Animals in environmental education research

Over the past few decades, the increase in public and scholarly attention to human-animal relations has inspired an animal turn in a number of academic disciplines including environmental education research. This paper reviews the literature on animals in environmental education with respect to its theoretical foundations in critical pedagogy, ecofeminism and posthumanism, considers empirical work on formal, nonformal and informal learning spaces and discusses the implications of an animal-focused paradigm for teaching and research. In the conclusion the author suggests some areas for further inquiries from her own research and teaching experience.     

Aesthetic experiences in the Cerrado (Brazilian savanna): contributions to environmental education practice and research

In this paper, we reflect on a study in Brazil’s Cerrado that attempts to address a lack of attention to an aesthetic dimension in environmental education practice and research. We start by tracing this lack to the overvaluing of the cognitive sphere in the educational process, noting its echo in the low aesthetic value attributed to the Cerrado biome. Then, through reflecting on an empirical, interview based study of sensations, perceptions and feelings evoked by aesthetic experiences in the Cerrado, we draw on insights from a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to identify key themes for environmental education research and practice in this regard. These include: recognising the singularity of experience; attending to the qualities of experience; acknowledging the value/s of ‘lighter’ and ‘darker’ experiences; and deepening emotions and verbal communication. In our final considerations, we discuss the limitations of the study, alongside new directions in studies of perception, experience, aesthetics and pedagogy that may also advance attention to an aesthetic dimension in environmental education practice and research.     

Considering research paradigms in environmental education

The benefits of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed research methodologies are often emphasized in undergraduate and graduate training about producing and analysing data. Less often discussed are the philosophies of research that can be used to explore environmental education. To help introduce students to the ways such paradigms lead to different insights and lines of inquiry, we offer a supplementary reading of a natural resource management program seen through the lenses of four different research philosophies. The program engages biological and social scientists as they work to increase native biodiversity in Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand and share successes with other regions. We argue that the benefits of training students to appreciate research possibilities via multiple research paradigms could improve the way we work together and collaborate with colleagues in other disciplines. Students are better equipped to select, develop, and defend appropriate research questions and paradigms. Also, the potential for environmental education research activity that complements project-specific data collection is great, as with most natural resource projects. In sum, improving our collective awareness of paradigmatic perspectives will help improve communication and understanding as we all work in the transformation of education, ecosystems and human communities.     

Changing histories: strengthening teacher agency and improving education through action research in Botswana

Music teachers in Botswana’s junior secondary schools could transform their students’ and their own experience of music education through understanding, using and establishing action research as part of their practice. Furthermore, they could significantly impact the education system, by challenging its current paradigm and ultimately shifting its focus towards more socially just values and outcomes. These changes are long overdue, long written about and anticipated, long mandated through policy and accompanied by numerous research studies observing and theorizing the absence of student-centred pedagogy. This article situates the proposed project in relation to other African research studies in education reform. The project seeks to change, improve, and eventually re-structure and reinvigorate the teachers’ personal, professional and political landscapes not only through the changes to their practice, but through coming to see the subject area, their role in its delivery and their agency in an entirely new way.     

以美育建构大学生和谐人格策略研究

建构大学生和谐人格是建设和谐社会的内在需求,是当前和今后一个时期我国高校教育长期的任务和目标。文章从和谐人格的概念、美育与和谐人格的关系入手,对美育在建构大学生和谐人格中的地位、作用和方法途径进行了深入的探讨研究,旨在引起人们对以美育人工作的重视。     

Rethinking approaches to research: the importance of considering contextually mitigating factors in promoting equitable practices in science education research

Cultural Studies of Science Education - In this paper, we explore themes that emerged while reading “How does one recognize contextual mitigating factors (CMFs) as a basis to understand and...     

Rethinking teaching with information and communication technologies (ICTs) in architectural education

This paper attempts to answer three questions: (1) What are the benefits of fully implementing ICTs for the education of professionals, such as architects? (2) What are the difficulties involved with carrying out these technological changes? and (3) How do these benefits and difficulties interact in a rapidly developing Asian nation such as Taiwan? A brief literature review reveals that ICTs are especially well fitted to the educational paradigm of constructivism and that cultural considerations must always be kept in mind when attempting to implement ICTs. Particular attention is given to the increased potential for collaborative work that crosses international and cultural boundaries, molding studies and exercises to the interests of students and teachers rather knowledge that has recently evolved, and how this maximized use will benefit architectural education. Throughout the paper special attention is given to the possibility of fully implementing ICTs for the education of professionals in Taiwan.     

(Re)constructing career education as a socially just practice: An antipodean reflection

The author contends that career education has lost its way, and needs to be (re)located within a critical social justice framework if it is to effectively prepare young people to engage with the social, political and economic discourses that inform the shaping of ‘career(s)’. Relating to the New Zealand context, differing versions of social justice are outlined, the challenges for career education explored, and the potential for change discussed.     

An exploration of future trends in environmental education research

This article describes future trends in environmental education (EE) research based on a mixed-methods study where data were collected through a content analysis of peer-reviewed articles published in EE journals between 2005 and 2010; interviews with experts engaged in EE research and sustainability-related fields; surveys with current EE researchers; and convenings with EE researchers and practitioners. We discuss four core thematic findings: (1) EE researchers are highlighting the importance of collective and community learning and action; (2) EE researchers are placing increased emphasis on the intersection of learning within the context of social–ecological communities (e.g. links between environmental quality and human well-being); (3) a pressing need exists for research conducted with urban and diverse populations; and (4) research around social media and other information technologies is of great interest, yet currently is sparse.     

Girls in education: citizenship,agency and emotions

Education has been expected to maintain status quo through regulation of citizens, but also to contribute to social change and emancipation. In a collective ethnographic project we have proposed that these contradictions manifest themselves in everyday life at school through tensions between control and agency. Girls encounter practices whereby their use of space is curtailed, their embodiment is controlled and their voice is frequently considered inappropriate. Limitations encountered by girls when striving for independent individuality and citizenship generate a range of emotions. Girls enter educational spaces with the expectation of attaining rational individuality as learners. They often bestow great expectations on schooling and long to attain the position of an abstract independent individual and a citizen capable of exercising agency. In this process they enter a ‘transpositional’ space that frequently reminds them of their gender, as Victoria Foster suggests. The analysis is based on an ethnographic study and subsequent life history interviews on transitions of girls in ethnography.     

Better judgement: Rethinking assessment in mathematics education

This article reviews three important recent collections of papers on assessment in mathematics education. It first examines the wider social framework of assessment and the influence of public assessment within the school system, both in inhibiting and promoting change. From a survey of the current state of assessment and common criticisms of it, three key trends are identified as forming a current agenda for reform in assessment: increasing the authenticity and realism of assessment tasks; increasing the interpretive quality of assessment information; and increasing the integration of processes of teaching, learning and assessment. These trends are explored in more detail, and critically appraised.     

Children in relation: Rethinking early childhood education

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC, 1986; Bredekamp, 1987) has published guidelines which define “developmentally appropriate” practice for all children birth through eight. These guidelines have now come under criticism, however, for a variety of reasons. Researchers have argued that they present a false impression of consensus (Walsh, 1991), that they are premised on a developmental theory characterized by ethnocentric bias (Bowman & Stott, 1994), and that they represent cultural values that are not universally shared (Jipson, 1991; Wiliiams, 1994; Phillips, 1994). This article holds likewise that the promulgation of guidelines based on universalist assumptions places racial, ethnic, and linguistic “minority” children and parents at a disadvantage and contributes to the very processes that early childhood educators seek to remedy. After reviewing an extensive research literature which shows children from traditionally disadvantaged groupsin relation, the article concludes that the poor scholastic performance of disproportionate numbers of children should be attributed to interactional and relational factors rather than to innate capabilities or to parental “inadequacy.” An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, August 14, 1993, Miami, FL.     

Rethinking the role of research: New issues and lingering doubts in an era of expanding preschool education

Changing ideas about the role of early education increasingly point toward universal preschool education for all children. This discussion examines issues concerning the long-term effects of preschool experiences and suggests that the value of early education will vary as a function of a matrix of factors including program quality, the vulnerability of individual children, and family needs. The achievements and limitations of evaluation research are described within the context of possible deleterious effects of preschool education. Emphasis is given to the importance of developing ideographic methods of study to achieve more valid assessments of children's response to early education.