Art-based methods for science education and sustainability (ARMESS)
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The aim of the project is to mobilize different art-based methodologies to expand contents and methodological awareness on ERS (Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability) education and research at MDU.
Project manager at MDU
External project members
- Carmen Pellegrinelli, (PhD in Social Science, University of Lapland), theater director, producer, playwright and organizer of theater laboratories.
- Ella Hillström, PhD candidate in Social Anthropology (Stockholm University). Guest lecturer at Stockholm University of the Arts and part-time faculty at Parsons School of Design, NYC (2019-2020).
- Henny Stridsberg, (MA in Dance, University Paris 8), dance pedagogue and organizer of workshops in creative dance for sustainability in collaboration with MDU.
- Leni Grünbaum, Doctoral researcher in Management Studies (Aalto University), coach & facilitator, playback theater conductor and actor. In coaching individuals and groups, she draws on embodied, participatory ways of working that go beyond cognition and build community.
- Yari Stilo, (MA in Choreography and Performative Practices, Stockholm University of the Arts), performer, dancemaker and facilitator of immersive performances. Guest lecturer at Stockholm University of the Arts.
About the project
While the development of competences in ethics, responsibility and sustainability (ERS) have become an urgent issue in education and for society, critical studies show the need to move beyond traditional approaches based on formal tools (CSR, codes of ethics, list of competences or principles etc.), or different forms of “technical fix”. These approaches do not promote change but often reinforce neoliberal dynamics which are at the origin of the Anthropocene.
What kind of pedagogical approaches and ways of working may then trigger more transformational, critical and responsible learning and doings for students, teachers and other societal actors? Critical studies show that ERS cannot be just add-ons to unchanged pedagogical settings but require to re-think the relationship between teachers and learners, how knowledge is produced, how learning happens and through which pedagogical methods.
What is missing is to think about sustainability not as an already-formatted answer to deliver but as a fundamental reframing of ways of working. Education for ERS needs to expand learning methods and the dominant conceptualizations of knowledge to include the realm of aesthetic enquiry, whereby knowledge is understood as coming from the body and the senses. The proposition is centered on multiplying the ways of knowing through transdisciplinary approaches at the cross-roads between arts and science. At the center is the learner's own investigation, engagement and creativity, not the reproduction of already given knowledge. The present proposition involves students of (and across) the 4 MDU academies, teachers and practitioners in a variety of pedagogical workshops where ERS is enquired through creative, embodied and participatory methods.
The program is a unique collaboration among professional facilitators from MDU, other Universities as well as artists. Dialogue and cross-learning among the interventions will be fostered along the entire duration for the project.
