Nordic student teachers’ views on the most effcient teaching and learning methods for species and species identification

Teachers need knowledge of species and species identification skills for teaching thestructure and function of ecosystems, and the principles of biodiversity and its role in sustainability.The aim of this study is to analyze Nordic student teachers’ views on the most ecient methodsand strategies to teach and learn species and species identification, and to find some trends abouthow well their views are reflected in a species identification test. Student teachers in Finland,Norway, and Sweden (N = 426) answered a questionnaire consisting of fixed and open-endedquestions, and a species identification test. An analysis of variance, Chi-Square, and t-test were usedfor quantitative data and an inductive content analysis for qualitative data. Results showed thatoutdoor teaching and learning methods are more ecient than indoor methods. The majority ofstudent teachers considered outdoor experiential learning with living organisms as the most ecientteaching and learning method. Student teachers who highlighted outdoor experiential learning andoutdoor project work as their most ecient methods received significantly better results in the speciesidentification test than the others. Field trips and fieldwork were emphasized as the most importantsources in schools and universities, while the Internet was the most important source among media.The student teachers underlined teachers’ expertise in the form of in-depth understanding of subjectsand supervising skills for ecient teaching both outdoors and indoors. Therefore, teaching andlearning of species and species identification as the practical part of biodiversity and sustainabilityeducation is emphasized as an integral part of teacher education programs.