Page 49 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

3 EcoJustice Education for Science Educators 25

southeastern Michigan region – the Rouge, the Huron, the River Raisin – as the
focus of community-based learning projects designed to introduce ecojustice con-
cepts, and develop eco-ethical consciousness and stewardship in the Great Lakes
region. One group, for example, is examining the relationship between civil rights,
suburbanization, and the demise of the Rouge River in Detroit. History, ethics, and
biology teachers are working together with a nonprofit organization called Friends
of the Rouge, which helps to introduce students to methods of water analysis, as
well as zoological concepts related to local amphibian and fish populations. The
River Raisin Institute has worked with science and social studies teachers to rein-
troduce wild rice in areas along the river where it once grew prolifically and was a
main food staple for indigenous peoples in the area. Members of the Anishinabeg
Ojibwe Nation worked with the students and teachers exploring the specific char-
acteristics of the species being planted, Native American methods for processing
the rice for consumption, and performing ceremonies to celebrate the planting and
give thanks (see www.rriearth.org/wildrice.html; retrieved July 12, 2009). Longboat,
Young, and Kulnieks (2009) argue that this sort of approach – corroborating tradi-
tional science findings with traditional indigenous knowledge – helps to dispel
dualistic hierarchies that privilege western ways of knowing over other experiences
and explanations. They advocate for a position that emphasizes our experience and
relationship in nature rather than to nature. Whatever the point of departure – soil,
water, air, forests, animals, and so on – students ought to learn to use science in
ways that compliment other ways of knowing rather than marginalize or neglect
them. And, they should situate a rigorous examination of the important issues in a
relevant local context beginning with cultural ecological analysis of that context.

Summary

Science is one way of knowing, not the way of knowing. However, it often gets
treated as if there is no other legitimate way of comprehending the world, so that
those who have access to it are granted the privilege of superiority and thus control
over others – human and more than human. The origins of modern science from the
fifteenth century through the eighteenth century, known as the Age of Enlightenment,
created deeply rooted discursive patterns – ways of thinking and acting in the world –
that led to economic relations, structures, and policies that continue to frame our
lives. The overall orientation assumes that with the application of the power of a
reasoning mind, humans can finally and fully know the universe, and thus control
it and mold it to our purposes. Because of its privileged position in the West, sci-
ence has contributed to forms of enclosure – both ideological and economic – that
cause significant harms to the complex systems supporting life.
We are not arguing that scientific ways of approaching knowledge be thrown
out; however, we urge that science educators take initiative to recognize the impact
they can have in empowering students and communities through engagement in
revitalizing commons-based practices that support life. Culturally, so much value