Page 116 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

7 Engaging the Environment 93

science learning. A student in one of our high schools sent out an e-mail to other
schools asking if they would like to work together on a project that involved public
transportation. This type of collaboration was not initially envisioned. In another
case, students at a middle school have decided to grow native plant seedlings in
their greenhouse for an outdoor classroom at another high school and also a com-
munity space. Students at a downtown middle school have started a garden and
donate items to a farmers’ market in the same area. This part of Louisville is con-
sidered a food desert. While this particular project has continued because the
teacher remains invested, similar to Roth, he uses the cultural transmission model,
where previous students induct new students into the program every year. Students
in a more rural location, decided to landscape an area around a gazebo that sits in
front of the high school with native plants as a way to increase wildlife habitat
locally. In addition to learning about native plants, local soils, climate, and local
wildlife habitat preferences, these students are finding that the gazebo has historical
significance to the community (because of conversations about what the students
are doing around it). The students have asked for donations to repair the gazebo. As
town people contributed in supplies and labor, they offered additional stories about
the proposals, pranks, picnics, and public gatherings that have taken place around
this beloved town monument. The project continues to stir up community spirits
similar to those of Roth’s students and the students in this region and supporters are
in the planning stages of restoring the park.
Peter: These kind of blended experiences provide greater agency for students.
These experiences connect with the areas where they live. It was Jacque Cousteau
who said that people take care of what they love, and it seems to me that students
who are involved in environmental learning experiences develop a greater sense of
ownership as they dig into community projects. Linking these kinds of projects to
the science classroom is yet one more way to bring the richness of meaningful science
learning into the lives of students.

Potential Limits and/or Hidden Curricula

Kurt: The connections between theory and practice are very important for develop-
ing one’s teaching practices and creating learning experiences that are geared
toward the longer-term. Much like the common trends and mindset that exist in
doing education, we get lost in models, approaches, and overemphasizing “experi-
ence,” as a way to frame thinking (Britzman 1991) if teachers are not attending to
the needs of their local communities and do not have deep understandings of the
conceptual frameworks (theories and pedagogies) that create these models.
Developing teaching practices come from the model that teachers develop for their
own community while considering other models and pedagogies that exist in relation.
In other words, we should be aware of any framework or model that takes a tech-
nocratic approach or emphasizes a “methods fetish” (Bartolomé 2003). Teaching
practices need to connect deeply with students and the communities in which they