Teaching Science Outdoors : Supporting Pre-Service Teachers’ Skill Development with the Help of Available Mobile Applications

Abstract

Outdoor environments provide excellent teaching and learning experiences in science education. However, many teachers find outdoor teaching challenging. In this study, we investigated factors supporting skill development and learning among pre-service teacher during a blended science didactics course that includes mobile interaction in outdoor environments. Available WhatsApp mobile application was used as an interaction platform between the pre-service teachers’ and the teacher educator. Based on the findings, the pre-service teachers learned easy ways of using outdoor environments with pupils. They also identified challenges that may arise in outdoor teaching and upskilled on how to overcome them. From the perspective of interaction, submitting learning tasks, especially visual observations, through mobile messaging and reviewing tasks of other students in the application were perceived as important. However, the most crucial benefit of mobile interaction was considered to be the teacher’s real-time feedback.