Definición conceptual de las variables

Civic participation can also be examined through different categories of involvement. Westheimer and Kahne (2002) provide a framework that distinguishes between three different types of participatory citizenship projects. Their ideas are listed in Table 1. Notice that service-learning and stewardship are participatory whereas civic involvement involves justice-oriented activities. For the most part, traditional science curricula and lesson plans target the personally responsible citizen, rather than a participatory or justice-oriented citizen.

Table 1 Types of citizenship participation (Adapted from Westheimer and Kahne 2002, and Cox-Petersen 2010)

Personally responsible Participatory Justice oriented

• Acts responsibly in

community

• Works and pays taxes • Obeys laws • Recycles • Volunteers • Active member of community organizations • Organizes community

efforts to care for those in need • Knows how government agencies work • Knows strategies for accomplishing collective tasks

• Critically assesses social,

political, and economic structures to see beyond surface causes

• Seeks out and addresses

areas of injustice

• Knows about democratic

social movements and how to effect systemic change

Contribute to a recycling bin at home, work, school

Work with the community to create and organize recycling bins at home, work, and school; monitor the progress of the project

Gather info about why people do not recycle, create a plan to encourage recycling, make public announcement about recycling, and report on the progress of the project

Traditional classroom projects

Service-learning and stewardship projects

146 J. Ponder and A. Cox-Peterson There are various ways to begin initiating service-learning, stewardship, and civic involvement projects within science lessons. Example 1 outlines a step-by-step plan that can help students and teachers begin taking action within their community. While planning and implementing these projects, teachers should remember to (a) dedicate a sustained amount of time, possibly the entire school year to the project; (b) encourage participation from groups outside of the school such as families, businesses, and community leaders; (c) connect the action-based activities to the science curriculum; (d) make explicit connections between the science content and the community service and action; and (e) provide ample time for student reflection, discussion, sharing, and making decisions.

Example 1. Steps to Enacting Service-Learning, Stewardship, and Civic Involvement (Ponder and Cox-Petersen 2008)

Take Action and Practice Active Citizenship!

This task will help teachers and students practice active-based strategies. First, select an issue that you and your students are passionate about. Follow the five-step process to action. Use the outline below to format your plan of action.

The tips below (based on steps recommended by Center for Civic Education [2006] and Kielburger and Kielburger [2002]) are helpful when launching an active citizenship project in your classroom:

1. Increase awareness. Explore current issues in your school/community, state, country, and world. Encourage students to watch the news, read the local news- paper, and search the web to help them identify problems in their immediate environment and report back to the class. Use a four-quadrant chart and create a list of current problems in each category. Encourage students to document the issues by bringing in newspaper clippings or by taking photographs of problems around the community or school (graffiti, litter, etc.). Make a list of the top issues based on students’ interests.

2. Deliberate. Let the students choose an issue. It will be more meaningful if it comes from their interests. Narrow down the issues that students have generated in an attempt to choose one problem the entire class can attempt to resolve. Follow the steps listed below to narrow down the problems:

(a) Ask students to list their top three choices on a small sheet of paper. Tally the results and identify the top three issues selected by the students. (b) Send home a letter and ask for parents’ support by involving them in a discus-

sion with their child about the issues identified. Ask the parents and the child to discuss each issue at home, select one issue that they think the students can resolve, noting ideas that students can put into action to encourage change, and complete a required form to document their discussion and selected problem. (c) Next, write a persuasive paragraph/essay. Ask each student to write a per-

suasive essay about the issue they selected with their parents and guide students to support their opinions with reasons, examples, and commentary. Encourage them to talk about possible causes, consequences, and solutions to the problem in their essay.

147 10 Action-Based Science Instruction

(d) Organize student groups based on common issues and share essays. Have each group plan a presentation to persuade the rest of the class that their issue is the most important to solve.

(e) After all the groups present their essays, create a chart to outline the pros and cons associated with each issue.

(f) Take a final vote and select one issue.

3. Become an expert. Students should conduct extensive research on the issue before they can take action. To gain a better understanding of the selected issue explore the root cause and examine possible solutions. Make a list of some possible solutions and identify pros and cons associated with each idea. Be sure to use a variety of resources to find out as much as you can about the issue selected. 4. Devise a plan of action. Let the students lead the project and make decisions.

Encourage students to think outside the box when brainstorming ideas that could possibly impact the selected issue. Also encourage students to build partnerships with groups in the community. Be sure to consider how you and/or your class could elicit support among individuals and groups in the community. Describe a clear and detailed plan of action to address the selected issue. Possible action plans could include writing letters to local businesses or members of the local, state, or federal government, speaking at public forums such as a city council meeting, writing petitions, making posters or brochures, creating a website or blog to raise awareness for the issue, contacting the media, or creating a video documentary using software such as iMovie.

5. Get busy. Publicize the issue in your community and beyond to increase aware- ness and build partnerships. After you and your students implement the project, review and evaluate each action.

Consider questions such as:

What were the positive aspects of the project?

What were the major obstacles associated with this project? (Other than time) How could you improve the project?

How well did the class work as a team? What did you learn from this project?

What recommendations do you have for other teachers/students who are think- ing about doing a take action project?

Research suggests that service-learning projects, with an emphasis on civic involve- ment, can help students develop a sense of self-efficacy, enhance academic achieve- ment, and improve social skills and civic mindedness (e.g., Schultz 2008). Facilitating service-learning and action-based experiences in the classroom allows students to actively participate in their community and discover how one person, even a young person, can make a difference and connect science to issues within their community. These projects provide students with the opportunity to examine problems, select issues that are meaningful to them, come up with action plans, and work as a team to attempt to solve problems, all while connecting learning to formal science standards.

148 J. Ponder and A. Cox-Peterson The nature of action-based projects allows the science curriculum to evolve and transform beyond its original intent. As a result, students are deeply connected to the material and become key partners in investigating scientific phenomena, enhancing scientific skills, and making a difference in their community. The process of working toward a solution for a meaningful cause often creates opportunities for students to delve into more complex issues and opens the door for science learning for all students.

Current issues such as global warming, recycling, conservation, endangered and extinct species, animal cruelty, genetic cloning, and ethical science research have a direct connection to human lives. How we interact with other species and care for our Earth will impact the lives of future citizens of this planet. Expanding service- learning projects to the science curriculum is one way to encourage students to consider moral ethics related to ecojustice and expand their understanding of the relationships that exist among humans, nonhumans, and the Earth.

In conclusion, action-based projects may have a catalytic ability to motivate students into using democratic skills to question injustice, work to better their surrounding community, and be an advocate for those who do not have a voice (in some cases, even themselves). We concur with Westheimer and Kahne (2004) who encourage teachers’ “civic commitment by exposing students to problems in society and by creating opportunities for students to have positive experiences while working toward solutions” (p. 265). Ultimately, action-based projects empower students to initiate change in their community and beyond by applying knowledge and skills obtained through schooling to real-world problems in authentic contexts. The experiences associated with active civic involvement can help students learn an important life lesson: Any one of us can make a difference.

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Introduction

A profit motive of the colonial system stole respect of nature from the culture of Africans. Animals were hunted and killed with no thought for the future. Bushes were cleared for tea plantations, and a new system of agriculture [was established] based on monoculture. Arable cropping was introduced which later ensured eco- logical degradation (cited in Glasson et al. 2006, p. 671).

As I read these pungent words from a Malawian teacher educator during my first visit to Africa in 2003, I was amazed to learn directly from my students about the prevalent ecojustice issues affecting their country. Twenty-four Malawian educators were enrolled in an elementary science methods course that I was teaching in Malawi as part of a Master’s degree program to improve primary school education in the country. As a class assignment, students were asked to write about and dis- cuss ecological sustainability issues affecting human and wildlife populations in Malawi. Students discussed the devastating effects of deforestation and the connec- tions to clearing land for growing crops, charcoal burning, soil erosion, water and air pollution, and the loss of animal habitat. Most importantly, students also dis- cussed the loss of indigenous medicines extracted from the barks of trees or plants found in the forest. From these initial classroom experiences, I was most impressed by the passion of the Malawians and their inherent understandings of ecojustice issues affecting their families for generations.

Located in sub-Saharan southeast Africa, Malawi was formally known as Nyasaland and established as a British colony in 1891. Originally occupied by hunt- ers and gatherers, Nyasaland was settled by Bantu tribes along the shores of Lake Nyasa in the sixteenth century and renamed Malawi1 _{in 1964 after gaining indepen-} dence from colonial rule. The Bantu tribes in Nyasaland survived by fishing, hunting,

Chapter 11

Developing a Sustainable Agricultural