Reading the land: on the ethical foundations of environmental studies’ signature pedagogy

Kimberly Smith ()
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Kimberly Smith: Carleton College

Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2018, vol. 8, issue 3, No 10, 356 pages

Abstract: Abstract Many environmental studies and sciences (ESS) programs include courses that teach students how to interpret the landscape—to “read the land.” I argue that this practice fits Lee Shulman’s concept of a “signature pedagogy”: a pedagogy that is characteristic of a field or discipline and that implicitly shapes the character of future practice. One dimension of a signature pedagogy is its “implicit structure,” a set of beliefs about the attitudes, values, and dispositions it seeks to develop. Drawing on the work of Iris Murdoch and Lawrence Blum, I argue that teaching students how to read the land is aimed at developing their “moral perception”: their ability to appreciate the moral significance of the various elements of the landscape. This practice develops a certain kind of attentiveness to the landscape that ESS promotes, and should promote, as the mark of an environmentally knowledgeable and responsible person.

Keywords: Signature pedagogy; Environmental studies; Interpreting landscapes; Environmental ethics; Aldo Leopold; Moral perception (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1007/s13412-018-0488-3

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