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Michael P. Mueller Mathematics and Science Education |
My journey begins as a young child in Seattle and the San Juan Islands where I developed a passion for exploring Washington’s streams, lakes, forests, mountains, tide pools, and the ocean. These experiences helped me to understand that the Earth has many diverse stories, and that we mindfully listen by placing ourselves in situations where we can “hear” what the Earth has to say. An overwhelming curiosity in the science of our planet led me to the teaching profession. I taught middle school and high school youth in Phoenix, Arizona. Teaching youth helped me to recognize and value the interconnections between my students’ cultural ways of knowing and the biodiversity and landscapes of the desert. Eventually, my students organized an expeditionary hiking team and trained as guides so that we could hike Arizona’s unique landscapes and collect rocks and other specimens for our classroom. Although I have hiked to the peaks of mountains, the expeditionary team taught me to value the importance of conserving forests and natural habitats for future generations. My conservation ethic also emerged through surfing in the ocean, where it is easy to lose oneself to the harmony and balance of the Earth’s greatest natural forces. Having two young children of my own doesn’t hurt either; it’s the main reason for doing this work. Over the years, I have learned to connect these experiences to the local community where I live by engaging my beginning teachers in the intergenerational knowledges and skills of local people. My journey continues as a science teacher educator and philosopher of education. My teaching is focused on scholarship of engagement: citizen-science, community-centered science education, ecojustice and place-based education, thinking with uncertainty in mind, and youth activism. My research is focused on the development of ecological pragmatist theory to guide projects focused on sharing responsibility for cultural diversity, biodiversity, natural habitats, and nature’s harmony.
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Forthcoming/ Selected Publications
Tippins, D.J., & Mueller, M.P. (in press). A relational, ecological pragmatist framework to guide projects of rural science education as if local people and places mattered. In K. Tobin & W.M. Roth (Eds.), World of Science Education: Handbook of Research in North America (pp. 00-00). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Mueller, M.P. (2007). Integrating ecojustice in middle school science education. Tennessee Association of Middle Schools Journal, 37, 7-13.
Mueller, M.P., & Bentley, M.L. (2007). Beyond the “decorated landscapes” of educational reform: Toward landscapes of pluralism in science education. Science Education, 91(2), 321-338.
Mueller, M.P., & Valderrama, P. (2006). Crater appeal. Science Teacher, 73(5), 22-25.
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Forthcoming/ Selected Paper Presentations
Mueller, M.P. (2008, July). The moral and ethical consequences of engaging youth in scientific inquiry: Implications for strengthening communities through ecojustice and science education. Paper to be presented at the 2008 Provoking Research ProVoking Communities conference, Windsor, OT, Canada.
Mueller, M.P. (2008, March). Groundwork for ecojustice: Exploring the cultural myth of ecological crisis. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, New York, NY.
Mueller, M.P. (2008, January). The case for Chet Bowers’ ecojustice philosophy in science education. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Science Teacher Education, St. Louis, MO.
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