The standard approach to teacher education has often involved teacher-centred instructional approaches in the attempt to transmit packaged information. This is even more evident in the use of digital teaching-learning transmission for instructional purposes.

Ecological macromodels involve a student centred approach to transformative learning. The presentation will explain several different macro models that I use in my classes. For example, in learning the concept of biodiversity, preservice students (who have university degrees) move through a forest area as if they are either poteroos, eucalyptus trees, truffles and bacteria in Australia. They have to find each other and create a foursome of the different species while evading humans. Disease and fire also try to catch humans, and the other organisms. To be successful, foursomes must be together by the end of the activity. Ambiguity is another key concept that characterizes these macro models as there is no interpreter i.e. teacher, telling the learner where to go, what strategies they should utilize and what they should learn. They have to problem-solve as a team.

The range of ecological macro models and concepts that I utilize includes for example, photosynthesis, globalization, the hydrogen fuel cell, the philosophy of nature-based poetry, nature-based health, post-growth economy and many more (I have created over 50 ecological macro models and use between 10 and 12 for BEd and MEd courses, usually one per class). These are all conducted outside through all seasons. The presentation could also include a conversation about the principles involved in constructing ecological macro models.

Ecological macro models provide emergent opportunities for the learner to make meaning for themselves from their own experiences, thus developing a sense of agency. A debriefing session afterwards allows for a discussion and clarification of the experience. The affective component of teaching and learning is also prominent in these experiences as the participants have fun through a sense of adventure, uncertainty, surprise all whilst moving in natural surroundings. I have found that students' memory is enhanced from this embodied approach because they have a mental image of the macro model interactions they personally experienced. These macro models are scalable, allowing the instructor to either increase the complexity of the topic or decrease it by making adaptations to the models depending upon the capabilities of the learners. At the school level, programs can even develop growth schemes to move learners from grade level to grade level for the same concepts but at a deeper level of sophistication as students progress from one level to the next.

The student-teachers in training appreciate the authentic, outdoor, nature-based experiences in contrast with digital dependency and digital pollution.

Keywords: Preservice, education, ecological macromodels, transformative.