Understanding curriculum as geo/biospheric text

Abstract

The world is experiencing crises related to the cascading effects of anthropization. These crises result from imperialist and capitalist practices that categorize and exploit the other (e.g., the land, the water, and their resources and beings) for maximizing profit. Such malpractices have led to climate crises of drought, famine, and extinctions. In the present, things are categorized through detachment, whereby the self-absorbed hyperbolic sees greatness in being and acting in meager ways, in nationalism and populism. In the midst of experiencing such a world of isms, this article suggests an important change for education-a curricular adjustment that not only allows for addressing subject matter (i.e., health and economics) and the subjects of such matters (i.e., the students and the teachers in the classrooms) but also acknowledges the importance of the other (i.e., the non-human world), which has been at the mercy of a singular reliance on the "incomplete" human consciousness. An inclusive curriculum underscores the different forms of concrete conscious beings and is mindful of a togetherness that ensures the continuation of life. "Event-ually", through highlighting each individual with the natural environment, the latent bonds each individual has with the other and another, and with the world itself, will expose themselves in new ways.

Socioscientific Issues and COVID-19: Responding to Curriculum Reform through Action Research

“…Second, privileging sociopolitical action in science education can quickly turn something meaningful to a "go-ask-find-and-use [activity]" (Hadzigeorgiou, 2015, p. 276) where an activity that is too structured or lacks relevance to the specific group of students can be counterproductive to fostering student curiosity. Finally, critically minded science instruction typically assumes some form of change is needed and can belie the reality that in many communities, change must be carefully balanced with conservation and intergenerational renewal (Bigloo et al, 2021;Bowers, 2008). Nonetheless, the evidence provided above works to break the commonly held dichotomy among school science teachers of "teaching to promote socio-scientific decision making and teaching for conceptual understanding" (Sadler et al, 2006, p. 373).…”