People’s knowledge about nature, their interest in
nature, their nature experiences, and their values and emotions regarding
nature are factors that promote people’s positive views on environmental issues and sustainability. Knowing the variation and patterns in
teachers’ and student teachers’
views is an essential step in considering
the ways in which sustainability might be interpreted and enacted in schools
and in teacher education. The aim of this study is to analyze student teachers’ views on the importance of species and species identification in general and as a part of their
professional development regarding their understanding of biodiversity and
sustainability. A total of 426 student teachers in Finland, Norway, and Sweden answered
a questionnaire consisting of fixed and open-ended questions. Mixed methods
were used: t test and analysis of variance for quantitative data and
inductive and deductive, model-based content analysis for qualitative data.
According to the majority of student teachers (85%), both species identification and
biodiversity are important for sustainability; species identification in general
was important to 58% of them. Their statements about importance contained mostly
ecological views (46%), followed by emotional (17%), educational (16%), and
utilitarian (11%) views. The remainder of the student teachers’ statements (10%) contained negativistic or indifferent views. The
reasons for the low percentage of educational views are discussed. The
implications of the results for teacher education worldwide are emphasized,
especially the importance of those teaching methods that have the potential to
increase student teachers’
understanding of sustainability.