Encountering Nature: Consideration of Spirituality in Science Education

• In Event: The Nature and History of Science in Science Education: Philosophies, Spirituality, Controversies, and Curriculum

Abstract

There has been increasing attention in science education to how in/corporeal human experience, such as the body, romanticism and affect, influence scientific understanding. In this chapter I suggest a need to also explore the relevance of spirituality in science education. Science education discourse has generally been sterilized to preclude inclusion of spirituality. This paper examines notions of spirituality, and discuss aspects of the history and nature of science that have resulted in the exclusion of spirituality from science. The discourse in two science lessons that allow for 'encounters with nature' are examined to show potential for including the spiritual dimension of knowing nature in school science education.

Author

• Darren Glen Hoeg, University of Alberta