Actor Network Theory and STEPWISE: A Case Study on Learning About Food Justice with Plants

Abstract

In this chapter I use the context of a school community garden to analyze the potential and limitations of the STEPWISE framework. Drawing on work I have done with 7th and 8th grade science students, teachers, and communities I examine the pedagogical implications of using nonhuman plants as pedagogical actors. Specifically this chapter looks at how plant actors can offer an alternative epistemological standpoint from which to learn about socioscientific issues (SSI) controversies such as genetically engineered food. One question this chapter poses is how learning from plants such as corn provides/creates an actor network approach to teaching and learning in food desert communities. Along these same lines, I ask whether an actor network approach can potentially lead to effective STSE action for students around social movements such as food justice in their communities. Finally, the chapter explores how situating teaching and learning alongside plant actors can help achieve one of the primary goals of the STEPWISE framework which is to “develop more realistic conceptions about relationships among fields of STSE”. Moving toward more “realistic conceptions” about STSE controversies, I suggest, requires students, teachers and communities to map the constellation of actors (e.g., GE food corporations, governmental actors, agricultural laws, food systems, etc.) in biocapitalist society that shape our everyday experiences with actors such as corn laden food products.