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Das Interesse von Grundschulkindern an Naturphänomenen bietet eine große Chance, Schülerinnen und Schüler von klein auf an den naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht heranzuführen. Mithilfe der Methode des forschend-entdeckenden Lernens gelingt es zudem, den Kompetenzaufbau hinsichtlich wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnismethoden (scientific inquiry) bei den Schülerinnen und Schülern zu ermöglichen und die Freude am naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht bei den Kindern langfristig zu erhalten. Es gilt, über die Wissensebene hinaus vor allem die prozessbezogenen Kompetenzen der Kinder zu fördern. Oft werden im Unterricht der Grundschule jedoch deduktive Lernmethoden von den Lehrkräften bevorzugt. Ein Grund dafür ist eventuell der fehlenden Ausbildung der Lehrkräfte in diesem Bereich geschuldet. Lehrkräftefortbildungen zum Thema des forschend-entdeckenden Lernens könnten diesem Umstand begegnen und bereits tätige Lehrkräfte schulen.
Die vorliegende Fallstudie untersucht, wie Lehrkräftefortbildungen aufgebaut sein sollten, um die Kompetenzentwicklung teilnehmender Lehrkräfte für die Gestaltung forschend-entdeckenden Unterrichts zu verbessern. Sie ist längsschnittlich angelegt und ihr liegt eine Datentriangulation zugrunde, die auf Beobachtungen und Videoaufzeichnungen sowie den Selbsteinschätzungen der Teilnehmenden basiert. Konkret wird die Entwicklung von Planungskompetenzen forschend-entdeckender Unterrichtssequenzen einer Gruppe von Grundschullehrkräften während einer mehrtägigen Lehrkräftefortbildung zum Thema des forschend-entdeckenden Lernens am Beispiel der Erneuerbaren Energie beobachtet und mithilfe der inhaltlich-strukturierenden qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse nach Mayring (2015) beziehungsweise Kuckartz (2016) ausgewertet. Das dafür entwickelte Kategoriensystem basiert auf der Synthese eines eigenen Phasenmodells des forschend-entdeckenden Lernens für den naturwissenschaftlichen Grundschulunterricht.
The Kingdom of Bhutan’s development philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH) emphasises the need to balance sustainable economic growth with environmental conservation, promotion of cultural heritage, and good governance. In consonance, Bhutan’s Constitution entrusts every citizen with the sacred task of protecting the natural environment and preventing all forms of ecological degradation. Moreover, given the increasing global crisis of degrading the earth, climate change, resource depletion, and species extinction, the urgency of nature conservation in school education cannot be ignored. The need to articulate clearly how nature conservation education should be promoted in Bhutanese primary schools is, therefore, becoming increasingly urgent.
While some elements of nature conservation education are included in the school curriculum, not much is known about educator perceptions, school curricula, teaching and learning processes, and the role of school concerning nature conservation. Hence, this empirical study was necessary and timely to understand how nature conservation was perceived, taught and practised in Bhutanese primary schools. Social constructivism with an ethnographical research design was employed for this study. Relying on participant observation techniques for data collection, perspectives of 15 educators and 105 students of four Bhutanese primary schools were gathered. Three data collection tools, namely, a semi-structured interview, an open-ended questionnaire and field notes were used.
The study brought out a number of significant findings. Although Bhutan’s unique features, such as being heavily forested, traditional farming practices and spiritual practices, are advantageous to nature conservation education, gaps and inconsistencies were seen in the school curriculum and practices. Firstly, the educators and students who participated in the study misunderstood nature conservation as environmental conservation. Secondly, the curriculum textbooks on nature conservation generally represent Western perspectives of nature conservation rather than the Bhutanese spiritual and cultural beliefs that are primarily influenced by Buddhism. Findings also showed that children in the four primary schools had limited opportunities for direct experiences with nature during their lessons on nature. Lastly, the role of schools in nature conservation education lacks clarity.
The findings from this study have direct implications for the Ministry of Education, teacher education colleges, and other primary education stakeholders in the country. Several strategies are suggested to address the gaps identified. These include professional development programmes for teachers to enhance their knowledge about nature conservation education. The next strategy is reviewing the science and social studies curriculum to integrate the Buddhist values of interdependence and harmonious living with nature. The study also flagged the need to create rich natural environments on school campus, including using the community forests for children to play, study and develop connection with nature. Lastly, the study recommends developing reading materials for children on themes of nature.