EcoJustice, Citizen Science and Youth Activism

This volume draws on the ecojustice, citizen science and youth activism literature base in science education and applies the ideas to situated tensions as they are either analyzed theoretically or praxiologically within science education pedagogy. It uses ecojustice to evaluate the holistic connections between cultural and natural systems, environmentalism, sustainability and Earth-friendly marketing trends, and introduces citizen science and youth activism as two of the pedagogical ways ecojustice philosophy can be enacted. It also comprises evidence-based practice with international service, community embedded curriculum, teacher preparation, citizen monitoring and community activism, student-scientist partnerships, socioscientific issues, and new avenues for educational research.

• EcoJustice
• citizen science
• elementary education
• environmental education
• environmental literacy
• environmental sciences
• post-secondary education
• science education
• secondary education
• social justice education
• teacher education
• youth activism

Mueller and Tippins have edited a timely book and the first one of the new Springer Book Series Environmental Discourses in Science Education addressing the urgent need to bridge environmental education and science education. This collection pulls together a diversity of reflections and experiences in a brilliant attempt to establish synchrony between ecojustice philosophy, youth activism and citizen science: three areas that have become an important locus for critical science education at present. I believe this book can strongly contribute to the never ending debate on scientific literacy by providing new views and experiences highlighting alternative ways of doing science education.

Mariona Espinet, Science and Mathematics Education Department, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

The authors of this book are all pioneers in meaningful educational transformation. The stories they tell, and the forms these stories take, are incredibly diverse and inspiring—ranging from the pedagogies of farming in Appalachia and New England, to the politics of systems thinking in Texas just north of the Mexican border, to climate change pedagogies in Native communities. As the authors point out, each of these local stories of change has global significance. What holds it all together is an ethic of ecojustice. Here the authors skillfully demonstrate the necessity and power of bridging social and ecological vision in a wide variety of educational contexts in need of change. 

David A. Greenwood, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada

Ecojustice, Citizen, and Youth Activism: Situated Tensions for Science Education, the first book in the series Environmental Discourses in Science Education, speaks to all types of educators—teachers, students, parents, citizens.  It is a call for the restoration ofcuriosity, diversity, and value systems that embrace person, social, and civic responsibility for the Earth, including both human and non-human species.  This collection of inspirational essays, personal narratives and empirical research provides rich examples of how interdisciplinary and intergenerational groups engage simultaneously in meaningful learning and advocacy through projects that are situated in a range of cultures and contexts.  This book undoubtedly will inspire and inform conversations about a future for science education that awakens our individual and collective critical understanding of and engagement in local, national, and global ecojustice issues.

Lynn A. Bryan, Professor of Science Education, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

At last, science educators are breaking down the rigid walls of their discipline and embracing the world at large, developing socially responsible science curricula and pedagogies for the 21^st Century. Driven by a moral commitment to sustaining the cultural and environmental heritage of the planet, eco-conscious science educators worldwide are empowering young people to become environmental activists and stewards. The visionary contributors to this timely book present a broad range of ecojustice inspired science programs for schools, universities and local communities. This book is a rich resource for science educators preparing future citizens with higher-level abilities for participating in the global agenda of sustainable development.

Peter Charles Taylor, Professor of STEAM Education, Murdoch University, Australia

• College of Education, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, USA

  Michael P. Mueller

• Mathematics and Science Education, University of Georgia, Athens, USA

  Deborah J. Tippins

Policies and ethics