Summer Institute on "Place and Critical Eco Pedagogies"

The two below courses, offered in combination as a Summer Institute from July 24-August 9, 2010 may be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students and practitioners in a range of disciplines, such as Native Studies, Geography, Environmental Studies, Community Health, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Biology, and others. Please distribute to others that may be interested. There is $200 fee for the summer institute in addition to regular course tuition.

EFDT 498.3: Place and Critical Eco Pedagogies: Urban Education (Saskatoon-based)

Dates:  July, 24-29, 2010

This course focuses on how urban experiential and community-based learning can contribute to both personal and educational decolonization and reinhabitation in relation to social and ecological justice issues in a Saskatchewan context. Participants will be introduced to critical eco pedagogical theories and practices, with a particular focus on urban issues and spaces such as Aboriginal and settler youth cultures and orientations to place and environmental issues, environmental justice and racism, schoolyard greening and urban gardening, and various other facets of community-based learning and engagement. The course will include students reading, developing an urban critical eco pedagogy photo essay, and creating and experiencing a range of urban learning experiences with an aim of being better able to incorporate urban and community-based education into their educational practices. This course is intended to be taken with, and is a pre-requisite for, EFDT 498.3, Place and Critical Eco Pedagogies: Outdoor Education.

EFDT 498.3: Place and Critical Eco Pedagogies: Outdoor Education (River-based)

Dates:  August 4-9, 2010 

This course focuses on how outdoor experiential and place-based learning can contribute to both personal and educational decolonization and reinhabitation in relation to social and ecological justice issues in a Saskatchewan context. This course builds on the frameworks for experiential and place-based learning developed in Urban Education pre-requisite course, and extends them to consider unique issues and opportunities that arise in outdoor education environments. The course covers topics such as trip preparation and group travel, exploring the five senses in learning, using art and poetry in ecological learning, decolonizing place and the historical site visits, the history of Aboriginal and settler peoples in the course area, natural history and species identification, nature sketching, framing and debriefing effective solo experiences, and connecting place-based learning to the curricular content areas. The course will include students reading, articulating their own working theory of critical eco pedagogy, and creating and experiencing a range of outdoor learning experiences with an aim of being better able to incorporate outdoor education into their educational practices. Pre-requisite is EFDT 498.3, Place and Critical Eco Pedagogies: Urban Education.

For more information, contact:Marcia McKenzie or ScottThompson at marcia.mckenzie@usask.ca & thompsons@spsd.sk.ca;
To register, contact edfdt.gradsecretary@usask.ca or (306) 966- 7514