Researching Ecological Relationality and the Prospect of Cultural Change Within the Public School System

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

The Maple Ridge Environmental School Project (MRESP) is a K-8 public ‘school’ rooted in principles of place-based, ecological and imaginative education. The school opened in September 2011 and has no permanent building. Instead, students spend extensive time immersed in the outdoors learning in, with, and from local parks and occasionally sites within town. The school's aim is to nurture and develop an inclusive educational community deeply rooted in place. Through a discussion of currently active research projects that draw on a variety of theoretical frameworks and methodologies this panel will present some of the key findings, challenges, and ethical dilemmas encountered to date.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Environmental Education

Chair

• Vicki Lynn Kelly, Simon Fraser University

Papers

• Imagination and Decolonization: Toward a Critical Eco-Hermeneutic Pedagogy - Michael W. Derby, Simon Fraser University

• In Search of the Eco-Teacher - Sean Blenkinsop, Simon Fraser University

• Nature Versus Culture? Knowledge, Pedagogy, and Resilience in Forest School - Mark Fettes, Simon Fraser University

• The Need to Emphasize Reinhabitation and Decolonization as Tandem Processes Within Environmental Education - Laura Piersol, Simon Fraser University

Discussant

• Constance L. Russell, Lakehead University