Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.15516/cje.v20i0.3034
Watery Webs of Interconnectedness: Waterways as Pedagogical Sites
Nicky Hirst
; Liverpool John Moores University, School of Education
Diane Boyd
; Liverpool John Moores University, School of Education
Jamison Browder
; University of South Carolina, College of Education
Sherridan Emery
orcid.org/0000-0003-2949-2793
; University of Tasmania, Faculty of Education
Abstract
Despite the ever-growing body of knowledge about human impacts on river and coastal ecosystems, and the need to work towards sustainable futures, young children’s participation in environmental action initiatives in aquatic habitats remains low. This signifies an urgency for educators to support young children’s relationship with freshwater and marine environments, so they can acquire the skills and dispositions to become “agents for change” for the environment. Guided by Deleuzian ideas of being and becoming, and ecologies of knowledges, this paper considers three exploratory case studies from England, the United States and Australia that investigated early childhood teachers’ practices of using waterways as pedagogical sites.
Data were collected through ethnographic methods of observations and interviews. Findings revealed that early childhood teachers viewed such habitats as spaces where action initiatives for sustainability can be conceived and incorporated as “webs of interconnectedness” into the curriculum. We conclude this study has the potential to expand understandings of under-utilized pedagogical spaces, such as natural water and marine habitats, where adults and children have permission to learn together to cultivate a more intimate relationship with the earth.
Keywords
being and becoming; early childhood education for sustainability; epistemology; pedagogies; waterways
Hrčak ID:
224082
URI
Publication date:
17.12.2018.
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