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Introduction "I know him. He is the freshwater shrimp. He is very important for the river … he is the cleaner.You know he loves all the dead leaves and so he keeps the river tidy." (Peter, 10 yrs, in interview 2). This quote is from one of the young students who followed a teaching sequence aimed at reading nature in a river ecosystem. The teaching sequence had a 'bottom-up' approach (Magro et al, 2001) in the sense that it started with the direct contact with an individual species, which was studied in detail. This was followed by studies of its relationships to other organisms and finally to the whole community, and how these were affected by and involved the flow of energy and the cycling of matter in the river.The ability to read nature is central in this work and needs a brief explanation. We see it as an important aspect of ecological literacy which is ideally about developing a rich knowledge base and multifaceted beliefs and/or philosophies about the environment which lead to ecological sustainability (Orr, 1992). Reading nature focuses on ecology and the context is outdoors. It has to do with an ability to recognise organisms and relate them to material cycling and energy flows in the specific habitat which is to be read. It has to do with the natural world that we face outside; the tools we have are our experiences from previous learning situations both indoors and out-of-doors. In this context it has to do with students' ability to give a relevant interpretation of the river as an ecosystem, based on recognition of common organisms and awareness of their autecology. It also has to do with understanding the relationships between functional groups and Reading nature from a 'bottom-up' perspective This paper reports on a study of ecology teaching and learning in a Swedish primary school class (age 10-11yrs). A teaching sequence was designed to help students read nature in a river ecosystem. The teaching sequence had a 'bottom up' approach, taking as its starting point a common key organism -the freshwater shrimp. From this species and its ecology, the perspective was broadened to involve studies of the interrelations between organisms and finally to the relationship between biotic and abiotic factors. A large part of the instruction took place outdoors. Students were interviewed three times during the course when they were presented with a tray full of objects (both biotic and abiotic) from the ecosystem. The students' task was to name and describe the objects and then to link them up in as many relevant ways as possible, explaining the reasons for the links. The interviews have been transcribed onto concept maps and SOLO-taxonomy was used to illustrate their developing ecological understanding. Results indicate how students related several abstract processes and correlations back to the key organism studied early in the teaching sequence.

Ola Magntorn is a lecturer in biology and geology at Kristianstad University. He has a teacher education for upper secondary school and he has worked as a teacher in both compulsory school and upper secondary school. Since 2002 he is associated to the national graduate school in science and technology education (FontD) at Linköping University. His main focus of research is on ecology education and the ability to read nature.Gustav Helldén is a professor of science education at Kristianstad University. He has long experience of teaching in schools as well as in teacher education. His main focus of research is on students understanding of ecological processes. OLA MAGNTORNKristianstad University, Sweden ola.magntorn@mna.hkr.se GUSTAV HELLDÉNKristianstad University, Sweden gustav.hellden@mna.hkr.se Abstract This article explores experienced primary teachers views on teaching for 'reading nature'. The concept 'reading nature' has to do with an ability to recognise organisms and relate them to material cycling and energy flow in the specific habitat which is to be read. It has to do with the natural world that we face outside and the tools we have are our experiences from previous learning situations both in and out-of-doors. The teachers were asked to comment on the content of a CD-ROM with teaching sequences from a primary class studying a river ecosystem. Perceptions that teachers held were found to be supportive but complex and varied regarding the possibilities and advantages of implementing this type of teaching design in the everyday classroom. The paper finishes by identifying some implications for teacher training to support fieldwork and ecological literacy in primary schools in the future.

There has been significant interest in the values and benefits of early childhood nature experiences on children’s well-being and development. One aspect of studying the exposure of children to nature that requires more focus is the role played by early childhood educators. In particular, there is a need for early childhood environmental education training for pre-service educators. This study will explore the use of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve as an outdoor classroom for early childhood environmental education pre-service professionals. Exploratory quantitative and qualitative descriptive data from a series of three short surveys (pre/post/delayed post) provide a basic overview of pre-service teacher perspectives, experiences, and outcomes of an environmental education intervention. The results indicate that the participating pre-service educators had little to no familiarity with the environmental concepts or the biosphere reserve site before participation in the intervention. The post-intervention and delayed post-intervention results show that pre-service educators perceived that their understanding of the concept had improved. The results also show a perception of the positive role that biosphere reserve sites can play in early childhood education. Three critical implications emerged from the overall quantitative and qualitative results: (1) specific support should be given for early childhood environmental education training; (2) biosphere reserve functions provide support for efforts to improve connections to nature; (3) early childhood education has the potential to support the broadening of the biosphere reserve audience.