Activities in nature in initial teacher training: an approach focusing on meanings

Abstract

The paper presented as follows is the outcome of an investigation associated with the meaning that physical education students give to the activities in contact with nature. The study clearly reveals that the school curriculum of this subsector lacks room for the development and deployment of this subject. On the other hand, it allows us see the adequacy of the curriculum model of physical education as a discipline, as this paradigmatic approach overcomes the mechanical, dualist and instrumental perspective traditionally assigned to this learning sector and focuses on the re-signification that emerges from the concepts and experiences of the individuals who go through the process of initial education. As a result, the main purpose is to comprehend how future teachers assign sense and meaning to the relationship they establish with the natural environment, since they understand the generation of an eminently complex link, which configures the human being from the viewpoint of the bio-geo-structure of the natural spaces, man/nature relationship and the very historical character of the individual. On the other hand, the landmark of this research is the interpretative paradigm and the qualitative methodology, since the core question is to comprehend the notions of meaning of physical education teacher whose education is in progress, in the perspective of the activities in the natural environment.