Nature-Based Education Comes to Tampere: Outdoor Learning Conference June 9–11
ULOS–UT–OUT, an outdoor learning conference focused on biodiversity and youth wellbeing, will bring teachers and nature professionals to Tampere from June 9–11 to practise nature-based teaching methods.
According to the City of Tampere, teachers, educators, researchers and nature professionals will gather in Tampere from June 9 to 11 for ULOS–UT–OUT, an outdoor learning conference focused on biodiversity, youth wellbeing and nature-based education. Organisers will use urban nature and local school campuses to give adults hands-on skills they can apply when working with children and young people.
Keynote speakers include Kirsi Pauliina Kallio on environmental education, research professor Sofia Laine, and Jarmo Kokkonen on values and ethics. Biodiversity expert Ilari E. Sääksjärvi will also speak; his talk will be followed by an improvised nature-themed performance from Stella Polaris.
The Priodiversity LIFE project is the conference’s main partner. A wide programme of side events, collected as an Urban Nature Trail and open to everyone, ranges from a guided morning at the Iidesjärvi bird tower and a Kalevankangas meadow excursion to a hands-on day in Sorsapuisto with archery and craft activities.
Local examples of outdoor learning will be highlighted, such as Terälahti school’s open-air classrooms in Teisko and the Vuohenoja trout restoration story demonstrated in Sandelininpuisto. Participants are encouraged to use the iNaturalist app to record species and contribute to citizen science.
Partners including Metsähallitus, WWF Finland, the Finnish Forest Association and local parishes will run workshops, meditative walks at Kaleva Church and adventure activities in Kaupinoja.
Deputy Mayor Anne-Mari Jussila highlighted Tampere’s natural settings and the Sammon koulu campus as unique places for exploring how nature supports concentration, wellbeing and future skills.
Catch the full story over at City of Tampere
