The educational conceptual framework for the project features a transdisciplinary approach to curriculum.
Because we wanted to go beyond the generally accepted acronyms STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), or STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) – which we see as only partially addressing environmental issues – we adopted a ‘working’ acronym METALS (mathematics, environment, technology, arts, language, science) which provides a fuller conception of transdisciplinarity. A transdisciplinary approach allows for the inclusion of current issues identified by Brandt et al. (2013, 1):
Social–ecological systems currently face multiple unprecedented challenges including, but not limited to, the degradation of ecosystems, over exploitation of natural resources, climate change, wealth inequalities, and human conflicts. These interconnected challenges are threatening the sustainable development of society.
For education, Nicolescu (1997, 1) sees the challenges identified by Brandt as ‘inevitably perpetuated and deepened by a system of education founded on the values of another century, and by a rapidly accelerating unbalance between contemporary social structures and the changes which are currently taking place in the contemporary world’. These interconnected challenges are threatening the sustainable development of society (Parris & Kates, 2003; Rockstrom et al., 2009). The emergence of a new culture capable of contributing to the elimination of the tensions menacing life on our planet will be impossible without a new type of education which takes into account all the dimensions of the human being. Panizzon and Lloyd (2017, 21) argue that:
What we do know is that regardless of the pedagogy used, the student must be at the heart of our work as teachers. Discipline content knowledge does matter but … a deeper understanding of why and how our world functions holistically is of most significance if we are to nurture independent thinkers who can actually create new knowledge and apply these insights in many different ways.
It is students’ ability to innovate and ‘think outside the square’ that will be required in our future workforce, but more critically, will help protect our Earth and its resources for future generations (Paige & Lloyd, 2016; Paige, Lloyd, & Smith, 2016).
We adopted a transdisciplinary approach that goes beyond subject specific areas to be inclusive of the exact sciences, humanities and the social sciences, as well as art, literature, poetry and spiritual experience. That is, we adopted an integral approach (Wilber, 2006), inclusive of all aspects of knowing, feeling and doing (cognitive, affective, spiritual, and intentional) to address, in our case, the issue of sustainability and eco justice with a particular focus on fresh water. As Seaton (2002, 9) writes:
There is growing consensus that education must extend its traditional goal of student mastery of subject-centred scholastic knowledge, to include the development of individuals who can prosper in complex and changing social, cultural and economic worlds.
For this reason, the project focused on an issue – fresh water and human and other than human communities – from both within and beyond discipline boundaries, to facilitate the possibility of new perspectives. Nicolescu (1997, 1) notes that:
As the prefix “trans” indicates, transdisciplinarity concerns that which is at once between the disciplines, across the different disciplines, and beyond all disciplines. Its goal is the understanding of the present world, of which one of the imperatives is the unity of knowledge and involves an acceptance of the unknown, the unexpected and the unforeseeable.
As Balsiger (2015, 185) points out:
despite its many advantages, teaching transdisciplinary is a costly enterprise. Transferring diverse theoretical, methodological, and practical skills may require several teaching staff; developing meaningful stakeholder interaction is time-intensive; and managing the… process demands significant efforts in logistics, coordination and in costs.
This has been the case with the Fresh Water Literacy project and it poses a major challenge for schools wishing to undertake this kind of work.
Furthermore, to quote Balsiger (2015, 185):
the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of transdisciplinary learning in school settings entails participation by a wide range of external supporters. Extensive time is required to establish relations, bring on board the external supporters needed to benefit the transdisciplinary learning, and make themselves available. Finally, regardless of the school setting, efforts dedicated to managing the learning such as logistics and coordination are typically demanding.
The sound teaching of transdisciplinary learning necessitate proficiency in a range of knowledge and skills and may require team-teaching.
We used an action research (Grundy 1994; Kemmis 2008) approach in our collaboration with teachers to assist them to critically examine their transdisciplinary pedagogical practices and their students’ learning. Teachers participated in practitioner inquiry as action research to document the various curriculum and pedagogical innovations as they were undertaken and implemented within the developed learning experiences. Our approach to co- designing and enacting a curriculum for the Anthropocene was to work alongside teachers who were prepared to experiment and critically reflect on what they had been able to accomplish and negotiate with their students, the community and in their specific institutional and geographic locations. All teacher-researchers were committed to tackling complex ecological, social and ethical questions in relation to ‘water literacies’.
