<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body>
<p>Kia ora PeDaGoGs</p>
<p>I came across the comment by Raymond de Young on seminar methods
on Chris Smaje's Small Farm Future blog. I looked up de Young
(info in italics below) and the Kahn paper he refers to. It all
sounded like something which some of you could use - here's
hoping. 😁</p>
<p>Christine<br>
</p>
<p><i><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://seas.umich.edu/research/faculty/raymond-de-young">https://seas.umich.edu/research/faculty/raymond-de-young</a></i><i><br>
</i>
</p>
<i>
</i>
<p><i>Associate Professor</i><i><br>
</i><i>
Behavior, Education, and Communication</i><i><br>
</i><i>
Climate + Energy</i><i><br>
</i><i>
Food Systems</i><i><br>
</i><i> </i><i><br>
</i><i>
About</i><i><br>
</i><i> </i><i><br>
</i><i>
Raymond De Young, PhD, is a broadly trained psychologist,
planner, and engineer. He is an Associate Professor of
Environmental Psychology and Planning at SEAS and in the Program
in the Environment (PitE), and a Faculty Associate at the
Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum and at the
Graham Sustainability Institute. His research focus is on the
process of re-localization, a response to emerging biophysical
limits and the consequences of having deeply disrupted the
Earth's ecosystems. De Young applies conservation and
environmental psychology principles to the challenge of helping
people to envision and adopt frugal behavioral responses that
support a life lived well within local resource limits. Despite
what for some people is a dismal forecast, his work is decidedly
hopeful. He is described as neither an optimist nor pessimist
when it comes to human behavior, but rather an idealist without
illusions.</i><i><br>
</i><i> </i><i><br>
</i><i>
His current work includes research on (1) helping people to
pre-familiarize themselves with the behavioral aspects of the
coming resource downshift, (2) motivating environmental
stewardship using innate satisfactions and (3) using nature to
restore the mental vitality needed for responding to and coping
with the lean and difficult yet exciting times ahead.</i><i><br>
</i><i> </i><br>
</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://smallfarmfuture.org.uk/?p=1958">https://smallfarmfuture.org.uk/?p=1958</a><br>
<br>
Of climate crimes, community conflicts and carbon cowboys<br>
<br>
6.6.22<br>
</p>
<p>Raymond De Young on June 8, 2022 at 01:42 said:<br>
<br>
On “…no small farm catch phrase.” I’ve been teaching a seminar on
localization for 15 years with a colleague. Content of the initial
class sessions evolved through several stages. Early years we had
to argue hard for our stated premise of energy descent, later
contended with questions about the ecomodernist counter-arguments,
and more recently the privileging of DEI concepts before anything
else can be considered (where your discussions of authenticity
have greatly helped Chris).<br>
<br>
It was fascinating that an eco-anxiety slowly emerged over the
first decade (and not just in our seminar but across our entire
school of environment) and then unexpectedly, it completely went
away, at least in our seminar.<br>
<br>
We were baffled about that, but finally realized we could ask the
students why that happened. A few things came up (e.g., our
inclusion of psychological well being in the readings, affirmative
stories of small-scale localization efforts) but universally they
credited a phrase we use and a technique that directs the focus of
conversations on small steps, that can be taken now, but are about
the future.<br>
<br>
The phrase we use is sometimes credited to perma-culture folks but
I’ve also heard that it was used by a football coach: “Blame no
one. Expect no help. Do something.” The emphasis is, of course, on
that last part. And that’s what the students say their education
has come to ignore.<br>
<br>
Now we’re a professional school so we do emphasize procedural
knowledge. But even my school has moved more and more toward
academic publications, conceptual frameworks (how I’ve come to
hate that term), international/global thinking, etc. and away from
grounded, practical, and smaller-scale efforts.<br>
<br>
The other thing we do is use “barn raising” to structure
conversations. Kahn has discussed four basic types of seminars
(Kahn, 1971)*:<br>
<br>
A. FREE-FOR-ALL: There is a prize out there in the middle of the
floor. It may be the instructor’s approval or it may be one’s own
self-esteem, but it’s there and the goal is to win it, and
anything goes. You win by looking not just smart, but by looking
smarter. And that means it’s just as important to make others look
dumb as to make you look smart. The main tool is criticism of the
readings and other member’s ideas. The academic critique mode fits
well in this model.<br>
<br>
B. BEAUTY CONTEST: In this model I parade my idea to you seeking
your admiration. Then it’s off the runway I go to get ready for my
next appearance while you’re parading your idea. Of course, I’m
not paying any attention to your ideas, nor you to mine.<br>
<br>
C. DISTINGUISHED HOUSE TOUR: In this model someone advances an
idea. The rest of the seminar spends time exploring it, asking
questions, uncovering inconsistencies, etc. When they have got a
good grasp on it one of the other members offers another idea. It
may be a whole different point of view on the same subject. The
seminar members then explore that new idea. This is a high form of
discourse and can produce good outcomes. However, while outright
criticism is not used, neither are ideas compared, or built upon.<br>
<br>
D. BARN RAISING: In frontier North America when a family urgently
needed a barn and had limited resources, their community gathered
to help build the structure. The family described the idea, the
kind of barn they needed, picked the site, etc. But it was the
community that pitched in and actually built it.<br>
<br>
One student’s feedback really captured the process: “[The seminar]
prompted intellectual curiosity by building a classroom
environment that was founded on building UP each other’s thoughts,
instead of on critiquing them and breaking them down. [The] course
taught me the value in thinking ahead to how we’ll respond as a
community to our changing world, and that in higher education, we
need to think more about doing through action, and by starting
small.”<br>
<br>
I know this is a long comment, and it may seem to be about
congratulating myself for running a great seminar. But what I
really mean to convey is how rare it is to find a place like this
blog where “barn raising” is the social norm.<br>
<br>
And maybe to wonder if “Do something + Barn raising = Realistic
optimism about the future.”</p>
<p>---------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
</p>
<p>*The Seminar<br>
By Michael Kahn<br>
</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://ibis.geog.ubc.ca/~ewyly/g552/Kahn(1971)">https://ibis.geog.ubc.ca/~ewyly/g552/Kahn(1971)</a><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
</body>
</html>