Paper short abstract:

This study explores reimagined curricula focusing on multispecies relations and experiential learning to address ecological crises. It promotes critical thinking beyond traditional methods, advocating for embodied engagement and deeper connections with the natural world.

Paper long abstract:

This paper draws on Science and Technology Studies (STS) to reimagine educational curricula through embodied, experiential, and multispecies relations. The authors present research grounded in experimental and innovative pedagogical approaches involving educators, preschoolers, and vermicompost. Responding to pressing ecological uncertainties, this study co-creates multispecies relations to foster critical and creative thinking beyond the conventional "Three Rs" (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) in early childhood education. It critically examines the current ecological crisis and questions the efficacy of techno-scientific solutions (Vintimilla, 2020), proposing a pedagogical framework that prioritizes embodied engagements with more-than-human entities (Manning, 2013) and relational material practices (de la Bellacasa, 2012). The research aims to collaboratively explore with educators and children the potential of multispecies kinships (van Dooren, 2022) to cultivate a profound, ferocious love for and with more-than-human entities. This endeavor co-creates curriculum that enlightens and emotionally binds young learners to the natural world, opening new avenues for nurturing ecological consciousness and empathy from an early age.