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Short abstract

I propose a short discussion of artworks and creative projects that explore ecologies of digital materiality through participatory art practice and illustrate how these artworks could contribute towards radical pedagogies in computer science education.

Long abstract

I am a practice based Phd student at Winchester School of Art (University of Southampton) and educator at University Arts London, where we have a research group engaging with the entangled relations between computation and the climate crisis called 'Critical Climate Computing'.

My recent work is focused on developing critical mineral literacies through participatory art practice and combining energy politics with land art and walking practices. Since 2022, I have been conducting ‘Rare Earth Walks’ - guided artist-led walks exploring cultural narratives around critical minerals that consider geological media and digital materiality through non-human narratives. I have delivered educational workshops for KS1 and KS2 aged young people developing digital literacy through ecological and environmental practice and ask how these artistic methodologies might contribute towards transformative pedagogies in emergent models of experimental computer science education.

This proposal intersects with a number of relevant fields across art, activism & education such as 'Permacomputing' a design philosophy for re-thinking computing that mirrors how permaculture has shaped industrial agriculture and 'Ecomedia' - a field of digital humanities that produces curricula for prioritising the inherent environmental materiality of media in education. What could be gained by applying principles of Forestry School education with critical computing projects that teach computational literacy through the political action of environmental and social justice movements? Can transformative pedagogies from the arts foster empowerment, agency & action for young people navigating the polycrisis caused by big tech & extractive capitalism?