Education for the Future Course Compilation
Course description: The focus of this course is to strengthen students’ environmental and multicultural awareness. The course will explore the emerging issues in multicultural and environmental education. The course is interdisciplinary in nature and the relationships among education, culture, and environment will be examined. Students will acquire foundational knowledge of theoretical issues and concepts, as well as identify real issues in today’s world. Students will develop, through personal action, personal, societal, and educational perspectives on cultural and environmental issues.
Quarter: July 21 – Oct 6, 2008, 11 weeks
Field experience: Work in the yard sustainably growing organic food or go on nature walks with the 15 month old. Field journal entries are posted here.
Activities: As a theme for this course, I chose to dig into identifying the root cause of today's multicultural and environmental issues and how they can be addressed through education. The following are the sequential set of activities along with reflections or papers that I completed in this theme:
What are the today's major multicultural and environmental issues?
Reflection: A Common Root of Environmental and Multicultural Issues
What is the root cause of the issues?
Reflection: The birth of being 'me'Paper: Where it all begins
How is this root cause connected to education?
Reflection: Sense of self and its connection to education
How did one teacher address such a large set of issues?
Reflection: I'd Rather Teach Peace
What are some approaches and perspectives for addressing multicultural education issues?
Reports: Equity not Equality, Considerations for Multicultural Education
What is my own philosophy on multicultural and environmental education?