Seeing Vultures, Smelling Sage, and Touching Pinecones: Environmental Philosophy in Elementary School
Shoshana McIntosh is a philosophy PhD student and teaching fellow at the University of North Texas and a PLATO Fellow.
Can trees make decisions? Why do people litter if they know it harms the environment? Are we responsible for making sure wild animals have enough space? Why do we think vultures are scary? What should we know about the food we eat? Why do some humans think they are superior to other humans and animals?
These are a few of the questions raised by 4th and 5th grade students during the environmental philosophy program I teach at a public elementary school in Denton, Texas. With the support of a PLATO graduate fellowship, I have continued developing the environmental philosophy with children program (EPWC) that started in 2018 at the University of North Texas.
Shifting from doing general PWC for the last few years to creating a program focused on environmental topics has been a challenging but deeply generative experience. I’d like to briefly share some of the specific foundational elements that are shaping the program.
3H’s Conceptual Framework
To ground us in our ecological connections, I decided to introduce the students to the 3 Hs conceptual framework for biocultural ethics developed by Dr. Ricardo Rozzi — an ecologist, philosopher, and one of my professors. Understanding how Habits, Habitats, and Co-inhabitants are interconnected offered us common language and a structural framework we could return to throughout the semester.
In our early sessions, we worked together as a class to expand our understanding of these concepts. This meant challenging our human-centered tendencies and recognizing that plants and other animals (our co-inhabitants) have their own habits and share habitats with us. The students drew pictures of the interconnections between the 3Hs and identified some of the ways our habits have an impact on those with whom we share habitats – for example, the effects of mowing lawns or leaving garbage out. From this grounding, we were able to thoughtfully investigate ethical issues and questions of responsibility related to human habits. During one session, we discussed how the habits of some animals — possums, for instance — are disrupted by road infrastructure and human driving habits. Students considered various needs and interests while discussing alternative infrastructure designs and modes of transportation, a popular topic in our bike-friendly town.
Challenging Assumptions
Whenever I do environmental philosophy with children in any age group, I teach, model, and practice the skill of identifying and questioning assumptions we have about the more-than-human world. With this in mind, I asked the 4th and 5th graders what we knew about vultures and possums, two local co-inhabitants, and what opinions and perceptions we had of them. We differentiated between knowledge (vultures are scavengers) and assumptions (vultures are dangerous to humans). We discussed the various ways we gain knowledge and the ways assumptions can affect our interactions with and understanding of these co-inhabitants. After this discussion during which we looked at photos and videos of vultures, a student rushed up to me at the next session and enthusiastically proclaimed, “Ms. Shoshana guess what? I saw vultures, I saw them!” This brings me to my next focus – raising awareness.
Embodied Ecological Awareness
Environmental philosophy, critical pedagogy, and embodiment are at the core of my own research, and so I was committed to connecting students with material experiences. When I asked students why they thought we spend most of our time at school indoors, most of them replied automatically “to learn.” Going outside, they told me, was for recess or free time after school. One student wisely explained that being indoors allows us to control our environment for learning. These young students, who had been in the school system for only 5 years, already assumed that learning needs to take place within walls, and therefore must be facilitated through representational, distanced, and disembodied methods – a belief that deeply concerns me.
I tried to counter this belief with an intervention. Given that we did not have access to outdoor spaces let alone those that are biodiverse, I began each session with short warm-up activities that asked students to engage their senses. We touched shells, stones, pinecones; we smelled spices; we looked at a lichen-laden branch; we listened to bird calls and rain; we looked at images and videos of local plants and animals; we walked like whooping cranes. Depending on the exercise, I asked students to be silent and sometimes to close their eyes, encouraging them to tune in through their senses other than sight and hearing. Students were very receptive to this and loved sharing observations, connections, and memories of their own related experiences.
Next Steps
Through my fellowship, I was able to host an information session about EPWC this spring. As a result, I am now collaborating with several undergraduate and graduate students to expand the program and ensure that it continues. Over the summer and fall, we hope to develop the EPWC curriculum, co-facilitate EPWC sessions in classrooms, and mentor those new to facilitating PWC.
