Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Investigates theories and issues associated with developing educational programs and practices in various educational contexts. Addresses the development of new programs and their implementation in schools and other educational settings.

COURSE DETAILS:

COURSE RATIONALE

This course will be of interest to educators interested in environmental or ecological education as it applies to both school-based and informal or alternative learning environments. The course engages in a multi-disciplinary approach to ecological education, and the implications for curriculum theory, pedagogical practice and program development. It explores these from the perspective of multiple epistemological orientations including western worldviews and Indigenous knowledge systems. This course is appropriate for educators of all subjects and grade levels and for informal educators of various persuasions.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

In this course we explore diverse epistemological and cultural foundations of knowledge; distinct worldviews or perspectives on ways of knowing, being and doing; different orientations to eco-philosophy; numerous models of environmental programming; and a variety of environmental teaching and learning practices as well as the various implications for ecological education.

This course explores the reciprocal relationship between the biosphere and the ethno-sphere or the role of bio/cultural diversity and our respectful understanding of place-based learning or the pedagogy of place. It explores the indigenous practice of honouring both the environmental ecology and the spiritual or cultural ecology of a place and its people within Indigenous pedagogy. Within the framework of the course, we engage in the various discourses and perspectives on the future sustainability of the earth’s bio/cultural diversity.

This course explores environmental ecology and spiritual ecology as a reciprocally related deep ecology and inquiries into its implications for ecological education. It asks: How do we educate to meet the current global environmental crisis as well as the future sustainability of the earth’s bio/cultural diversity? What kind of knowledge systems are to be found in our various ethno-sciences and how can they combine and complement each other in an integrated approach to today environmental issues? In other words what role do the Indigenous worldviews and Indigenous knowledges play in environmental education? What are the various pathways or ways of knowing, being, and doing that nurture capacities for understanding diverse and complex ecologies? How can ecological knowledge support the cultivation of ecologies for life-long learning? How can our understanding of deep ecology inform our approaches to the diverse ecologies of our classrooms? And how does ecological knowledge impact the curriculums we envision, the creative pedagogies we enact, and the inventive practices we employ in environmental education?

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

GOALS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course readings and activities are organized with attention to the following learning objectives:

• Analyze one’s own worldview, value system, cultural orientation to environment ecology
• Think critically about how historical and cultural perspectives on knowledge impact the conceptions of curriculum and ultimately influence orientations to environmental education
• Explore Indigenous Knowledges and the acknowledgement of the role of environmental, and spiritual ecologies in Indigenous ecological education.
• Gain proficiency with key concepts and perspectives on issues in the field of environmental education
• Examine competing orientations to curriculum, educational models, conceptual frameworks, and educational materials
• Consider emerging visions of ecological education as transformative education
• Explore integrated and holistic practices in ecological learning
• Develop the thinking, writing, and speaking skills with which to cogently articulate and communicate the complexity of ecological education
• Study a variety of teaching and learning models/strategies for environmental education that integrate embodied sensory awareness, participatory pedagogy, contemplative approaches, holistic learning, arts-based research methodologies, as well as multiple literacies and modes of representation.
• Engage in an arts-based narrative inquiry into one’s own lived curriculum of environmental education

PROTOCOLS AND PRINCIPLES FOR COURSE PROCESSES:

• Reverence for Life, Land, Law – Wonder
• Respect for the Diversity of Worldviews and Knowledge Systems -- Humility
• Reciprocal Recognition—Responsibility to All Our Relations
• Ethical Relationality— Honouring Kinship Relations

Grading

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

Life Writing journal and/or sketchbook and Art Supplies for your individual Making & Place-based Practices.

FULL COURSE OUTLINE AND SYLABUS to be distributed at first session.

Off Campus Classes

***Please note that certain classes (or portions of classes) will be held off campus, primarily in order to learn within and through the natural environment, and will involve travelling to a different location. The level of risk associated with these activities will be similar to those encountered in our everyday lives, including the potential for uneven surfaces, sunburn, dehydration, bug bites, and animal encounters. Locations, expectations, start and end times for such outings will be discussed in advance, as will appropriate precautions and preparations. Please come dressed for the weather, as we will be spending some classes outside rain or shine. The instructor welcomes conversations regarding any questions or concerns in this regard.

 

REQUIRED READING:

RECOMMENDED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: