The Future of Education

This literary-visual métissage [1] weaves together stories, scholarship and photographs. What can be unearthed—science education, embodied knowledge, environmental ethics—when we walk [2] on the land? Embodied and sensorial engagement [3] fosters relational and enlivening educational experiences. Whether preschool or post-doc, direct sense experience offers not only active and experiential pedagogy, but also a spiritual attunement with the natural world [4]. Now, amid the climate crisis and screen fatigue pandemic [5], such Earth resonance is of utmost import. Let us walk through a snowy forest, ponder what counsel our shoeless feet (and David Abram) afford us, and envision the learning environment as an emergent and adaptable opportunity for connection and wonder.

Keywords: Science education; embodied learning; place-based learning; David Abram; literary métissage.

References:

1. Hasebe-Ludt, E., & Leggo, C. (Eds.) (2018). Canadian curriculum studies: A métissage of inspiration/imagination/interconnection. Canadian Scholars.
2. Goertz, K. (2018). Walking as pedagogy. In C. Hall, Y. Ram, & N. Shoval (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of walking (pp. 55-64). Taylor & Francis.
   https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315638461
3. Snowber, C. (2018). Embodied inquiry: Writing, living and being through the body. Springer.
4. Abram, D. (2011). Becoming animal: An earthly cosmology. Vintage.
5. Helander, M., Cushman, S., & Monnat, S. (2020, May 26). A public health side effect of the coronavirus pandemic: Screen time-related eye strain and eye fatigue. Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion.
   https://lernercenter.syr.edu/2020/05/26/ib-24