Spring 2019 - EDUC 857 G031

Issues and Topics in Environmental Education (5)

Class Number: 5868

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Location: TBA

  • Prerequisites:

    Consent of the instructor.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Examines the origins of environmental education, the range of program offerings, and the educational concepts which appear to underlie them.

COURSE DETAILS:

We are grateful to be learning in q_̓ʷa_n_̓ƛ̓ən_̓ _(Kwantlen) and q_̓ic_̓əy_̓ _(Katzie) territories.


COURSE DETAILS
Meeting Dates:
Jan 11/12; 25/26
Feb 8/9; 22/23
March 8/9; April 5/6

Times:
Friday Evenings: 4:45 PM - 8:30 PM
Saturdays 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM
(We will discuss class hours in more detail during the first class.)

Location:
This course will take place on Kwantlen and Katzie territories. While classes will primarily be held in the Malcolm Knapp Research Forest, (14500 Silver Valley Rd, Maple Ridge, BC V4R 2R3) we have activities planned for other locations in Maple Ridge throughout the semester (as noted in the course schedule). NOTE: This course takes place in remote areas; locations are not necessarily accessible with public transit. Please plan accordingly.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

In keeping with the practitioner-inquiry methodology around which your program is designed (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993; 1999; 2007), this course will continue to engage you in the intentional disciplined study of your own practice in conjunction with the study of nature-based and place-conscious teaching. As you continue specific practices that include, for example, visiting your micro-sites and working in critical friend groups, the course focus is on your inquiry projects and continued self-study practice. Activities will require you to critically reflect on your experiences and understandings of your inquiry projects, to collaborate with others as you examine your experiences, and to share your understandings in an ongoing way. To deepen your critical self-study with/in Place, course readings expand to include some aspects of the imagination’s role in learning. You will learn about and apply specific “cognitive tools” to your own inquiry/self-study that engage your imaginations as teacher-learners and can also be used to engage your students’ imaginations. You will be given ongoing opportunities to explore these tools of imagination and engagement in relation to your inquiry and in relation to your developing Place-based teaching practices.

EXPECTATIONS
This course is based on a democratic community of learners’ model. Our community will thrive when we feel safe to take risks, when we engage in respectful interactions, when we care, when we are all committed to growing as teacher-learners, and when we are all prepared for class activities. Participating in this course requires you to:

  • Attend and actively participate in all classes and learning activities;
  • Be prepared to participate in learning outdoors (Dress right!);
  • Be willing to play with new ways of thinking and, possibly, working through feelings of discomfort that may occur;
  • Be prepared to participate in our learning community in meaningful ways by closely reading and being ready to actively work with the articles/ideas;
  • Support the learning of others through critical friendship
  • What else? What can we all agree to do to make this course as rewarding as possible for all learners?

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

  • demonstrate a relational disposition with the natural world that incorporates the natural world as teacher, including a humility and ability to listen;
  • demonstrate a sense of nature as a place for learning, as a means for learning, as a partner in learning and as a teacher in  its own right;
  • continue to explore and embody local Indigenous ways of knowing, doing, and being;
  • practice a stance of inquiry in relation to practice and engage in recursive and cycles of action and reflection;
  • understand how cognitive tools engage the human imagination;
  • demonstrate understanding of one’s inquiry through the application of cognitive tools;
  • practice imagination- and Place-focused pedagogy in relation to course themes and individual inquiry projects and within the learning community.

Grading

NOTES:

PROPOSED ASSESSMENT PLAN
40% Ongoing Learning In Community (Creative & Collaborative Explorations/Critical Reflections/Sharing)
60% Learning Statements Paper

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Judson, G. (2018). A walking curriculum: Evoking wonder and developing a sense of place (K-12). (Vancouver: Canadian ISBN Service). 
Available on Amazon.


READINGS
*Additional articles will be added to this reading list early in the course based on your choices. We will be revisiting (re-reading/re-examining) 5 articles from previous courses with different lenses and intentions.

Required Articles:
Posts/Sections available on the blog imaginED: www.educationthatinspires.ca  

Judson, G. (2014).  The role of mental imagery in imaginative and ecological teaching. Canadian Journal of Education, 37 (4), pp. 1-17.  

Judson, G. (2015).  Re-Imagining sustainability education:  Emotional and imaginative engagement in learning.  In F. Kagawa & D. Selby (Eds.) Sustainability frontiers: Critical and transformative voices from the borderlands of sustainability education (pp. 205-220).  Farmington Hills, MI:  Barbara Budrich Publishers.  

Leggo, C. (2008) Astonishing silence: Knowing in poetry.  In A. L. Cole & J. K.  Knowles (Eds) Handbook of the arts in qualitative social science research (pp. 165-174). Thousand Oaks: Sage.  

Pinnegar, S., & Hamilton, M.L. (2009). Chapter 6: Data analysis and interpretation in S-STTEP Research. In S. Pinnegar & M.L. Hamilton, Self-study of practice as a genre of qualitative research (pp. 147-156). Springer: London.  

Richardson, L. (1994). Writing: A method of inquiry. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.) Handbook of Qualitative Research (1st Edition) (pp. 516-529). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Judson, G. (2015). Engaging imagination in ecological education:  Practical strategies for teaching. Vancouver, B.C.:  UBC Press.

NOTE: Additional recommended readings will be shared based on your interest/need.

Graduate Studies Notes:

Important dates and deadlines for graduate students are found here: http://www.sfu.ca/dean-gradstudies/current/important_dates/guidelines.html. The deadline to drop a course with a 100% refund is the end of week 2. The deadline to drop with no notation on your transcript is the end of week 3.

Registrar Notes:

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS