We adopt sustainability perspectives and diversity perspectives and apply them to various themes such as urban childhoods, food, kindergarten management, and the connection to nature among kindergarten teacher students.
Key research interests include subject didactics in Early Childhood Teacher Education and education for a sustainable future. We apply both quantitative and qualitative methods. We are inspired by theories of embodiment, physical and social reality, language, phenomenology, and social constructivism.
Head of research group
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Members
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Projects
Children in cities – Nature, health and movement in cities and urban areas
How can kindergarten children in cities be given sufficient possibilities for movement and nature experiences in increasingly dense urban areas?
The objective of the anthology ‘Children in cities’ is to demonstrate to students of early childhood education, kindergarten staff and educators how cities and urban spaces can be used for the thematic areas ‘Nature, the environment and technology’, ‘Body, movement, food and health’ and ‘Art, culture and creativity’. The anthology was published by Universitetsforlaget in 2021.
SciTalk – Natural Science in Everyday Conversations in Pre-service Teacher's Education
The project was concluded in February 2022. SciTalk is an Erasmus+ project (2018–2021). The project group's focus is on dialogue about natural science and natural phenomena in informal situations and everyday conversations in kindergartens and primary school.
A learning resource and methodological framework will be generated from the project. SciTalk’s target group is teacher educators and student teachers.
Partners
- Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL), Stord, represented by Sissel Margrethe Høisæter (project manager)
- OsloMet
- Philipps Universität, Marburg in Germany
- HZ (Hogeschool Zeeland) University of Applied Sciences, Vlissingen in the Netherlands
- Participants from kindergartens (Espira-parken and Bråtveit kindergartens)
The project website summarises the project results and is a methodical tool for students, teacher educators and anyone interested in science and everyday conversations in early childhood education and care.
Read more about the project SciTalk. Natural Science Talk in Teacher Educations (hvl.no).
UCOILD - Collaboration Online International Learning
UCOILD is an Erasmus + project (2021 – 2024). The overall objective of the UCOILD project is to meet the need for strong intercultural and digital competences within Early childhood and Care professions by developing an innovative didactical COIL (Collaboration Online International Learning) toolkit for lectures.
The toolkit will help lectures to realize and facilitate COIL projects in ways that are student-centred, experiential, inclusive and reflective, thereby providing the best possible virtual learning environment for supporting intercultural and digital competence.
Partners
- University College Copenhagen (UCC), leading the project
- Oslo Metropolitan University
- Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
- Mondragon University
Autumn 2022: implementation of the first COIL between University College Copenhagen and OsloMet. The academic topic is Circus – a space for sharing body culture and play. The aim is, in the frame of COIL, to develop new methods of collaboration and teaching by using digital tools – within the field of "body and movement".
Project group UCC and OsloMet:
- UCC: Eva Rose Rechnagel and Anette Bruun
- OsloMet: Kari Bratland, Heid Osnes, Anikke Hagen and Therese Engen
Outdoor teaching in the Early Childhood Education and Care programme and the students’ relatedness to nature
The Framework Plan for the Content and Tasks of Kindergartens states that Early Childhood Education must contribute to children’s nature experiences, and sense of nature relatedness. Sustainable development forms part of the kindergarten's values (Ministry of Education and Research, 2017).
To carry out this social mission, it is essential that early childhood education and care staff have sufficient knowledge of and are aware of their own attitudes towards nature. One of the questions we ask in the project is: ‘How can the teaching programme make pre-service teachers aware of their relatedness to nature?’
The idea for the project was developed in collaboration with the Forest School at John Moores University in Liverpool, England.
