented. Overall, this is a story of fieldwork as a practice of producing companion species; how becoming-with companion species works in practice, how companion species come to matter as emergent ecological literacy.

This study is about the use of contemplative practices in forest fieldwork and how such practices could support the growth of ecological literacy. Ecological literacy is explored by employing Donna Haraway’s notions of becoming-with and companion species. The study is based on fieldwork with a group of adult learners attending a folk high school in Sweden. The participants are followed as they encounter and are becoming-with species of the forest. The empirical material consists of video- and audio-recordings. The results provide a narrative of forest encounters, environmental concerns and dreams about the simple harmonic life. The forest fieldwork thus provides a site for elaborating a more inclusive ethics and teaching strategies where nonhuman-human relational aspects become center to ecological literacy. The results suggest that folk high school environmental education could be used as a source of inspiration in disrupting the practices of compulsory science education.

This study explores how fieldwork can contribute to the development of ecological literacy and draws on actor-network theory and science studies which imply an understanding of agency as being distributed. The aim is to explore the consequences of the human-nonhuman encounters in fieldwork practice for the growth of ecological literacy. The explorations employ Bruno Latour’s concept of “the terrestrial attractor” and its potential contributions to environmental education. The study is based on a field trip to experience black grouse lekking in Östergötland, Sweden. The empirical material consists of video- and audio-recordings. The results show two dimensions of encounters: (1) ways of initiating encounters, and (2) the human-learner actant configurations involved. The dimensions of encounters afford contributions to ecological literacy. 

The aim of this study is to explore the role of reflective practices in ecology fieldwork for supporting learners’ senses of care and compassion with companion species. The study draws on the works of Donna Haraway regarding (human) becoming with companion species. The study is an ethnography based on participant observation during fieldwork in a folk-high-school course in Sweden. The analysis focusses how the adult learners are becoming with companion species and draw on the notion of string figures. The preliminary results show three string figures of how the adult learners are becoming with companion species in the reflective practices: A string figure of contemplation with companion species, A factual string figure of ecology, questions and concerns, and A string figure of dreams about the simple harmonic life. The results indicate that reflective practices in ecology fieldwork might contribute to mitigating (self)destructive relations to the Earth through science education.

Bakgrund Ett fältarbete i ekologi karaktäriseras av platsen och de möten som uppstår i ett ständigt pågående och transformerande flöde. Fältarbete i ekologiundervisningen erbjuder elever unika möjligheter att etablera relationer till icke-människor, så som djur, växter och icke-levande ting. Carlone et al. (2016) har visat att fältarbete kan bidra till andra undervisningskvaliteter än de rationella och abstrakta. Tidigare forskning har visat hur lek kan möjliggöra att elever utforskar naturvetenskap och naturvetenskapen normer och värderingar (cf. Andrée & Lager-Nykvist, 2012). I den här studien fokuseras betydelsen av lekfulla aktiviteter i ekologiskt fältarbete för elevernas lärande i ekologi. Forskningens teoretiska inramning utgörs av Haraways (2008) arbete med becoming with(samskapande) och string figures (2016). Haraway skriver “String figures are like stories; they propose and enact patterns for participants to inhabit”(p. 10) och ”it matters what stories we tell to tell others stories with […] It matters what stories make worlds, what worlds make stories” (p. 12). I detta sammanhang översätter vi string figures som berättelser och i fältarbetet fokuserar vi de berättelser som uppstår i samskapandet med djur, växter och icke-levande ting genom lek, fantasi, kreativitet och naturvetenskap i ekologiskt fältarbete. 

Syfte och frågeställningarSyftet med studien är att undersöka hur lekaktiviteter i ekologiskt fältarbete bidrar till samskapande mellan människor, djur, växter och icke-levande ting och därmed till elevernas naturvetenskapliga lärande.

- Vilka berättelser om elever, naturvetenskap, djur, växter och icke-levande ting uppstår vid lekfulla aktiviteter i ekologiskt fältarbete?

- Vilka möjligheter till ekologiskt lärande erbjuder de berättelser som växer fram genom lek i ekologiskt fältarbete?

MetodStudien är baserad på etnografiskt deltagande observation på en folkhögskolekurs. Kursen är en deltidskurs med hemuppgifter, fältaktiviteter under ett veckoslut i månaden under ett helt år, samt en sommarvecka. Kursdeltagarna hade varierande yrkesbakgrund (ex. lärare, naturguider, förskollärare). Syftet med fältaktiviteterna var naturkontakt. Datainsamlingen består av film- och ljudinspelningar från fältaktiviteter och övernattningen i januari. Inspelningarna transkriberades ordagrant. I transkriptet noterades gester och interaktioner. Analysen fokuserar på de berättelser (string figures) som uppstår i mötet mellan djur, växter, studenter, lärare och icke-levande ting.Resultat I resultaten beskriver vi berättelser som växer fram under två olika aktiviteter. Den ena aktiviteten är en följa-John lek och den andra är en övning i medveten närvaro.Syftet med följa-John leken var att öva och uppleva naturkontakt. Leken varade länge och sträckte sig över ett stort område i skogen. Gruppen med studenter klättrade, sprang, smög, ålade, balanserade, undersökte bäver-fällda träd osv. Genom följa-John-leken flätades människor, träd, berg, stenar, sjön, lavar, is, bävergnag samman i en berättelse om att upptäcka varandra och omgivningarna. I den andra aktiviteten instruerades deltagarna av läraren om att individuellt söka upp en plats i närområdet. Väl på plats skulle deltagarna fokusera blicken på något. Efter en stund höjs blicken för att ta in hela omgivningen. Direkt efter övningen samlades deltagarna för en gemensam reflektion. Det blev en berättelse om möten med stenar, mossor, fåglar, en mus, rådjursspår och estetiska upplevelser.I berättelserna blir lärande i ekologi synligt.