River advocacy as a case of/for novelizing discourse in science education

Tina Williams Pagan addresses stream studies that environmental educators commonly use to develop their students’ and river advocates’ understanding of the interrelationships of the natural world. She provides these individuals with an authentic context for investigating problems associated with resources. Her critique focuses on educators’ aim of collecting and analyzing numerical water-quality data, which reduces the complexity of a river to the degree that it limits how students relate to and understand biological systems. She suggests that we shift toward river advocacy as an overarching aim of reform involving stream-based activities. Accordingly, curricula should be designed in ways which enable students to identify and associate with attributes of the river that speak to them and educators should help students connect with rivers to identify injustices and analyze their underlying assumptions regarding river rights.