Description
Conference:Centennial Celebration and Congress of the International Union of Soil Sciences, Florence – Italy (May 19 - 21, 2024)
ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Session: 2. Soil and humanity
2.13 133597 - Soil, soul and society: transformative pathways in soil care practices
Title of the presentation: “SHAPING SOIL LITERACY: UNRAVELING PARADIGMS IN EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE HUMAN-SOIL RELATIONS” (21st May 2024)
Authors: Camilla Ramezzano & Valentina Tassone
Presenter: Camilla Ramezzano
Abstract: The global soil crisis presents a significant threat to socio-ecological sustainability, demanding a re-consideration of the paradigms that shape soil education. Paradigms are normative assumptions describing how we understand the world, make sense of the human-soil relationship, and respond to soil-related sustainability challenges. The intricate material and scalar complexity of soils include diverse knowledge and practice systems. How communities perceive soil varies across contexts, resulting in a debate with deeply rooted social and cultural concerns. Inevitably, different assumptions and perceptions about soil influence educational practices, and what and how we teach and learn about soil. The LOESS project, a collaborative and transdisciplinary initiative, seeks to enhance soil literacy by mapping, connecting, and engaging with diverse educational levels, from primary to higher education and civil society, across 15 European countries. LOESS aims to co-create and test pedagogical techniques helping reconsider how we understand soil and foster human-soil relations, stimulating discourses between educators and learners, and bridging different knowledge systems. Wageningen University team within the LOESS project conducted qualitative research in the Netherlands educational context, exploring soil knowledge practices and the paradigms shaping human-soil relations. The research focuses on how educators envision soil education, specifically examining which paradigms-considering the mechanistic and the ecological paradigms-are chosen to enhance knowledge and cultivate a sense of care for the soil among students. The mechanistic and ecological paradigms offer different perspectives on the natural world: universal versus local, atomistic versus relational, and controllable versus chaotic. A curriculum rooted in a specific worldview shapes students' understanding of soil and environmental issues. Findings from interviews and focus groups with educators, from diverse educational levels, reveal how assumptions shape the purpose of soil education, ranging from agricultural use to environmental preservation. Educators' conceptualization of education and teaching of soil-related topics are influenced by paradigms, whether mechanistic or ecological. This study recognizes the diversity of knowledge systems and paradigms that shape human-soil relations, contributing to addressing the global soil crisis.
Keywords: soil education, soil-human relationships, paradigms, qualitative research, diverse knowledge systems
| Period | 19 May 2024 → 21 May 2024 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Centennial Celebration and Congress of the International Union of Soil Sciences |
| Event type | Conference/symposium |
| Location | Florence, ItalyShow on map |