Art, Nature and the Virtual Environment: Three strands of a narrative inquiry written around a schoolyard garden as a collection of "events"

Cuerden, Barbara2010-12-102010-12-1020102010http://hdl.handle.net/10393/19679http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-4331Working with an organization outside the public school system that was creating schoolyard gardens, I began to think about culture and cultivation inside and outside of schooling practices. The liveliness of the schoolyard gardens presented possibilities for enlivening educational discourses. With two participants I planted a container box schoolyard garden outside Lamoureux Hall, which houses the Faculty of Education. Utilizing aspects of place-based pedagogy, ecoliteracy, ecopedagogy and a metissage of a/r/tography, eco-art and writing as a method of inquiry, we tended the garden and dwelled upon ideas of nature, culture, and their intersection in a particular place. Our garden experiences left cyber footprints in virtual space as blog spots on a thesis blog site. The garden and the inquiry it generated outside,is brought back inside the education building as a Master's thesis. The garden grew in different and unpredictable ways due to intense construction on site, entwining the planter boxes with unseen variables.enecopedagogyenvironmental educationplace-based pedagogyecoliteracyparticipatory paradigmarts-based methodologyarts-based educationliving pedagogyoutdoor educationthesis blogMichel Serreswriting as a method of inquiryresearch on place and spacea/r/tographyresilience allianceDavid JardineCenter for Ecoliteracyresilienceteaching for emergenceresearch in art, nature and the environmentfood securityeco-artecotherapyschoolyard gardenssustainable educationteaching towards emergence,Art, Nature and the Virtual Environment: Three strands of a narrative inquiry written around a schoolyard garden as a collection of "events"Thesis