Big History in the Ecuadorian Educational System: Theory, Practice, and Public Policies of Environmental Education

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to describe two eco-pedagogical experiences developed with the Environmental Education Program of Educator, using Big History as theoretical framework. A transdisciplinary methodology is used to integrate scientific knowledge with ancestral wisdom, in order to combine an ecology of epistemes. Hence, the study reflects about the intercultural, plurinational, and multiethnic nature of the Ecuadorian citizenship to understand the environmental practices of those ancient worldviews. As result, the article reflects about the theory, practice, and public policies of the Environmental Education Program ‘Tierra de Todos’ developed by the Ministry of Education in Ecuador. In harmony with the Ecuadorian’s Constitution of 2008, that recognized the Rights of Nature, this program has been implemented in all the Ecuadorian Educational System to raise environmental awareness and to restore the ecosystems. This juridical framework is based in the Good Living, a philosophical and political worldview of kiwicha indigenous peoples of Andean Region, where human beings are interconnected with our planet Earth and the whole cosmos. As the main conclusion, the Environmental Education Program seeks to bio-literate citizens to face the complex civilizing challenges of the Anthropocene, by teaching how to feel-think-act in harmony with the co-evolutionary processes of nature.

Keywords

• anthropocene
• big history
• ecuador
• environmental education
• global change
• intercultural
• transdisciplinary