ENDING THE SILENCE ABOUT THE EARTH IN SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER EDUCATION

The field of social studies teacher education is almost entirely silent about the Earth, a troubling reality given the foundational ways in which human life is connected to and sustained by the Earth and the immediate, immense problem of anthropogenic global climate change. In this chapter, we consider the silence about the Earth in the literature of social studies teacher education, as well as the growing attention to the Earth in the related, larger field of social studies education. We then offer six actions for how social studies teacher education can break its silence about the Earth by attending to the Earth’s voice(s). If students are going to learn to become effective citizens who are adept at caring for and sustaining the complex, entangled relationships of life on Earth, social studies teacher educators play a pivotal role in assisting pre-service and in-service teachers to teach for this essential purpose.