The primary purpose of this study is to use, based on a reading/interpretation of a couple of texts by two philosophers, their theoretical framework to discuss what a new understanding of the importance of the environment and the subject matter/material can offer to the educational work of an after-school center and in school. The central question for my study is the following. What is the meaning of the material/matter and the environment for learning in the theoretical concepts of Karen Barad and Maurice Merleau-Ponty as they appear in a reading and interpretation of selected texts?

• What relevance does the material/matter and environment have, in an interpretation of these thinkers, for the relationships that are created?
• What meaning does the body and our minds have, in an interpretation of Merleau-Ponty, for our experience of environment and location?
• How can you highlight and discuss aspects of learning based on the two theorists?

The foundation for the study is short texts written by Karen Barad and Maurice Merleau-Ponty as well as secondary literature and two texts that deal with learning and environmental design. The study is a text study and includes an interpreted selection of the conceptual worlds of the two theorists and a comparison between the two as well as an application of Barads and Merleau-Ponty's concepts and theories to two texts in Swedish pedagogical research.

My interpretation of the conceptual worlds of the two philosophers shows that, in their perspective, the environment and matter/materials have a major impact on pupils, teachers and pedagogues. Merleau-Ponty emphasizes the body as that that human is in the world and experiences with. What the body experiences in relation to material and environment is important, therefore, for what and how the world takes shape. Karen Barad emphasizes that human and matter/material are a dependent entity. Human, and matter are intertwined, and this relationship is primary for how then the world takes shape.