Science education is considered important due to an increasing complexity of society including environment, health and economy (European Commission, Csermely, et al., 2007). However, the proportion of science and technology students in most OECD economies has decreased since the mid 1990s (OECD, 2006). The emerging question is how interest in science can be awakened and maintained (Krapp & Prenzel, 2011).

Interest that occurs in teaching situations caught by an external stimulus (i.e. situational interest), may lead to a more sustained interest (i.e. individual interest) relevant to a subject curriculum (see e.g. Hidi & Renninger, 2006). Moreover, situational interest is of particular educational relevance since teachers have the possibility to affect the stimulation (Mitchell, 1993).

Within formel education, Outdoor School is a approach in Scandinavian primary schools where theoretical teaching is concretised through compulsory and regular educational activities in e.g. informal urban learning environments (Bentsen, et al., 2009). Arguably, choosing alternative places for teaching is essential to this approach (cf. Jordet, 2008). Regarding interest, stimulation of situational interest may be influenced by learning environments (Hidi & Renninger, 2006). Hence, science education may benefit from place-based Outdoor School, using places for teaching to stimulate interest during teaching. In this respect, place is referred to as meaning, socially constructed of situational interaction as well in a larger scale than the place itself (Massey, 1991).

Few studies have dealt with situational interest during science teaching. For instance, Dohn (2011) have studied situational interest of high school students during a field trip to an aquarium and Palmer (2009) has studied situational interest during science inquiry skills in a classroom. Even though the educational context has been studied, my review of the literature shows that place as a source of stimulation most likely has not been subject to research on stimulation of situational interest. Exploration of the potentials of urban places for teaching outside schools relative to stimulation of situational interest during science teaching is therefore much needed.

Adressing these needs for research on situational interest the objective of the study is to explore pupils’ place-based situational interest during Outdoor School science teaching. Thus, the study is based on the following research question:

• What are the educational opportunities of places for teaching in order to stimulate pupils’ situational interest during science teaching in informal urban learning environments?

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