Ecojustice, Citizen Science and Youth Activism Situated Tensions for Science Education Environmental Discourses in Science Education

Environmental Discourses in Science Education Michael P. Mueller Deborah J. Tippins Editors EcoJustice, Citizen Science and Youth Activism Situated Tensions for Science Education Environmental Discourses in Science Education Volume 1 Series Editors Michael P. Mueller, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, Alaska, USA Deborah J. Tippins, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA Editorial Board Caren Cooper, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA Mariona Espinet Blanch, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain David A. Greenwood, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada Maria Rivera Maulucci, Barnard College, New York, NY, USA Elizabeth McKinley, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia Clayton Pierce, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA Giuliano Reis, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada Arthur J. Stewart, ORAU, Oak Ridge, TN, USA More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11800 Michael P. Mueller • Deborah J. Tippins Editors EcoJustice, Citizen Science and Youth Activism Situated Tensions for Science Education Editors Michael P. Mueller Deborah J. Tippins College of Education Mathematics and Science Education University of Alaska Anchorage University of Georgia Anchorage , AK , USA Athens , GA , USA ISSN 2352-7307 ISSN 2352-7315 (electronic) ISBN 978-3-319-11607-5 ISBN 978-3-319-11608-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-11608-2 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London Library of Congress Control Number: 2014957129 © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 This work is subject to copyright. 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Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Endorsem ents Mueller and Tippins have edited a timely book and the fi rst one of the new Springer Book Series Environmental Discourses in Science Education addressing the urgent need to bridge environmental education and science education. This collection pulls together a diversity of refl ections and experiences in a brilliant attempt to establish synchrony between ecojustice philosophy, youth activism, and citizen science: three areas that have become an important locus for critical science education at present. I believe this book can strongly contribute to the never ending debate on scientifi c literacy by providing new views and experiences highlighting alternative ways of doing science education. Mariona Espinet, Science and Mathematics Education Department, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain The authors of this book are all pioneers in meaningful educational transformation. The stories they tell, and the forms these stories take, are incredibly diverse and inspiring—ranging from the pedagogies of farming in Appalachia and New England, to the politics of systems thinking in Texas just north of the Mexican border, to cli- mate change pedagogies in Native communities. As the authors point out, each of these local stories of change has global signifi cance. What holds it all together is an ethic of ecojustice. Here the authors skillfully demonstrate the necessity and power of bridging social and ecological vision in a wide variety of educational contexts in need of change. David A. Greenwood, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada Ecojustice, Citizen, and Youth Activism: Situated Tensions for Science Education , the fi rst book in the series Environmental Discourses in Science Education , speaks to all types of educators—teachers, students, parents, and citizens. It is a call for the restoration of curiosity, diversity, and value systems that embrace person, social, and civic responsibility for the Earth, including both human and non-human species. This collection of inspirational essays, personal narratives, and empirical research provides rich examples of how interdisciplinary and intergenerational groups engage simultaneously in meaningful learning and advocacy through projects that v vi Endorsements are situated in a range of cultures and contexts. This book undoubtedly will inspire and inform conversations about a future for science education that awakens our individual and collective critical understanding of and engagement in local, national, and global ecojustice issues. Lynn A. Bryan, Professor of Science Education, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA At last, science educators are breaking down the rigid walls of their discipline and embracing the world at large, developing socially responsible science curricula and pedagogies for the twenty-fi rst century. Driven by a moral commitment to sustain- ing the cultural and environmental heritage of the planet, eco-conscious science educators worldwide are empowering young people to become environmental activ- ists and stewards. The visionary contributors to this timely book present a broad range of ecojustice inspired science programs for schools, universities, and local communities. This book is a rich resource for science educators preparing future citizens with higher-level abilities for participating in the global agenda of sustain- able development. Peter Charles Taylor, Professor of STEAM Education, Murdoch University, Australia Pref ace Introducing the Book Series Welcome to the fi rst book for the Springer book series, Environmental Discourses in Science Education! We (Mike Mueller and Deborah Tippins) are excited about the conversations that will continue to draw together the fi elds of environmental education and science education. While many people already acknowledge the rela- tionship between these two fi elds, these fi elds have continued to fl ourish largely independent of one another. Perhaps there was a hubris in the fi eld of science education by positivistic scholars during the twentieth century and before modern times, but this arrogance has given way to the importance of environmental education as integral to the future of children everywhere. Perhaps environmental education was largely seen as a way of engaging children outside of schools when school science tended to emphasize classrooms. But this has given way to the ecological and environmental sciences as an important part of the curriculum of schools around the world, not to mention some related fi elds of experiential education, adventure education, and outdoor or place-based education involving learning outside of the typi- cal classroom. Perhaps environmental education has focused more attention on the life span of children through adult life and peoples’ relationships with nature, whereas science education has emphasized teaching children about the “scientifi c method”, what professional scientists do, how to emulate scientifi c work, and, most importantly but often lost, how to use science to make informed choices. Science education has largely been devoid of teaching children to respect nature insomuch as they are taught to organize, categorize, and manage it. In contrast, ethnoscience and the traditional ecological knowledge of many Aboriginal and indigenous peoples that deemphasizes classifying and managing organisms is also relevant to science education. When acknowledged more fully, the key distinctions between discourses of environmental education and science education are beginning to wane. Although there are dissident traditions in both of these educational fi elds, the under- lying philosophies for environmental and science education are more congruent than divergent. For example, consider the hegemony that largely follows western and largely positivistic science in school science. In many places around the world, this hegemony has been mediated with the advent of highly contextualized science vii viii Preface education for solving local issues. In Accra, Ghana, for example, science education is more aligned with environmental education in that students are learning science to wrestle with ecological

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