Dr Karen Malone is Research Director and Professor of Environmental Studies and Childhood Studies in the School of Social Sciences, Film, Media and Education at Swinburne University of Technology. She was Professor of Sustainability and Leader of the sustainability research group in the Centre for Educational Research and member of the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University until the end of 2018. She is a global expert on sustainability and theorising the posthuman in the Anthropocene
The Anthropocene presents a radical intersection of human history and geological time. At a uniqu... more The Anthropocene presents a radical intersection of human history and geological time. At a unique time on the 350 million year geological time-scale of the planet since the last major extinction event where humans have become a significant geophysical force. The Anthropocene, and its impending human impact that leaves the planet in a state of precarity, is a central focus for this assemblage of papers that explore the role of researching in sustainability and education at this time. Authors have utilised the practices of responding, re-configuring, re-reading, and re-presenting in order to consider the story of humanity and its entanglement with the more-than-human world. Throughout the collection, authors are provoked to grapple with their own past ways of thinking, and being in their research, and are invited to engage with a number of theoretical approaches. This chapter outlines the conceptual framework of the book and introduces each of the authors and their contribution.
2 Challenges of participatory practice with children Karen Malone and Catherine Hartung Playing w... more 2 Challenges of participatory practice with children Karen Malone and Catherine Hartung Playing with power: children's participation in theory The politics of culture is not pre-determined. Culture is pliable; it is how it is used that matters. (Duncombe 2002: 2) The culture of participation, ...
At a time when many societies perceive young people to be 'intruders' and a &... more At a time when many societies perceive young people to be 'intruders' and a 'threat' in public spaces, there is a need to understand the impact of exclusionary practices on young peoples experiences of urban life. This article looks at factors young people themselves identify as affecting their use of public space in their local neighbourhood.
The Anthropocene presents a radical intersection of human history and geological time. At a uniqu... more The Anthropocene presents a radical intersection of human history and geological time. At a unique time on the 350 million year geological time-scale of the planet since the last major extinction event where humans have become a significant geophysical force. The Anthropocene, and its impending human impact that leaves the planet in a state of precarity, is a central focus for this assemblage of papers that explore the role of researching in sustainability and education at this time. Authors have utilised the practices of responding, re-configuring, re-reading, and re-presenting in order to consider the story of humanity and its entanglement with the more-than-human world. Throughout the collection, authors are provoked to grapple with their own past ways of thinking, and being in their research, and are invited to engage with a number of theoretical approaches. This chapter outlines the conceptual framework of the book and introduces each of the authors and their contribution.
2 Challenges of participatory practice with children Karen Malone and Catherine Hartung Playing w... more 2 Challenges of participatory practice with children Karen Malone and Catherine Hartung Playing with power: children's participation in theory The politics of culture is not pre-determined. Culture is pliable; it is how it is used that matters. (Duncombe 2002: 2) The culture of participation, ...
At a time when many societies perceive young people to be 'intruders' and a &... more At a time when many societies perceive young people to be 'intruders' and a 'threat' in public spaces, there is a need to understand the impact of exclusionary practices on young peoples experiences of urban life. This article looks at factors young people themselves identify as affecting their use of public space in their local neighbourhood.
In April 2013, the UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Teacher Education invited 12 research teams from h... more In April 2013, the UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Teacher Education invited 12 research teams from high-scoring PISA countries, including Australia, to consider conducting research related to ESD’s contribution to quality education. The research objectives were as follows: 1. To support the continuation of the development of ESD; 2. To collect data to better understand the potential of synergy between embedding the concepts of ESD throughout education policies, practice and curricula, student academic achievement and attendance, student intellectual engagement, and student teacher relationships; 3. To prepare a meta-analysis and report for the UNESCO World Conference on ESD in Nagoya in November of 2014 and to provide research towards a second phase to support the continuation of the development of ESD on a global basis. At the first meeting the UNESCO team agreed on research addressing five questions: 1. How can ESD update and improve educational purposes and outcomes? 2. How can ESD help to improve and enrich school curriculum development? 3. How can ESD guide students to have the knowledge, skills and values to care for and solve the sustainable development issues that will arise in their lifetime? 4. How can ESD help strengthen the partnerships between schools and other stakeholders, including the surrounding community? 5. How can ESD promote innovation in the teaching-learning conceptual framework?
Posthumanist and New Materialist Methodologies, 2020
Before I looked to understand what was going on for the child, now I look beyond the child, and I... more Before I looked to understand what was going on for the child, now I look beyond the child, and I look at all the relations that that child is having in terms of what's happening in that environment. We were excited to speak with Karen Malone at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) conference in New York, 2018. Her book Children in the Anthropocene: Rethinking Sustainability and Child Friendliness in Cities (2018) had recently been published, and we were keen to discuss the many ideas and method-ological approaches she takes up in it. During our conversation, we realized that like many other contributors in this book, Karen's path to working with children, and to thinking and doing "posthumanist" research took many unexpected twists and turns. We were especially intrigued by her story of the blue wren-a bird she used to come across in her walks-and how often small, seemingly insignificant and unexpected encounters can unfold in meaningful connections. We also appreciated the many ways she elucidated shifts in her thinking and how this informs her research approaches-from more conventional approaches to thinking about data and analysis, to thinking more through concepts, such as diffraction and porosity. Karen provides many thought-provoking examples of how putting these concepts to work in her own research with children in different parts of the world has enabled her to take account of the multiple relations we are entangled in-from pollution and toxicity, to our always open-ended relationships with animals.
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Papers by Karen Malone
1. To support the continuation of the development of ESD;
2. To collect data to better understand the potential of synergy between embedding the concepts of ESD throughout education policies, practice and curricula, student academic achievement and attendance, student intellectual engagement, and student teacher relationships;
3. To prepare a meta-analysis and report for the UNESCO World Conference on ESD in Nagoya in November of 2014 and to provide research towards a second phase to support the continuation of the development of ESD on a global basis.
At the first meeting the UNESCO team agreed on research addressing five questions:
1. How can ESD update and improve educational purposes and outcomes?
2. How can ESD help to improve and enrich school curriculum development?
3. How can ESD guide students to have the knowledge, skills and values to care for and solve the sustainable development issues that will arise in their lifetime?
4. How can ESD help strengthen the partnerships between schools and other stakeholders, including the surrounding community?
5. How can ESD promote innovation in the teaching-learning conceptual framework?