Martin Dodman

Language and science: products and processes of signification in the educational dialogue

As of 2007, for the first time in the history of humanity, more people live in cities than in rural areas [1]. At the same time, new means of communication permit access to an unprecedented quantity and variety of words and images, modifying in ways not yet understood representations and interpretations of reality. What are the implications of this profound transformation of perspectives for the ways in which children and young people perceive and express themselves, think and build a view of the world? And to what extent and how do science teachers take account of this global change in their thinking and practice? The relational nature of knowledge Our direct experience with a real, natural world, in which the complexity of the person (the body which acts, the input perceived, the thoughts progressively elaborated) enters into relationship with the complexity of the context (a meadow, a path alongside a stream, the seashore) has undergone a process of rapid change over the last fifty years. The pattern which connects, the dance of interacting parts [3], a meshwork of interwoven parts [17], has given way to objects that are artefacts, persistent in form (walls, roads, trains), with well-defined contours. The variety of characteristics, novelties, surprises and actions that accompanies the relationships between different forms of life has in part been substituted by a static world, from which it is easy to feel separate. Also ways of travelling have changed. Often it is no longer our bodies that move, describing a trajectory in space, coming to know a territory with eyes, muscles and proprioceptors, but rather means of transport that move us from one node to another within a network, while we remain passive [17]. While a web of threads and traces (the complexity of nature) is being fragmented into nodes and connectors in our physical experience, an analogous fragmentation is taking place at the cognitive level. In fact, one of the most powerful conceptual tools of modern science ‐ the ability to circumscribe times, spaces, problems, and render discrete processes and phenomena in order to analyse and measure them ‐ has revealed critical aspects too. The prevailing analytical approach, based on a disciplinary view and an increasing specialization of scientific research, offers a fragmented view of natural systems, that is not sufficiently balanced by an integrative vision: according to some Authors [11] there is a need to assume a holistic approach (looking at wholes rather than merely at their component parts), and an interdisciplinary research style. Looking at the whole from a scientific viewpoint implies investigating

The contribution of psychology in connecting the civic and environmental dimensions of sustainability

This paper examines the role of social sciences, and in particular that of psychology, in analyzing and defining the concept of sustainability and understanding ways of promoting sustainable human attitudes and behaviors. It is argued that there is a crucial interdependence between the civic and environmental dimensions of sustainable communities and that in this respect we need to explore how psychological bridging mechanisms between citizens, their communities and their environments can help build new pathways to individual and planetary wellbeing.

Visions for Sustainability

This paper argues that there is a crucial link between language and sustainability and explores in particular how the evolution of certain characteristics and functions of human language are related to it. The emphasis is on how the principal technologies of language speech and writing are related to our ways of being and doing, reflecting on and acting in the world and the consequences of this relationship in terms of the sustainability of our existence. The emergence of writing and its correlation with nominal language are seen as particularly significant developments in how we represent reality and thereby risk following unsustainable

The Contribution of the Capability Approach to the Understanding of Young People’s Sustainability Engagement as a Positive Developmental Outcome.

Young people’s engagement with sustainability includes both civic and pro environmental behaviors (e.g. environmental activism) that contribute to the development of sustainable communities. It reflects a holistic idea of sustainability, where civic democracy and ecological integrity are strictly interconnected. The lack of empirical studies exploring this kind of engagement among young people may well be a consequence of the lack in the literature of a shared theoretical model that provides a framework for both types of behaviors. By integrating Positive Youth Development with the Capability Approach, the aim of this paper is to provide new theoretical input as a way of filling this gap. The proposed model is based on the idea that both positive individual and sustainable development are a question of social justice that takes place within specific domains and is related to understanding experience within life courses. Key words: Positive Youth Development; Capability Approach; Young people; Engagement; Sustainability

Opening Visions for Science Education Futures

ISSN 2384-8677 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.13135/2384-8677/2766 Published online: June 08, 2018 Citation: Colucci-Gray, L., Camino, E., Dodman, M., (2018). Science Education Futures. Visions for Sustainability, 9: 03-09. Copyright: ©2018 Camino, E., Colucci-Gray, L., Dodman, M. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Corresponding Author: Laura Colucci-Gray, United Kingdom.
 E.mail: l.t.gray@abdn.ac.uk

Humanity and Nature, Warfare and Exploitation in Bertolt Brecht’s Poetry

Poetry – better than any sciences – can act as a powerful means to celebrate diversity while speaking a universal tongue. Poems, even those conceived during as difficult times as in war, can address the fulfilment of our fundamental needs, and exhort us to valorize and aim at cooperation, autonomy, and responsibility. That is why the poems of Bertolt Brecht contain a unique vision on the challenges of our times, able to gather in the same perspective the perils of humanity and nature. Although unaware of the climate and environmental disorder of our times, yet Brecht’s writings share a universal message sounding as a timeless warning. His works, made up of contrary elements, stand as the greatest iconoclastic compositions of modern age and can still be used to gain awareness of our limits on the earth.

Visions for Sustainability N. 4: Beyond analytical perspectives

ISSN 2384-8677 DOI: 10.7401/visions.04.01 Published: December, 21 st , 2015 Citation: Camino, E., Ferrara, E., Colucci-Gray L., Dodman, M., (2015) A third series of visions, perspectives and experiences. Visions for Sustainability 4: 2-4. Copyright: ©2015 Camino, Ferrara, Colucci-Gray, Dodman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Corresponding Author: Enzo Ferrara, Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica, Strada delle Caccie 91, 10135, Torino, Italy. E.mail: e.ferrara@inrim.it

A third series of visions, perspectives and approaches

ISSN 2384-8677 DOI: 10.7401/visions.03.01 Published: June, 21, 2015 Citation: Ferrara, E., Colucci-Gray L., Dodman M., (2015) A third series of visions, perspectives and experiences. Visions for Sustainability 3: 2-4. Copyright: ©2014 Ferrara, Colucci-Gray, Dodman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Corresponding Author: Enzo Ferrara, Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica, Strada delle Caccie 91, 10135, Torino, Italy. E.mail: e.ferrara@inrim.it

A second series of visions, perspectives, and experiences

ISSN 2384-8677 DOI: 10.7401/visions.02.06 Published: December, 21, 2014 Citation: Ferrara, E., Dodman, M., Barbiero, G. (2014) A second pass through languages, imaginaries and experiences. Visions for Sustainability 2: 2-4. Copyright: ©2014 Ferrara, Dodman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Corresponding Author: Enzo Ferrara, Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica, Strada delle Caccie 91, 10135, Torino, Italy. E.mail: e.ferrara@inrim.it