Considering relationships of words, thoughts, and “knowledge”: Following ecological principles to enhance research and education

Background/Question/Methods

In asking how to transmit enhanced understandings, we ignore the inherent complexities of human ecology and limit rather than further ecological thought, research and education. Instead, we need to study human knowledge and education in the same fashion as we study ecology, namely be concerned with “the relationships between organisms and their past, present, and future environments…includ[ing] physiological responses of individuals, structures and dynamics of populations, interactions among species, [and] organization of biological communities” (ESA website). This presentation discusses two studies which take such an ecological approach using qualitative methods including free expression, photographs, drawings, semi-structured and narrative interviews, and meditative visualizations. Researchers followed phenomenografic and narrative arts-based approaches. The first study looked at how children experience the environment. The research was carried out on Terceira Island (Azores, Portugal) with 75 fourth grade children from rural backgrounds and parents with few years of formal schooling. The second study investigated how adults understand their work as environmental educators. It included educators from Tanzania, Paraguay, Colombia, Brazil, Iran, and Canada who take a social critical approach to the environment.

Results/Conclusions

The first study showed similar trends as in other research, i.e., most of the children seem to visualize the environment as a determined space. However, a small percentage of the children, 7.3%, clearly showed a complex understanding in which they are embodied as part of the environment. Unlike research which points to experiences “in nature” as important for inspiring environmental pursuits, the second study broadened the inclusion of people, ideas and events as important. It also points to the ways power operates within research: the power of the words used to ask questions dictate responses; the power of the researcher’s presence upon the participants’ input; and the power of words, images and concepts to keep researchers and educators from being cognizant of complex understandings. These two studies suggest that researchers need to be self-reflexive about their ability to hear what children and adult participants are saying. Research and education methods, which move beyond “subject” and “object” in language, are needed if we want to hear something other than environment being portrayed as object or place.

This presentation will explore the methodologies used and the relationship between these two research projects and the implications for enhancing ecological thought, research and education.