Exkursioner i gymnasieskolan : Lärande, motivation och plats

Sammanfattning: The present licentiate thesis comprises a review of Swedish and Anglo-Saxon literature on excursions and their history, followed by a study on three one-day excursions and two neighbourhood excursions, conducted by pupils at upper secondary school. The primary purpose of the thesis was to highlight the development of excursion procedures, aiming at increasing the interest of the pupils, improving their inner motivation, but also to develop the learning process. Thus, the work also attempted to identify learning models and excursion methods, furnishing pupils with a positive attitude during excursions and field studies.Article no 1 consists of a survey of Swedish (particularly in Geographical Notices) and Anglo-Saxon literature, describing and discussing how the excursion procedures have been developed, influenced, and designed. Excursions became a practiced teaching method at the beginning of the last century. The urbanization and instigation of a public school are described as incitements for arranging excursions. British as well as Swedish teaching authorities emphasized excursions in school activities in different curricula or school documents. The present study shows that arranging excursions and other activities in the field was in the interests of the teaching authorities and a number of different society instances. Excursion methods and their extent and incorporation into the school activities have been amply discussed in the excursion literature.Qualitative interviews with 50 pupils from five upper secondary schools were conducted after excursions. Observations were carried out during four of these excursions. Article II comprises one-day excursions in geography or biology, conducted by pupils in the social and natural science programs at three upper secondary schools. The methods applied in this study were group interviews and observations during two of the excursions. Two neighbourhood excursions in geography and science, performed by two upper secondary schools, were investigated, and form the foundation for article II. The neighbourhood excursions were examined by observations, 25 individual interviews, and a smaller questionnaire. The interviews generated information about how pupils perceive, experience, and interpret the applied excursion methods. Pupils have in interviews and in their questionnaire answers reported their motivation, which ranged from non-existent to a deep inner motivation. Preparations were identified as a key factor for pupils as well as teachers.The observations yielded knowledge about the focus of pupils, their attitudes and concentration level, and also how they use digital media in the field. Furthermore, the relevance of location, along with pupils’ comprehensions and experiences, created an applicable backdrop for future excursions. Careful selection of excursion locations, where pupils are able to discern correlations, was identified as important to their capability of interpreting their observations, which they afterwards might be able to transform into knowledge, inner motivation, or even flow.