Abstract
Nathan Hensley studied outdoor and experiential education; instructed environmental studies and environmental education classes; and has lived a life immersed in ecologically and socially rich communities, a background that has influenced this book on place-based education and bioregional studies. His passion for outdoor experiential and holistic alternative education inspired him to address the topic of this book.
Hensley joins the never-ending debate over what and how schools should teach the knowledge, skills, values and experiences that are necessary to produce citizens of the world who have a sense of planetary stewardship. Debates on the full spectrum of education are many, but specific eco-curriculum programmes are too few and there is relatively little published research concerning the benefits of such discussions. As a curriculum studies researcher, Hensley examines formal curricula, experiential curricula and hidden curricula to support his contention that bioregion-based education is essential in raising our awareness of global interconnections and sustainability issues.
In its focus on eco-curriculum, and watershed-oriented bioregional education in particular, this book is a timely and welcome addition to sustainability and education literature. Hensley takes a rare look at the relationship between school programmes and the contours of the society and culture in which schools are located. His style of augmenting an autobiographical narrative with theories and analysis to present an ecological text is also unique in the curriculum studies literature. Although handling a complicated conversation on what should be taught in eco-curriculum and how it should be taught, the book makes it sound easy by sharing many examples from the author’s experiences both as a doctoral student and an outdoor educator.
Hensley’s provocative title alludes to his focus on nature immersion and exploration as a teaching approach that compels students to want to learn rather than directs them to learn. His research indicates that his eco-curriculum approach has caused his students to experience a qualitative shift in their interactions with each other and contributed to cohesive group working. He has produced strong evidence demonstrating the pedagogical benefits of eco-curriculum such as fostering a sense of wonder that promotes inquiry and interest in restoration and the development of a greater sense of place. In defence of the book’s title, Hensley explains that this unique approach to curriculum studies is a liberating process meant to nurture authentic encounters and life experiences. Through this process, students are allowed to flow freely in an unconfined organic journey to self-realisation.
The purpose of the book, as Hensley explains in Chapter 1, is to explore the way in which encounters and experiences in our bioregion can increase our understanding of personal place and our role in creating, building and maintaining a sustainable world. In his attempt to contextualise curriculum studies, he takes us on an eco-curriculum journey. In Chapter 2, through the intersections of ecology and sustainability, he maintains that curriculum studies should be a vehicle for social transformation.
Chapter 3 takes us deeper into his journey in search of the connection between education and environmental degradation. He suggests that the problem lies in our mechanistic worldview and educational models that have given rise to social efficacy and ‘factory style production’ of learners, which is unsustainable.
To make the case for education and ecological sustainability, and respond to unsustainable, mechanistically derived curriculum, the author, in the fourth chapter, labouriously describes the history of sustainability from within and beyond education and details the connections between sustainability, sustainability education, curriculum studies and an ecological worldview.
In Chapter 5, the author implores readers to take personal responsibility and become better planetary stewards as he inquires and discusses the importance of place consciousness and place-based education within the context of mobilising a bioregional eco-curriculum for sustainability. For the author, the shift towards planetary stewardship within education is a complex journey and a ‘prayerful act’; a slow and difficult but necessary process to decarbonising a carbon copy curriculum.
Curriculum Studies Gone Wild is an autobiographical work. One could argue that it overemphasises personal and family experiences. Given his approach, Hensley might have chosen to interview other eco-curriculum advocates and strengthened the work by including their narratives.
Hensley’s focus on eco-curriculum studies is not as fully developed as it might have been because he can’t seem to resist delving deeply into the overexploited themes of environmental degradation and the history of sustainability. Readers could have benefited from a greater emphasis on the major themes of bioregional and place-based education, a clearer definition of eco-curriculum and clarity on how to decarbonise and equip learners with knowledge, skills, values and experiences that enable them to honour the interconnected relationships that sustain life. Furthermore, it would have been helpful if the author had spent more time discussing how to design, implement and evaluate his brand of eco- and experiential education. Oddly, the book has a 20-page reference list but does not include an index.
Overall, the author has added value to the variety of instructional practices across the curriculum by sharing his experiences with outdoor and place-based education. Hensley’s perspective on curriculum studies and the future direction of eco-curriculum will be a benefit to teachers and researchers as well as other stakeholders of education and curriculum.