Equitable Socio-Ecological Learning Across STEM Disciplines Through a Histories of Places Framework

Abstract

Socio-ecological histories of places are political, contested, and intimately linked with ways of knowing and being in the world. Thinking within and across time scales is necessary to understand the complexity of socio-ecological systems more deeply and to account for these layered and intersecting scales as a part of ethical decision making with and for places. In this paper, we describe our work as an interdisciplinary team of geoscientists, ecologists, fisheries biologists, and learning scientists to understand how STEM educators can use the Learning in Places Socio-ecological Histories of Places Framework, to support justice-centered, field-based learning. Our initial findings show that the framework supported STEM faculty in 1) situating humans as a part of the natural world, 2) making visible Indigenous peoples’ time as central to disciplinary learning, and 3) thinking about ethical decision making as a central practice in disciplinary STEM work with students and communities.