Jan Oakley

Science teachers and the dissection debate: Perspectives on animal dissection and alternatives

ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to analyse learning using Augmented Reality (AR) technology and the motivational and cognitive aspects related to it in an informal learning context. The 146 participants were 11- to 13-year-old Finnish pupils visiting a science centre exhibition. The data, which consisted of both cognitive tasks and self-report questionnaires, were collected using a pre- post-test design and were analysed by SEM path-analysis. The results showed that AR-technology experience was beneficial for all, but especially for the lowest-achieving group and for the girls. In general, pre-knowledge skills predicted post-knowledge test results. As expected, school achievement had an effect on pre-knowledge results. In addition, motivation turned out to be an alternative key route for learning. Being a boy predicted directly or indirectly all other motivational variables, enjoyment and interest, but girls had a higher relative autonomy experience (RAI). Situation motivation and attitude towards learning in the science exhibition were much more strongly inter-connected among boys than girls, and attitude predicted post-knowledge only for boys. AR seems to be a promising method by which to learn abstract phenomena using a concrete manner.

Moving Beyond the Injustices of the Schooled Healthy Body

A healthy body is determined not by medical treatments and lifestyle choices alone, but by a complex interaction of social influences (Raphael, 2009). Despite this, many North American schools continue to espouse the notion that individual choice and behavior alone are the solutions to educating youth for long-term health. In this chapter, we argue that current “healthy body” discourses in schools, in particular in health and physical education culture, privilege certain body types and marginalize others. Through a critical lens, we advocate for a new social movement that deconstructs the injustices of biopedagogies in schools, challenges the regulation of bodies in and through educational practice, and disrupts the idea of the schooled healthy body. Resisting hegemonic biopedagogies, we advocate a vision of social justice in schools that fosters a physical education culture of safety for, and democratic inclusion of, all bodies.

Eco-heroes out of place and relations: decolonizing the narratives of Into the Wild and Grizzly Man through Land education

Eco-heroic quests for environmental communion continue to be represented, mediated, and glorified through film and media narratives. This paper examines two eco-heroic quests in the Alaskan ‘wilderness’ that have been portrayed in two Hollywood motion pictures: the movies Grizzly Man and Into the Wild. Both films vividly document and re-inscribe heroic status to the stories of Timothy Treadwell (Grizzly Man) and Christopher McCandless (Into the Wild), their tragic encounters with nature, and the pivotal experiences that gave them both eco-heroic identities in the American imagination. As is often the case for Greek and Shakespearean dramas, each hero met a tragic, unnecessary death in Alaskan ‘wilderness’, but in the process reiterated a settler colonial narrative. We argue that an Indigenous-focused Land education and its counter-narratives of holistic relations are sorely needed. It is Indigenous Land education that can break the cycle of Eurocentric celebrations of solitary heroism, rugged individualism, and ignorance of place. In order to forge Indigenous/non-Indigenous relations in our cultural imaginations and to address compounding environmental struggles, we need to turn to Indigenous stories and teachings that are already in place, in deep relation with the Land, water, animals and plants on Indigenous territory. We need to turn to Land education that is currently not in place or acknowledged in environmental education.

“I Didn’t Feel Right About Animal Dissection”: Dissection Objectors Share Their Science Class Experiences

Abstract This paper highlights the voices and experiences of individuals who objected to animal dissection in their high school science and biology classes. The data were collected via online surveys (n = 311), and 8 of these participants took part in more in-depth telephone interviews. Participants were former students from Ontario, Canada, who discussed their experiences with animal dissection in general, and objection to dissection in particular, if applicable. The findings reveal that students who expressed objection to dissection experienced a range of teacher responses, including pressure to participate, the request to join another group of students and watch, the choice to use a dissection alternative, warnings of compromised grades, and other responses. The study points to the importance of choice policies to ensure that dissection alternatives are available in classrooms. In this way, students can select among different options of how they would like to learn, and teachers can be prepared to accommodate those who choose not to dissect.

Mirrored Tensions: A Mother–Daughter Introspection on Gendered Experiences in Outdoor Recreation

This autoethnographic chapter explores the narratives of a mother (Teresa) and daughter (Stephanie) as active participants in the field of outdoor recreation. The discussion in this chapter seeks to unpack our understandings of hegemonic masculinity, gender performativity and the superwoman complex, and the impact of supportive males in outdoor recreation environments. Through a deconstruction of shared experiences consistent through two generations, our chapter politicizes some of the recurring themes that have shaped our gendered identities and experiences as women in the field.