Search Results (56)

Debates concerning the Nature of Science (NoS) have increasingly acknowledged its epistemic, cultural, ethical, and social dimensions. Recent scholarship has further foregrounded issues of equity, identity, and justice within science education. While these developments represent significant progress, this article argues that dominant conceptualisations of NoS remain fundamentally anthropocentric and insufficiently responsive to the ecological crises that define the Anthropocene. Drawing on Earth System Science, eco-centric theory, post-human theory and Indigenous and local knowledges, this paper proposes a planetary-conscious reconceptualisation of NoS. This framework retains the methodological rigour and evidential standards of Western science while expanding epistemic boundaries to include relational, place-based, and intergenerational ways of knowing. We argue that eco-centric and post-human theoretical frameworks offer essential pedagogical approaches for supporting young people to develop deeper connections with nature, fostering care-based relationships with the more-than-human world, and building resilience for sustainable futures. Such a reconceptualisation is necessary not only for scientific literacy but for the protection and enhancement of planetary health. Implications for curriculum, pedagogy, and teacher education are discussed, with particular attention to primary science education. Full article

This article develops a symbolic hermeneutic framework for interpreting contemporary socio-educational phenomena within the horizon of decolonial thought and Liberation Theology. It begins from the assumption that symbols are not merely decorative forms of representation but fundamental structures of meaning that shape both individual experience and collective life, especially through their educational effects. From this perspective, the article examines how the symbols circulating in social communication reveal the ideological underpinnings of imagination, authority, exclusion, and resistance. The essay then places this symbolic analysis in dialog with decolonial theory, arguing that the enduring epistemological legacy of colonialism continues to organize hegemonic forms of knowledge, subjectivity, and power. Particular attention is devoted to the concept of the frontier, first understood as a modern device of exclusion and then reinterpreted as a space of epistemic resistance, ethical encounter, and democratic confrontation among differences. The discussion further engages key authors of Liberation Theology and the philosophy of liberation—especially Gustavo Gutiérrez, Leonardo Boff, Enrique Dussel, and Paulo Freire—in order to show how religious discourse and pedagogical practice intersect in processes of emancipation. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative, interpretative approach grounded in philosophical hermeneutics and critical conceptual analysis. It reconstructs and compares major theoretical positions rather than presenting empirical data. The article argues that the integration of symbolic hermeneutics, decolonial thought, and liberationist theology offers an original framework for rethinking education as a transformative practice grounded in ethical responsibility toward the Other. By bringing the concepts of frontier, sentipensamiento, communality, and pluriverse into a single analytical constellation, the paper contributes to current debates in religious studies, critical pedagogy, and epistemic justice. In the context of contemporary global crises—migration, ecological devastation, social fragmentation, and the weakening of democratic participation—it proposes a renewed role for religion as a critical and generative force capable of opening new educational spaces for dialogue, liberation, and the reconfiguration of knowledge. Full article

What do we mean when we talk about the “environment” inside the ecological discourse? Do we really have a clear and distinct notion of it? This paper argues that the “environment” is not a single object approached from different disciplinary angles, but a stratified epistemic field in which distinct models produce distinct results. Against the assumption of a unified environmental referent, the article reconstructs four major models of understanding: (1) the scientific model of the ecosystem, (2) the moral model of nature as value, (3) the aesthetic model of landscape, and (4) the juridical model of territory or land. Each of these models is shown to function as a specific device of objectivation, unifying heterogeneous elements according to its own rationality: systemic regulation, axiological orientation, experiential appearance, or the normative ordering of living space. Through historical and conceptual analyses, the paper demonstrates that these models are neither mutually reducible nor merely complementary perspectives on the same object. Rather, they generate different environmental objects, each governed by its own epistemic logic. What the paper suggests is that the environment remains (as it should) a polyvocal concept, and that a critical epistemology of the environment, precisely because of this polyvocality, must concern itself with mapping these models and explicating their architecture and techniques of functioning. Full article

This article examines Pope Francis’s concept of the common good and its implications for economic thought, addressing the need for a richer evaluative framework than those centred on public goods or efficiency-based welfare. It identifies five recurrent meaning clusters in Francis’s use of the term: governance criterion and institutional obligation; peacebuilding, dialogue, and civic reconciliation; social justice, inclusion, and protection of the vulnerable; integral ecology and intergenerational responsibility; and the moral–epistemic conditions of social cooperation. The analysis is based on a mixed-methods design applied to all official, publicly available papal sources in which the term common good appears explicitly, combining quantitative mapping of occurrences with qualitative interpretation of their semantic contexts across documents and public statements. The findings indicate that, in Francis’s teaching, the common good functions as a normative-institutional meta-criterion for evaluating whether economic and political arrangements support dignified human development, inclusion, and ecological viability across time horizons. In dialogue with welfare economics, public economics, social choice theory, and selected common-good-oriented approaches, the article argues that this framework offers a broader evaluative vocabulary for economic analysis, integrating justice, ecological limits, institutional structure, and moral formation. Full article

The study reconsiders the architectural production associated with Russian Suprematism (which was speaking of “the supremacy of pure artistic sensation” rather than the veritable figurative depiction of real-life subjects) in the early Soviet period as a coherent and conceptually rigorous mode of speculative world-making rather than as a marginal or unrealized appendix to avant-garde art history and theory. By examining the architectural propositions articulated by Kazimir Malevich and then elaborated by his younger colleagues Lazar Khidekel, Ilya Chashnik, and Nikolai Suetin, the study advances the claim that Russian Suprematist architecture constituted an epistemic experiment aimed at redefining the very ontological premises of architecture. Far from functioning as a mere transposition of abstract pictorial language into three-dimensional form, Suprematist planits, architectons, and aerocentric projects operated as instruments for thinking spatiality beyond terrestrial gravity, anthropocentric utility, and historical typology. Situating these projects within the intellectual horizon of Russian cosmism and early aerospace thought, the article demonstrates how Suprematist architecture intersected with contemporary philosophical, scientific, and technological discourses that envisioned humanity’s active participation in the reorganization of cosmic space. The architectural imagination of Suprematism emerges here as inseparable from broader debates on excitation, non-objectivity, transformation of matter, and the reconfiguration of human corporeality. Through close analysis of formal strategies, pedagogical frameworks, and theoretical writings, the paper reveals the internal plurality of avant-garde Suprematist architectural inquiry, ranging from ecological proto-urbanism and hovering settlements to magnetic and cruciform spatial systems. Ultimately, the paper argues that the historical non-realization of these projects should not be interpreted as a failure but as an intrinsic feature of their speculative methodology. Suprematist architecture is thus redefined as an anticipatory practice whose unresolved propositions continue to resonate with contemporary discussions on space habitation, planetary design, ecological responsibility, and post-human architectural thought, challenging inherited assumptions about the scope and function of architecture as such. Full article

As secondary educational environments face increasing volatility due to systemic resource constraints and pedagogical uncertainty, understanding the behavioral mechanisms of teacher agency has become paramount. While traditional teacher education has emphasized the execution of standardized curricula, the current era demands a fundamental shift toward adaptive expertise and psychological resilience. This study investigates the processes by which 28 secondary pre-service physical education teachers (PSTs) navigate instructional resource deficits through the lens of adaptive behavior (bricolage) and ecological teacher agency. Utilizing a qualitative case study design, I collected data from two universities in Seoul, South Korea, through reflective journals, revised lesson plans, and micro-teaching video analysis reports over a full 15-week semester. The results identified five coordinates of an adaptive instructional design compass: (1) Facing Constraints, (2) Resource Mining, (3) Contextual Engineering, (4) Simulation, and (5) Reflective Participation. These coordinates represent a transformative behavioral process where PSTs convert environmental deficits into professional assets. The findings reveal distinct adaptation styles based on psychological dispositions: the analytically oriented group (Group A) prioritized structural redesign through digital tools, while the narratively oriented group (Group B) utilized human-centric somatic metaphors and virtual rehearsals to bridge the epistemic void. Crucially, this research suggests that teacher adaptation is not a mere technical adjustment but a dynamic behavioral achievement of agency that ensures the long-term instructional quality of physical education. I propose that teacher education programs should incorporate “Safe Deficit” simulations—carefully calibrated instructional constraints—to trigger adaptive behavior and ensure that future educators can thrive in unpredictable pedagogical contexts without the risk of professional burnout. Full article

This study situates Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) within the broader challenge of decarbonising the built environment, arguing that efficiency-oriented approaches remain insufficient unless complemented by a sufficiency paradigm that already questions “how much is necessary” in the meta-design phase. Building on an interdisciplinary reading of standards and the scientific literature, the paper analyses the regulatory architecture of Type III environmental declarations and discusses the operational implications of the two main reference frameworks for construction EPDs—ISO 21930 (global) and EN 15804 (European)—with attention paid to methodological rigidity, system boundaries, and the granularity of climate-related indicators. The paper highlights that the declared aim of comparability is frequently undermined in practice by heterogeneous Product Category Rules, background databases, modelling assumptions, and verification practices, producing an “illusion of comparability” and limiting the reliability of product-to-product comparisons. Emphasis is placed on the epistemic role of the functional unit and reference service life, showing how narrowly product-based units can conceal system-level effects and bias decision-making. The paper concludes that EPDs are most effective when interpreted as boundary objects linking policy, industry, and design, and when embedded in a sufficiency-oriented “critical ecology of materials” that integrates embodied and operational carbon within contextualised project decisions. Full article

Digital capitalism has generated new forms of extractivism that extend beyond natural resources to encompass data, attention, affect, and planetary materials. This article examines how exhibition practices can function as forms of algorithmic resistance by foregrounding material praxis, embodied engagement, and curatorial strategies of care. Drawing on a practice-based research approach, the paper develops a theoretical framework around extractivism, materiality, and relational ethics, and applies it to two case studies: the author’s exhibition Nature Reclaims: Images of Healing, which cultivates regenerative imaginaries through urban rewilding photography, tactile installations, and trauma-informed reflective tools; and Fossil Fables, curated by the Global Extraction Observatory (GEO), which exposes the infrastructural, political, and ideological architectures sustaining extractive industries and digital technologies. Through comparative analysis, the article introduces the concept of symbiotic curation to describe a post-extractive curatorial method that holds critical exposure and regenerative proposition in sustained tension. The findings illustrate how exhibitions can reorganize perception, recalibrate temporality, and render hidden infrastructures visible, while also cultivating embodied relations of care, ecological attunement, and collective reflection. By positioning curatorial practice as an epistemic process in which theoretical propositions are tested through spatial, material, and affective decisions, the article identifies transferable principles for post-extractive cultural work. It argues that exhibitions can operate as laboratories for algorithmic resistance and as sites for rehearsing alternative relations between humans, technologies, and more-than-human worlds. Full article

Background/Objectives: Autism research has often interpreted autistic sociality through neurotypical norms, limiting ecological accounts of autistic meaning-making and context-sensitive support needs. Social virtual environments (SVEs), such as VRChat, allow modulation of sensory exposure, social distance, and participation pace, potentially enabling autistic-led interaction with greater autonomy and predictability. This study examined how autistic young adults co-construct meanings around social interaction, identity, and self-regulation in peer-led discussions within an SVE; identified context-sensitive processes relevant to well-being; and evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of SVEs as a participatory research setting. Methods: Sixteen autistic young adults (18–38 years; DSM-5-TR, Level 1) participated in nine remote sessions conducted in VRChat, coordinated via a co-designed Discord server. The peer-led discussions were audio-video recorded, transcribed, and anonymized. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, combining inductive session-level coding, cross-session thematic clustering, and participatory refinement with community partners. Results: Autistic experience was framed as a context-dependent negotiation of interpretive risk, interactional workload, masking-related energy costs, and epistemic injustice, alongside future-oriented accounts emphasizing access, dignity, and systemic redesign. Observational memos documented multimodal participation, distributed peer facilitation, and accessibility-relevant sensitivities to environmental stability. Community partners reported positive experiences and supported the acceptability of private-world VRChat sessions. Conclusions: Peer-led discussions in an SVE can support ecologically grounded, participant-centered qualitative research, offering methodological opportunities to study autistic meaning-making under conditions that reduce demands and risks. Full article

Generally portrayed as a neutral framework, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is implemented in various contexts through unequal policy transfers that favour Global North perspectives. The CEFR has become a key policy tool for curriculum internationalisation worldwide, particularly in higher education institutions in the Global South that seek international recognition. This qualitative study uses a critical policy transfer and policy enactment approach to examine how lecturer agency influences CEFR-based curriculum internationalisation in Indonesian postgraduate English programs, especially those aiming for the C1/C2 level. Informed by Priestley, Biesta, and Robinson’s ecological model of agency, the analysis reveals that lecturers employ interpretive, adaptive, and transformative agency to counter deficit narratives, integrate global standards with local pedagogical principles, and redefine CEFR C1/C2 as a construct of contextual significance. Rather than implementing the CEFR as a fixed benchmark, lecturers act as epistemic and cultural brokers who reclaim curriculum internationalisation as a locally grounded pedagogical project. The study advances debates on the CEFR, policy transfer, and Global South internationalisation by foregrounding lecturer agency as a critical site where global language policies are negotiated, contested, and reworked. Full article

Antonopoulou and Dare’s ongoing collaborative projects (Phi Books 2008: ongoing; Digital Dreamhacker 2013: ongoing) enact an open-ended, experimental set of slow ‘Fictioning’ practices and actions that involve performing, diagramming, or assembling to create or anticipate new modes of existence. In this paper, the authors use the visual essay form to evidence how their daily practices of drawing, writing, and exchanging, position art and the artist. These practices unfold without, in this case, the utilitarian, economic, and epistemic priorities and systems of reductive representation which underpin the extractive models of Generative AI and other ‘innovative’ intermediaries, systems which expedite content and regulate consumption in the cultural and creative industries and in ‘arts and humanities’ education. Focusing on their creative practices, Antonopoulou and Dare reposition commodified notions of productivity, creativity, and innovation, seeking what Haraway describes as a way ‘of making, thinking and worlding’ beyond the neoliberal imperatives of extracting profit from labour. Positioned within an era of escalating precarity combined with ecological and political instability driven by extractive colonialism, the temporality of collaboration and drawing over decades is proposed as an act of material resistance to art’s subsumption into the venture capitalist hype cycles. Such cycles are associated with an accelerating array of crises, discussed here. Full article

Agroecology is increasingly shaped by the convergence of traditional knowledge, farmers’ lived experiences, and scientific research, fostering a plural dialog that embraces the ecological and socio-political complexity of agricultural systems. Within this framework, soil biodiversity is essential for maintaining ecosystem functions, with soil microbiology, and particularly arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), playing a pivotal role in enhancing soil fertility, plant health, and agroecosystem resilience. This review explores the synergy between agroecological practices and AMF by examining their ecological, economic, epistemic, and territorial contributions to sustainable agriculture. Drawing on recent scientific findings and Latin American case studies, it highlights how practices such as reduced tillage, crop diversification, and organic matter inputs foster diverse and functional AMF communities and differentially affect their composition and ecological roles. Beyond their biological efficacy, AMF are framed as relational and socio-ecological agents—integral to networks that connect soil regeneration, food quality, local autonomy, and multi-species care. By bridging ecological science with political ecology and justice in science-based knowledge, this review offers a transdisciplinary lens on AMF and proposes pathways for agroecological transitions rooted in biodiversity, cognitive justice, and territorial sustainability. Full article

This study addresses the challenge of digitally modeling Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in a manner that respects and preserves its epistemic integrity. Grounded in ethnographic inquiry and system design, the research introduces a four-tier knowledge typology that conceptualizes how tacit, explicit, tribal and cultural knowledge circulate within Indigenous communities. This cyclical model highlights recursive and embodied processes of knowledge internalization, transmission, and integration, offering a dynamic alternative to linear knowledge flow frameworks. Building upon this epistemological foundation, this study traces the transition from traditional data practices, which are centered on oral histories, ritual performances, and ecological observation, to a contemporary AI-assisted architecture that operationalizes these forms through structured semantic enrichment, modular knowledge storage, and culturally aligned reasoning systems. The proposed system integrates layered components, from data acquisition to multi-agent inference models, while embedding ethical protocols that affirm community sovereignty and relational authority. The findings suggest that TEK systems can be effectively encoded into modern digital infrastructures without erasing their socio-cultural contexts. By foregrounding Indigenous epistemologies within system design, the research advances a critical paradigm for culturally responsive knowledge technologies in sustainability, education, and heritage preservation. Full article

This paper extends Rodney Brooks’ subsumption architecture into the era of Agentic AI by replacing its priority arbiter with a Generative Orchestrator that performs semantic mediation—interpreting heterogeneous agent outputs and integrating them into a coherent action rather than merely arbitrating among them. Brooks’ original model (1986) demonstrated that autonomous behavior can emerge from parallel reactive layers without symbolic representation, establishing principles later recognized as foundational to agentic systems: environmental responsiveness, autonomy, and goal-directed action. Contemporary Agentic AI, however, requires capabilities beyond mechanical response—decision-making, adaptive strategy, and goal pursuit. We therefore reinterpret subsumption layers as four interacting agent types: reflex, model-based, goal-based, and utility-based, coordinated through semantic mediation. The Generative Orchestrator employs large language models not for content generation but for decision synthesis, enabling integrative agentic behavior. This approach merges real-time responsiveness with interpretive capacity for learning, reasoning, and explanation. An autonomous driving case study demonstrates how the architecture sustains behavioral autonomy while generating human-interpretable rationales for its actions. Validation was conducted through a Python-based proof-of-concept on an NVIDIA platform, reproducing the scenario to evaluate and confirm the architecture. This framework delineates a practical pathway toward advancing autonomous agents from reactive control to fully Agentic AI systems capable of operating in open, uncertain environments. Full article

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping higher education (HE) by reconfiguring how knowledge becomes visible, how judgment is exercised, and how recognition is distributed. These systems intervene in the pedagogical and democratic conditions under which plurality, critique, and participation can be sustained. This study examines how students and lecturers interpret and navigate these transformations and what they reveal about the possibilities of democratic education under algorithmic mediation. Drawing on n = 151 written articulations (122 students, 29 lecturers) to open-ended questions collected via LimeSurvey, analyzed through Grounded Theory in combination with biographical interpretation and oriented by education theory (Bildung) and democracy pedagogy, the research reconstructs five orientations that range from pragmatic coping to struggles over recognition. These orientations illuminate how systemic dynamics of acceleration, opacity, and infrastructural authority are refracted into everyday academic practice. They are further synthesized into three broader axes of temporal sovereignty, epistemic opacity and accountability, and recognition ecologies. The findings highlight how fragile orientations emerge as both risks and resources. The study contributes to HE didactics by outlining strategies to transform fragility into pedagogical occasions, emphasizing reflective delay, dialogical engagement with opacity, and diversification of recognition practices. It concludes that democratic education depends on cultivating spaces where algorithmic pressures become educable and fragile orientations can develop into dispositions of reflexivity, critique, and participation. Full article