The Pedagogical Promises and Possibilities of Nature as Teacher

Abstract

This article extends Wergin's critique of transcultural and postcolonial scholarship, identifying in both a troublesome willingness to deagentify nature by interpolating people - often indigenous people - as its spokespeople, thus relegating nature to mere settings for human activity. Attention is given to examples of nature being allowed to teach, and to the pedagogical possibilities of learning from "living country." The article identifies several "tenets of transecological teaching" before concluding with four specific recommendations for teachers wishing to collaborate with nature-as-teacher and to invite nature to join their faculty.