Using a post-structural, interpretive perspective, we studied children's humour in a grade-1 and -2 classroom. In this article, we report our observations of two boys who took on the role of "class clown." The boys used humour to negotiate power, which we defined as participation in discourse, taking on the role of class clowns and playing these roles, based on the context of their actions and responses of their peers and teachers. They were also defined by their roles because their teachers and peers came to expect certain actions from them. These two boys contributed to classroom discursive practices and also limited the classroom discourse.
This article presents an analysis of three uniquely situated garden-based research studies. As colleagues intrigued by the rich, intricate, learning dynamics playing out within the garden spaces, our collaboration explored the broader meaning and potential for garden-based programming. As we discussed the three garden studies, two themes emerged as valuable for analysis: relationality and decolonisation. We understand the themes in relation to Gregory Cajete’s (2005) conceptualisation of coming to resonance within oneself, one’s community, and the surrounding ecosystem as being integral aspects of a holistic learning program. In addition, centring learning around relationality with place requires, as Delores Calderon (2014) asserts, a critique of colonisation that has shaped place over time. In our collaboration on the three studies and reading of current developments in the literature, it became clear that garden- and place-based education must grapple with the troubled histories of place and work towards decolonisation. Each garden project provided unique insight, but our collective analysis elicited an examination of assumptions about pedagogy and potential for decolonisation of land, body, and minds.
In this paper, we draw on the ontology and epistemology of the local Kasena ethnic group in Northern Ghana to explore Early Childhood Environmental Education. The study, taking place in Boania Primary School, drew on the concept of two-eyed seeing, where both western and Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies were taught. In this way, Indigenous Ecological Knowledge was integrated into the Early Childhood Environmental Education programme for the Kindergarten two classroom environmental studies topics. Two Indigenous Elders led the integration of local knowledge into environmental studies topics by visiting the school to teach the children through taking them outdoors for learning activities. After this, in-depth interviews were held with the teacher, Indigenous Elders, and nine children regarding their experiences. The purpose of the study was to explore how Indigenous Ecological Knowledges can help instil in children positive environmental attitudes and values, while also connecting them to nature and offering them a more relational understanding of human to nature relationships. Based on the Indigenous cultural framework of respect, reciprocity, and responsibility towards nature, the findings show that the integration of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge into environmental education has the potential to improve our relationships with the environment.
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