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Oral Presentation Session
Reviewed by: Council on Anthropology and Education
Of interest to: Practicing and Applied Anthropologists, Teachers of Anthropology in Community Colleges, Students, Those Involved in Mentoring Activities
Primary Theme: Science
Secondary Theme: Technology
How do dynamics of change interface with visions of science and environmental education? Discourse about change may index social and cultural changes, climatic/biotic changes, or changes in naturecultures that resist human-nonhuman binaries. In classrooms and other educative spaces, including formal and informal institutions and beyond, learners and educators alike adapt to dynamic conditions in the world “outside.” We also continuously grapple with questions of diversity, equity, and inclusion that may require new practices of teaching and learning. Social movements and political participation can become sites of learning about science and the environment. These sites of learning may challenge conventional definitions of educational experiences. Political and ideological diversity and change may also challenge us to rethink which learners are “appropriate” subjects of environmental or science education, what curriculum “counts,” and what models of research conduct are best for cultivating ethical relations. Processes of change, resilience, and adaptation are inherent to ecosystems and human-nonhuman relationships. In addition, within the disciplinary spaces of science, change appears as discovery, contest, and refinement. How might science and environmental education conceptualize, respond to, engage with, instigate, or find itself implicated in these dynamics of change?
Papers in Part Two of this two-part session, organized by CAE Committee #13 Science and Environmental Education, address issues of boundary crossing (Akkerman & Bakker, 2011) and expansiveness in the STEM domains (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). These papers point to potential obstacles to learning that may arise at the boundaries of disciplines, institutions, epistemologies, identities, and conceptual frameworks. Problematics of ideology, power, and status may threaten learning opportunities that lead to effective problem-solving, increasing agency, and just relations. However, the authors also highlight the potential for new ways forward in STEM education and learning that emerge when academic fields come together, uncommon relationships are forged, and persistent challenges are examined from a new perspective. In elementary school classrooms, higher education, and diverse community settings, the authors examine promising forms of educational practice for a changing world.
Akkerman, S. F. & Bakker, A. (2011). Boundary crossing and boundary objects. Review of Educational Research, 81(2), 132-169.
Vanessa Anthony-Stevens
Assistant Professor
University of Idaho
Carol Brandt
Associate Professor
Temple University
Christina Convertino
University of Texas at El Paso
Paulina Grino
Graduate assistant
University of Arizona
Tanner Vea
Assistant Professor
Pennsylvania State University
Tanner Vea
Assistant Professor
Pennsylvania State University
Tanner Vea
Assistant Professor
Pennsylvania State University
Joanna Weidler-Lewis
The Pennsylvania State University
Philip Bell
University of Washington