An Educational Philosophy of Teaching from the Hearth (Heart + Earth)

An Educational Philosophy of Teaching from the Hearth (Heart + Earth)

Overcoming the Failures of Environmental Education by Aesthetically Connecting with Nature

Kurt Love, Ph.D.Central Connecticut Sate University

Annual Meeting of the New England Philosophy of Education

October 19, 2013

Far SideJohn Larson

The Problems: Environmentally

Melting of the ice caps which provides thermoregulation for the planet

Increase in globals water levels

Mass extinction

Increased severity of storms, droughts, floods

400 ppm of CO2, where 350 ppm is ideal maximum

100 billion tons of methane (CH4)(or 333 times the mass of all humans or 270 times the current rate of emissions) trapped in the tundra/ice caps can escape if they melt -- 23 times stronger than carbon dioxide (CO2). Methane release ended an ice age 635 million years ago.

Shutting down the jet stream and ocean currents, which control oceanic nutrition cycles

The Problems: Societally

Source: The Guardian

The Problems: Societally

Source: The Guardian

The Problems: Educationally

Public schools created so that rich people could have workers.

Environmental Education has failed.

Anti-sustainable textbooks, focus on consumers rather than producers, downplaying global warming (Love, 2012)

Science creates an objectified, atomized nature that is without life.

Nature-nihilism, ego-centric, anthropocentric, humans over nature, “land management”

Traditional Science Pedagogy

Earth/nature is here for inquiry-driven instruction

Isolate variables (decontextualize an objectified nature)

Form and function

Mechanization of nature

Decontextualized lab activities

Decontextualized contexts for learning and developing skills

Results: Humans see themselves as disconnected from nature

& practice unsustainable living

Science’s Limited View of Sustainability

Traditional environmental education based on the process of objectifying nature...

Continues the relationship of separation, human-domination, and mechanization of nature

Often reduced to a behavior of closing loops or energy efficiency

Anthropocentrism of science will not call into question the anthropocentrism of capitalism

Far SideJohn Larson

A Society Separated from Nature

Modern religions (especially Christianity) colonize and dismiss earth-based spiritualities in place for a human spiritual figure meant to be taken literally, led to the removal of nature as an aesthetic context for joy, meaning, and fulfillment.

Colonization of indigenous peoples globally via capitalistic, technocentric mindsets

Industrial elitism = Egocentrism + Anthropocentrism + Capitalism (hyper-greed)(See John Dewey)

European Colonizers & American Indians

Clash of two peoples with two different religious interactions with nature & “ecological/technological selves”

Europeans often claimed that God favored the death of the “savages.” Europeans viewed nature as the source of evil.

European Colonizers: Christian, Nature for profit, land ownership, enclosure, capitalist mindset/values

American Indians: Nurturance, reciprocity, sustainable mindset/values

Genocide: From up to 18 million in 1490’s to 190,000 in 1890, up to 200 million Indians died in the Americas

Land Domination

European Colonizers & West Africans

Clash of two peoples with two different religious interactions with nature & “ecological/technological selves”

Europeans built slave castles that included a chapel, usually adjacent to the commander’s quarters.

European Colonizers: Nature for profit, land ownership, enclosure, capitalist mindset/values

West Africans: Nurturance, reciprocity, sustainable mindset/values

Slavery: About 12 million captured and/or killed, 645,000 brought to the U.S., nearly 4 million slaves in the 1860 census

Domination for profit via capitalism

Christians & Earth-Based Spiritualities

Movement out of nature and into “Human” as separate from nature

Nature is where Satan resides

Technology is Godly & righteous

Christian missionaries with indigenous peoples globally, views on nudity

Killing of at least tens of thousands of “witches” from 1400s-1600s

Continued persecution of paganism, neopaganism, and Wicca

Some Common Aesthetic Connections

Retaining of indigenous/pagan symbols in modern religions and holidays

“Getaway” vacations to places focused on the beauty of nature (Hawaii, Grand Canyon, Caribbean Islands, Vermont, etc.)

Hiking, Skiing, Boating, Flying, Mountain Climbing

Art

Equinoxes/Solstices

Autumn Fairs

Groundhog’s Day

Foodies & Farm-to-Table Restaurants

“Leaf Peepers”

Nude beaches, resorts

Resurgence of earth-based religions, neopaganism, individual spiritualities

A Pedagogy of Heart & Earth (Hearth)

Traditional hearths are where there is a fireplace, but more and more, it is a special place in one’s living space where one can display items of deep meaning and connection

Hearth is the symbolic connection representing place, emotion, and relationship.

The hearth in a home is often a semi-sacred space to display pictures of loved ones, significant art work, etc.

Hearth is also often decorative in connection with the cycle of the year.

Where heat was used to protect against winter’s harsh conditions, as well as provide a space for cooking (nourishment)

An Aesthetic Nature Leads to A Mindset of Sustainability

An Aesthetic Nature Leads to a Mindset of Sustainability

An aesthetic: A context that fulfills us, connects us to our higher selves

Sustainability: More than just the conservation of materials (“land management” mindset); a balanced, holistic engagement with interconnections of nature

An Aesthetic of Sustainability

At the Hearth: A social, cultural, ecological, creative being in the context of a social, cultural, ecological, and creative environment

Sustainable Farm School: A Pedagogy of the Hearth







Little Sprouts (3-5)

Saplings (5-7)

Explorers (7-10)

Visionaries (10-13)

Solutionaries (13-18)

After School (13-18)


Little Sprouts (3-5)

The Little Sprouts’ morning begins with farm chores and creative free play. Circle time involves music, verse, and movement. They learn to care for the natural world by exploring local plants and wildlife and working in their own garden. In this stage, the curriculum is a gentle exposure to understanding our relationships with each other and the earth with authentic, natural contexts for learning that enhance imaginations and build excitement for learning. The instructor’s goals are to provide a climate for exploration, cooperation, and creativity. This is a 2.5 hour program that meets up to 5 days/week.


Saplings (5-7)

A supportive environment for the introduction of academic concepts such as reading, writing, science, math, and art often in the context of gardening and farming when appropriate. Here, students begin to investigate patterns and functions in nature, explore introductory reading and writing skills, use mathematics as a way to understand and observe patterns and relationships, and use art as a medium for exploration of and integration with these introductory academic skills. The Saplings instructor’s goals are to provide a supportive and curious environment with some self-guided, scaffolded learning experiences that lay a strong foundation for independence and empowered interdependence and a genuine excitement for lifelong learning.


Explorers (7-10)

Students explore the relationships of their content area classes with relationships to the real world, focusing especially on empowerment. Gardening and farming experiences remain present, and act as an important intellectual and aesthetic “anchor” for the curriculum at this stage. To do so, instructors continuously provide learning experiences that involve students in connecting academic skills with real world possibilities and first-hand experiences that create a real sense of confidence with abilities to work with others. The curriculum is deeply contextualized to allow for meaningful work that has a purpose because it is seen immediately in our communities.


Visionaries (10-13)

Support students in developing their visions of communities of sustainability and wellness. As students become more comfortable with critical issues that affect sustainability and wellness within these communities (local, as well as global), they are encouraged to examine potential solutions. Develop ever-growing visions of healthy, happy communities that are working to become more and more sustainable. There is an increased focus on academic subjects within real world, first-hand learning contexts such as farms, gardens, and democratic experiences with local municipalities.


Solutionaries (13-18)

Students build their visions so that they can develop skills and strategies for solutions that are sustainable, peaceful, and democratic. Students intensify their work in academics like literature, mathematics, art, history, and science, but with a goal to use these as a base for critical examinations and experimentations with creating practices of sustainability in their own lives and working with local and global communities. They learn public speaking, debating, critical forms of analysis of social and ecological issues, volunteering, and connecting with public officials to share experiences and opinions. Instructors in this program focus on developing deep contexts for learning that are immediately connected to the real world and provide first-hand experiences.

Courses at the Hearth

Sustainable Farm Economics

Geometry of the Natural World

Activism and Writing

Trickster Myths and Other-World Fantasies

Norse Mythology

Greek Mythology

Permaculture

Herbology

Science, Nature, and Sustainability

Lifefoods Food Prep

Holistic Nutrition

Early Connecticut and American History

Civics

Permaculture

Critical Thinking and Moral Reasoning

Social Justice and Contemporary Oppression

Walking in Joy

Watercolor Painting

Art in Time


After School (13-18)

A program offered to New Britain High School Students through C C S U ’s C o m m u n i t y C e n t r a l (outreach) with a course developed in partnership with the Sustainable Farm School focusing on urban gardening, sustainability, garden-to-table cooking, and food security.

Sustainability Education at the Hearth

Need for truly transformational thinking for public schooling

Sustainability as something that we connect to holistically

Sustainability education as connected to aesthetics, social justice, and ecojustice

ReferencesLove, K. A. (2012). Politics and science textbooks: Behind the curtain of "objectivity". In H. Hickman & B. Porfilio (Eds.), The new politics of the textbook: Critical analysis in the core content areas (pp. 133-150). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense.Love, K. A., Gill, K., King, A., & Love, K. L. (2013). A framework of Waldorf philosophy and EcoJustice pedagogy at the Sustainable Farm School. In M. Mueller & D. Tippens (Eds.), EcoJustice, citizen science, and youth activism: Situated tensions for science education. New York, NY: Springer.Saylan, C., & Blumstein, D. T. (2011). The failure of environmental education (and how we can fix it). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Websiteshttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2013/oct/11/climate-change-political-media-ipcc-coveragehttp://www.uky.edu/KGS/coal/coal_mining.htm

Photos by Kimberly Gill & Kurt Love

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2013/oct/11/climate-change-political-media-ipcc-coverage




http://www.uky.edu/KGS/coal/coal_mining.htm

http://www.uky.edu/KGS/coal/coal_mining.htm