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JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
based on this knowledge presented in classrooms. The right way
to do so maybe just the forest pedagogy education programs
based on experiential learning in the school system as well as
outside the school environment, that can be taught by foresters.
Forest pedagogy or teaching about forest and forest environment
by a forester – forest pedagogist, should not represent any
competition to classroom-based learning, but rather an
enrichment element in the education process. This approach to
education should provide an opportunity for both groups, pupils
and teachers, to learn and acquire new knowledge while forming
an understanding of the forest’s needs and the need for
environmental protection - including protection of plants,
animals, soil, water and air resources, as well as understanding
the importance of foresters’ work. L. Marusakova (2010) defines
forest pedagogy as a part of environmental education. It is
education about forest ecosystems and education of human
beings towards sustainability on the forest example. Forest
pedagogy activities are provided by certified forest pedagogists.
They utilize activating methods, forms of experiential learning
and project-based teaching methods in the education process.
This kind of education has also a significant impact on human’s
emotions. Two group of authors D. Chlposova, V. Jaloviarova
(2019) as well as Loyova, Marusakova, Jaloviarova (2018)
speak about forest pedagogy as a concept, that utilizes forest as a
unique living textbook.
In countries like Austria, Germany, or Switzerland forest
pedagogy has a longer history than in Slovakia. Therefore, these
countries served as an inspiration for the growth of forest
pedagogy in Slovakia. In 2001 around 500 foresters attended the
course in Austria, which supports the claim that in Austria they
put a great emphasis on forest pedagogy (Lasak, 2001).
Moreover, in Austria, the forest pedagogy is also covered by the
law. In the Czech Republic, first forest pedagogy courses took
place in 2002 and followed the Austrian model. The training
centre in the Czech Republic is Forestry High School in Hranice
na Morave. In 2006 the forest pedagogy course was accredited
by the Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and Sport of
the Slovak Republic. Forest pedagogy courses for foresters are
administered by National Forest Center – Institute of Forest
Advisory and Education in Zvolen (NLC- UPLV Zvolen), which
is the central institution mandated by the Ministry of Agriculture
and Regional Development of the Slovak Republic to coordinate
and direct the education program of forest pedagogy. National
Forest Center in Zvolen (se
e www. nlc.sk), which is our partner
and co-author of the above
mentioned research project has an
opportunity to raise qualified forest pedagogists thanks to its
accredited education program. D. Kollarova, the co-author of
this research paper, also participates in the education of these
pedagogists by taking part in activating methods of creative
drama as a part of National education program. Foresters
complete 80 hours of lectures on how to educate children in pre-
primary school and early primary school age in areas of natural
science. Besides psychology of development, pre-primary and
elementary pedagogy including didactic and education standards,
they are also prepared in areas of activating or experience
learning methods as well ass project-based teaching. Czech
foresters K. Bjacek and A. Sedivy (2018) understand the role
and a figure of a forest pedagogist to be a competent expert on
forest economics, who provides information about the forest,
explains its functions and ecosystems through various programs
aimed primarily to children that are focused on the
understanding of the forest sustainability principles. D. Doudova
(2018) similarly describes the job responsibilities of forest
pedagogist, who
educates a group of people by utilizing various
forms of games and activities related to forest topics and allows
them to experience an adventure in the forest environment as
well as familiarize themselves with forester’s role and duties.
Forest pedagogy is to a great extent an asset to education of
children not only thanks to the knowledge about a forest that it
offers but also thanks to the ability to raise awareness about
forest environment and the need of foresters’ profession. This
can bring a significant increase in interest in the forest
environment and an understanding of the need for forest
protection for the needs of human existence. To some extent, it
will also refute existing medialized picture of forester’s work,
which is unfortunately often misinterpreted by teachers as well
as parents.
3 Research – Teachers' opinion on Elementary realia subject
contents
The above introduced theoretical part of the issue is our basis for
theoretical starting points of the research. We defined them by
analysing and synthesizing of proffesional literature on given
subject matter. After narrowing down the research problem we
formulated the goal of our research – To find out how primary
school teachers perceive the current Elementary Realia subject
contents and what role could the forest pedagogy play in it?
There is no similar research focusing on teachers' opinions on
Elementary realia subject contents in Slovakia. Its main
advantage is that we can contribute to more precise subject
contents with an emphasis on its didactic structuring.
3.1 Research strategy
We decided to use a quantitative-qualitative research strategy in
our research. We chose the questionnaire method in the
quantitative part of the research and the semi-structured
interview for the qualitative part. Taking into consideration the
descriptive nature of the research problem, we did not form the
hypotheses. We used following research questions:
What positives and negatives do primary school teachers
attribute to structured contents of the Elementary realia
subject?
How do primary school teachers rate the Elementary realia
textbooks with an emphasis on its content?
What experience do the teachers have with the Forest
pedagogy, and whether they think it should be part of the
Elementary realia subject?
How interested are pupils in learning about the forest
environment?
In which curriculum do they see a room for teaching about
responsibility and long-term sustainability?
Within the questionnaire method, we created a research tool
questionnaire. It consisted mainly of open-ended questions, but
there were also the Likert scale data entries. In terms of the
questionnaire method, we addressed 115 respondents. It was
necessary for them to be from different regions of Slovakia and
to have at least 5 years of experience in pedagogy to ensure that
they have already taught the Elementary realia subject. 104
questionnaires were returned. After evaluating the data from
questionnaires, we created a plan of individual interviews. It was
a semi-structured interview. The questions were based on the
questionnaire answers, that we needed to compare or specify.
Therefore, we addressed the
primary school
teachers, who have
been teaching for at least 5 years and have been teaching the
Elementary realia subject for at least two years. The research
group consisted of 12 participants.
3.2 Research outcome and its interpretation
At first, we will state to which topics of the Elementary realia
subject the teachers (participants) attribute importance, and
which topics would they amend or exclude. We used the
questionnaire with open-ended questions for collecting opinions.
We received two proposals from each respondent. We evaluated
total of 108 answers. According to the occurrence of their
frequency, these were the prevailing suggestions – teachers
would suggest adding the topic Seasons for the first grade and
Animals in the forest for the second grade. On the other hand,
these topics were recommended to be excluded from the subject
contents – Light and shadows for first grade and Filtration and
evaporation of water for second grade.
Regarding the addition of topics to improve the subject contents
connected to the topic Animals in the forest, there was a frequent
request to add following topics for the first grade: About family,
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