Teachers’ Guide

4.2. Learning biology through nature

Biology is one of the subject topics that explain natural events. However, some studies claim that the level of association between real life events in biology teaching is in fact very low. This can be surpassed by using “outdoor learning” methodologies, especially if promoted in a per to per environment. In this context, the project E-learning from nature implemented a set of e-lessons where Biology was the main focus. The objective was, starting from current school curricula, plan in cooperation with teachers and students a set of e-classes where the students, in a per to per environment, played the main role. As a result, a set of videos are available at the project portal, thus accessible to act as supporting material to “in house” classes. Some case studies, comprising a wide range of biology topics, are: “A river ecosystem: part 1 and part 2”, “A terrestrial ecosystem” and “Ecological succession: Mata do Quadraçal”. All the examples, with the exception “A river ecosystem: part 1” (filmed at “Montesinho Natural Park”), were developed at the “Romeu Rede Natura Site (PNDI)”. “A river ecosystem part 1” demonstrates the importance of the diversity of aquatic invertebrates in the protection and conservation of rivers (in these case Tuela river), whereas the “A river ecosystem – part 2” was used to demonstrate some food chains of the aquatic ecosystems. With the activity “A terrestrial ecosystem”, students had the opportunity to contact with a cork oak forest covering about 4700 ha, habitat of a diverse vegetation and countless animal species (wolfs, woodpeckers, eagles, insects butterflies, etc). In another perspective, the activity “Ecological succession: Mata do Quadraçal” was used, among others, to analyse potential impacts on ecosystems resulting from disturbance phenomena of natural or anthropogenic origin, and introduce the concepts of species extinction and conservation. Similar activities were carried out within the partnership, namely “Life on the rocky shoreline” and “life at the edge of the sea “ (Ireland), “Copou Park, Romania – Trees” (Romania) and “The diversity of animals thatlive in lake Graužys” (Lithuania), among others. The activities proposed here can be thereafter replicated in various natural contexts.

Online Resources

• Context of biology examplesA work of Gercek and Ozcan (2015) concerning the view of a biology teacher candidate about context based approaches.
• E-learning from natureThe E-Learning from Nature project is funded by the European Commission and the Italian National Agency for the Erasmus+ Programme with the aims of: (i) Promoting a proactive students’ approach to scientific subjects learning; (ii) Propose innovative teaching methodologies to scientific teachers.
• A river ecosystem – part 1A biology example extracted from the E-learning from nature portal.
• A river ecosystem – part 2A biology example extracted from the E-learning from nature portal.
• A terrestrial ecosystemA biology example extracted from the E-learning from nature portal.
• Ecological succession: Mata do QuadraçalA biology example extracted from the E-learning from nature portal.
• Life on the rocky shorelineA biology example extracted from the E-learning from nature portal.
• Life at the edge of the seaA biology example extracted from the E-learning from nature portal.
• Copou Park, Romania – TreesA biology example extracted from the E-learning from nature portal.
• The diversity of animals thatlive in lake GraužysA biology example extracted from the E-learning from nature portal.