scholarly journals Walking Softly in the Bush: Apprenticing to the Earth in an Ecological Curriculum

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-35
Author(s):  
Jodi Marie Latremouille ◽  
Vern Latremouille

In this piece, we conceptualize walking in the bush as an act of ecological apprenticing. Even after many years of learning/teaching, we also attune to the limits of our knowledge, seeing ourselves as continually evolving in our practice of nurturing more ethical and responsible apprenticeship relations, both out in the bush and in the classroom. Together, we write about places in the bush that are sacred to us, places around the Nicola Valley and the Nehalliston in the interior of British Columbia. We undertake a holistic and relational dialogue, grounded in life writing and literary métissage (Erika Hasebe-Ludt, Cynthia Chambers & Carl Leggo, 2009). We interpret the work of an ecological curriculum through four interrelated concepts of apprenticing: 1) as a sustained and lifelong, imperfect and unfinished practice; 2) as learning/teaching through sensory heartful attunement; 3) as teaching/learning through wonder; and 4) as a gift which creates relationships and obligations (“bound by legal agreement”). Drawing on Vern’s lifelong pedagogical work of “walking in the bush” and Jodi’s poem entitled “Huckleberry Prayer,” we undertake an intergenerational dialogue around an ecological curriculum as an act of apprenticing to the Earth.

2018 ◽  
Vol 251 ◽  
pp. 03018
Author(s):  
Fuad Mutasim Baba ◽  
Hua Ge

The Earth is already experiencing some of the effects of climate change, such as rising temperature, more frequent storms, increased precipitation, etc. This paper investigates the effect of climate change on the energy consumption of a single-family house with different energy efficiency levels, i.e. bylaw to meet current National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings (NECB), and passive house (PH) to meet the PH requirements under four climate zones in British Columbia, Canada. SRES A2, RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 emission scenarios are used to generate future climate for 2020, 2050, and 2080. The simulation results show that for both bylaw and PH cases, heating energy consumption will be reduced while cooling energy consumption will be increased, as a result for bylaw case, the energy consumption will be decreased for four climate zones, while for PH case, the energy consumption will be increased for zone 4 & 5 and decreased for zone 6 & 7. In climate zone 5, the building fails to meet the PH requirements during 2050. Therefore, buildings designed based on historical weather data will perform differently under the changing future climates, thus the efforts should be made to design buildings that are adaptable to climate change.


Author(s):  
Estevan Leopoldo de Freitas Coca

Food is an interdisciplinary topic that transverses different areas of knowledge, allowing it to be used as a pedagogical resource in numerous teaching-learning processes and environments. This paper seeks to contribute to early debates on the relationship between public procurement and food pedagogies in schools and universities, a topic that is still little addressed in the literature. I explore the Farm to Cafeteria Canada (F2CC) network in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, which beyond institutional procurement recognises food as a pedagogical resource at schools and on campus. My research is based on 18 site visits and qualitative analysis of documents and 9 semi-structured interviews conducted with institutional administrators associated with F2CC in Metro Vancouver. This paper demonstrates how the F2CC network activities in Metro Vancouver contribute not only to food procurement, but also to the practical development of pedagogical activities from different areas of knowledge and in different educational spaces.


GeoTextos ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laysla Da Silva Xavier ◽  
Leonardo Figueiredo de Meneses ◽  
Márcio Balbino Cavalcante

O ensino e a divulgação das geociências são pouco disseminados não só no âmbito escolar, mas também para a sociedade em geral. No contexto das geociências está inserida a geodiversidade, que teve seu conceito introduzido na década de 1990 e vem crescendo nacional e internacionalmente. No entanto, diferente da biodiversidade, que é amplamente divulgada em toda a sociedade, a geodiversidade até hoje é desconhecida por grande parte da população, mesmo sabendo que seu estudo é importante para o entendimento dos processos da evolução e da dinâmica da Terra. A inserção da Educação Ambiental na divulgação desta temática pode evidenciar os aspectos abióticos muitas vezes esquecidos. Esse trabalho tem por objetivo inserir esse conteúdo em sala de aula através de uma metodologia mais alternativa: uma aula didática explicativa, porém mais dinâmica, e um jogo de tabuleiro, este ilustrando os elementos da geodiversidade (rochas, minerais, fósseis, formas de relevo, solos) e alguns locais com potencial geoturístico e maior visibilidade no estado da Paraíba, tais como, Vale dos Dinossauros, Lajedo do Pai Mateus, Pedra da Boca, Pedra do Ingá e as Falésias do Cabo Branco. Por fim, buscou-se verificar se a metodologia aplicada se apresenta como uma ferramenta facilitadora de aprendizagem. Espera-se contribuir para o ensino-aprendizagem dos alunos, de uma forma prazerosa e divertida, despertando a curiosidade e o interesse em aprender sobre geodiversidade e geociências. Para a obtenção dos dados utilizados na pesquisa, foi realizada uma visita na Escola Municipal Antônia Luna Lisboa, localizada no município de Rio Tinto-PB, na qual foram postas em prática as atividades. Para validar o jogo e a aula foi feita uma análise através de questionários, um pré-teste para avaliar o conhecimento prévio dos alunos e um pós-teste para averiguar se a metodologia aplicada em cada sala de aula contribuiu de maneira significativa como ferramenta para o ensino do conteúdo proposto. As metodologias aplicadas foram bem aceitas pelos alunos, os quais demonstraram interesse em aprender. Depois de aplicados, tanto a aula, quanto o jogo, verificou-se que as respostas dos questionários pós-teste foram mais satisfatórias e contribuíram significativamente para o conhecimento-aprendizagem dos alunos. A partir da análise dos resultados, constatou-se que novas alternativas pedagógicas são necessárias para o estímulo e a aprendizagem. Jogos podem e devem ser usados como recurso pedagógico, de modo que os alunos aprendam brincando, e aulas mais interativas, com uso de slides com imagens, também contribuem para o ensino-aprendizagem dos alunos. Abstract TEACHING GEODIVERSITY FROM DIDACTIC GAMES The education and the divulgation of the geosciences are poorly disseminated, not only in the educational range, but also for the society in general. Among the geosciences, there is the geodiversity, which had its concept introduced in the 90’s decade and has been growing worldwide ever since; however, unlike the biodiversity that is broadly disclosed for all society, the geodiversity is unknown for a large percentage of the population, even though such knowledge is very necessary for the understanding of the evolution and dynamic processes of the Earth. Bringing environmental education into the geodiversity divulgation might make the abiotic aspects, which are often forgotten, stand out. This work aims to introduce geodiversity themes in the schoolroom through a board game, illustrating the geodiversity elements (rocks, minerals, fossils, land forms, soils) and some places with geotouristic potencial and better visibility in the State of Paraíba, such as Vale dos Dinossauros (Dinosaur Valley), Lajedo de Pai Mateus, Pedra da Boca, Pedra do Ingá and the Cabo Branco cliffs, as well as verify if the methodology applied appears to be an efficient tool of learning. It is expected to contribute, for the teaching-learning process, in a fun and pleasant way, awakening the curiosity and interest to learn about geodiversity and geosciences. In order to obtain the data used in the search, a visit to the Municipal School Antonia Luna Lisboa, located in the county of Rio Tinto-PB, took place, in which the aforementioned exercises where put into practice. To validate the learning improvement achieved, an analysis through tests was held, where a pretest and an after test to assess the knowledge of the student were applied, to ascertain if the methodology contributed significantly as a tool of education of the geodiversity. The methodology was well-accepted by the students, and it was verified that the answers of the after test were satisfactory. Through the review of the results, it was found that new pedagogical alternatives are necessary for the motivation and learning of the students. Games can and must be used as a pedagogical resource, in a way that the students learn while playing; more interactive classes using slides with images also contribute for the teaching-learning of the students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 6-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellyn Lyle ◽  
Celeste Snowber

Being physically and spiritually attuned to the world around us forms the loom on which we weave our curricular understandings. Here, we strive to find the extraordinary in the ordinary and make room for a poetic way of attending to the lived curriculum. More than a way of doing research, we regard this way of being as a deep and disciplined presence with/in the world we inhabit. Through our own individual practices of walking the earth, our physicality explores the relationships between flesh and stone, and rain and tears, and the immediacy of the poetic takes form. Our walking practices open up the space not only to mindfulness, but bodyfulness, where the present moment has the capacity for the infinite. This type of active contemplation invites us into an expansive place where we can consider the very nature of education and its potential to foster or impede holistic teaching, learning, living, and being. Through writing together, we lift ourselves and each other out of the metaphorical and literal containment of our current contexts and find an invitation to walk and write into wonder.


1968 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 127-141
Author(s):  
J W Gadsby ◽  
F A Bares

The Arrow project is located on the Columbia river in south-east British Columbia. The earth-fill cofferdam, required for the construction of the concrete structures, was completed early in 1966 and removed late in 1967. The cofferdam consisted of a sand and gravel fill with a central impervious core. The core was in two parts: the lower core consisted of a concrete cut-off wall formed by the slurry trench process; the upper core was a compacted impervious till. The cofferdam withstood a maximum hydraulic head of 115 ft.Design, construction, performance and removal of the cofferdam are described. Production rates for the concrete cut-off wall are given together with an estimate of costs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 201
Author(s):  
Abdellatif Chakib ◽  
Ghalem Zahour ◽  
Mohammed Talbi ◽  
Ahmed Sayad

In this study, we are interested in the evaluation of the department of the Earth Sciences and Universe (Science de la Terre & l'Univers - STU), Faculty of Science Ben MSik, Casablanca, Morocco, through teachers of the department of Geology.The accomplishment of this work passes through an evaluation that was carried out firstly through a satisfaction survey and secondly, a questionnaire containing questions related to the profile of the teachers, program and educational strategies of discipline offering training to the level of Bachelor. We used Sphinx software to analyze the data through the application, namely, flat table, the crossing of the questions and the specifications table. The goal is to evaluate training within the department of STU in quality and quantity.  This research allowed us to identify many problems of the students who enrolled in this department.In other words these results are response elements that would help improve the teaching-learning of the STU field. Keywords: Evaluation, STU, survey, questionnaire, teachers, Morocco.


2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-80
Author(s):  
Sarfaraz Alam ◽  
◽  
Sukhvinder Sukhvinder ◽  

The process of evaluation of students is closely linked to their teaching-learning process in schools. However, the nature of evaluation techniques in a subject depends to an extent on grades at which it is taught as well as its philosophical and methodological orientation. In lower grades, for example, the focus is more on short and descriptive questions compared to higher grades where long and explanatory questions become important. The nature of school geography is different from other subjects for it focuses mainly on the spatial dimension of reality. For learning the spatial dimension of reality of the earth, maps and globes are the key teaching tools. While most techniques of evaluation in school geography are similar to other school subjects, it also uses certain techniques for evaluating students which are generally not popular in other subjects. This paper discusses use of various techniques of evaluation in school geography. It analyses how techniques of evaluation vary with grades. It identifies those techniques of evaluation that are unique to school geography. The study informs that mapping, map reading and fieldbased exercises are generally associated with geography.


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