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Courses for Teachers to Promote the Learning Process in Nature

At the end of July, JSC “Latvia's State Forests” (LVM) held a 36-hour continuing education course for teachers about sustainable forest education; teachers from all over Latvia gathered for this course already for the 17th time. Over the course of three days, almost 40 teachers not only shared their previous experience with each other, but also drew inspiration from Norwegian guest lecturers for a creative and exploratory learning process in nature. 

The course program was supported by Norpldus project "Schools Growing together with Forests" and included various forest education workshops. During outdoor and indoor workshops 2 forest experts from Norwegian Forestry Extention institute (Skogkurs.no) and 2 nature education experts from Hamar Nature school together with more than 5 Latvian forest specialists and nearly 40 teachers were searching for the answer to following question - what is sustainable forest education?

Although LVM Kalsnava Arboretum is usually a place to get to know local and foreign tree species, this time the course participants, together with arboretum specialists, learnt how to obtain such useful products as coal or tar in an exploratory way by performing pyrolysis experiments together with the students. Those present could also try out the role of an arborist, both by trying on the special equipment and climbing a tree with its help, thus understanding the complexity of the profession and its importance in maintaining the health of trees.

Continuing their acquaintance with forest science, the teachers went to the LVM Kalsnava Nursery, which deals with seed collection, growing seedlings, as well as maintaining the forest tree seed bank. Several participants admitted that the birch seed extraction plantation was the biggest surprise of the day, because, unlike pine and spruce plantations, birch seed extraction requires greenhouses to prevent uncontrolled spread of seeds and to facilitate the process of collecting seeds.

Sustainability as the basis of everything

The teachers both worked practically, as well as thought critically. Together with forest industry expert Kristaps Klauss, the teachers dispelled various misconceptions related to the industry, got to know the importance of forests in the landscape and economy of Latvia, and also tried to find an answer to the question of what the education on sustainability issues in Latvia should be like.

Kārlis Greitāns, Researcher at the Inter-disciplinary Education Innovation Centre of the University of Latvia, presented trends and topicalities in the natural science teaching process. After the discussion, the teachers took on the role of students and performed various scientific experiments, thus increasing their knowledge on forest topics in natural science subjects. The experiments were led by Inese Filipova (Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry), Vilnis Jakovlevs (Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Institute), as well as Kārlis Dzelzītis (Latvian University of Biosciences and Technologies).

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Continuing education courses for teachers in 2023

Sustainability education cannot be implemented without sustainable forest management experience. To learn more about the work of foresters, the teachers together with Madona District Senior Forester Vilnis Otvars headed to the forest, getting to know both the specifics of the work and assessing the importance of forest management in person. The teachers also visited LVM Podiņi Nursery, where they got acquainted with the company's seedling production process from a seed to a seedling, which is then additionally processed to protect it from damage by pests and hooves.

Encouragement to continue what has been started

Guest lecturers from the Norwegian Forest Institute, as well as the Hamar Nature School, were engaged to further education courses to get to know the international experience of forest education within the framework of the Nordplus project. By participating in six workstations, the teachers learnt how to connect various science tasks with critical thinking, as well as with other subjects.

Teachers share their impressions and insights:

• “In my opinion, school should talk less about resources that we do not have such as oil or coal but talk more about the forest and its possibilities.”
• “I realized that the forest is the basic resource of our country and I will try to talk more about it in our chemistry classes, reducing the time we spend discussing oil, coal and ore extraction. I think that I will implement all the experiments in which we participated in either in the environmental group or in the lessons.”
• “The main insight is that what I use in my teaching practice is also used elsewhere. It turns out that there are also other colleagues who believe that outdoor learning is very important. I have gained the confidence to continue my methodology in the learning process about the forest and other ecosystems.”

JSC “Latvia's State Forests” offers both 12- and 36-hour continuing education courses for teachers who choose to integrate forest topics into the learning process. The professional development courses have been coordinated with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Latvia and are developed in cooperation with the Interdisciplinary Centre for Educational Innovation of the University of Latvia and the Continuing Education Centre of the Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Institute.