The Ground Begins Beneath our Feet: Mapping a Path Forward with Ecojustice Education in K-8 Classrooms

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In this book Bellino & Burroughs make the case for an EcoJustice approach in education to address growing global and local crises associated with climate change, degradation of the earths resources due to overconsumption and conventional food production, and the associated loss of cultural and biodiversity. K-8 teachers, teacher educators and pre-service teachers will all find this book valuable as they grapple with how to prepare young people for the socio-environmental challenges ahead. The unique approach of this book, combining the content and skills learned in elementary science and social studies classrooms with an emphasis on EcoJustice, provides a path for developing informed, concerned, critical thinkers who are ready for active engagement to address climate change and the attendant injustices. This book offers a practice-based vision of how this can be accomplished within the parameters of K-8 education.

Author Bio

Marissa Bellino is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Secondary Education at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). She is currently teaching Urban Education and Educational Foundations courses as well as Methods in Science Teaching for Secondary and Elementary preservice teachers. In 2018, she was awarded the School of Education, Outstanding Faculty of the Year award for her deep commitments to teaching and social justice education. Marissa received her doctorate in Urban Education from The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY). Prior to coming to TCNJ she was an adjunct faculty member at Brooklyn College, CUNY and Long Island University as well as an Instructional Technology Fellow at Hunter College, CUNY. Her research interests include youth experiences in urban environments, environmental education, critical pedagogy, and participatory research. Through her work, she has brought students to study in Ecuador and
Greece as well as taught in Taiwan and Vietnam. Marissa taught high school in New York City for 11 years where she developed ecological and molecular ecology research curriculum as well as critical participatory research methods with environmental science students.

Greer Burroughs is an Associate Professor at The College of New Jersey in the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education. She teaches courses in multicultural approaches to elementary social studies and education for sustainability. She received her doctorate degree in Social Studies Education in 2010 from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, where she also served as a professor of practice in the Graduate School of Education from 2009-2016. Her research interests include educating for democratic and global citizenship and education for sustainability, with a focus on critical, place-based learning experiences and participatory research methods. She has brought undergraduate student researchers to Greece and Ecuador to study methods of economic, cultural, and environmental sustainability. This work has led to several publications and conference presentations.