Temporal Pedagogy: Towards a Chronography Curriculum

The way we think about time shapes how we see the world and how we approach its problems (Adam, 1990). A call for new ways of thinking about and with time is emerging across many different fields. In economics, sociology, political science and environmental studies, the limitations of short-term, cost-benefit, anthropocentric approaches to time are well understood (Adam and Groves, 2007; Beckert, 2013; Edwards, 2013; Yusoff, 2013). This is particularly the case in relation to the complex temporal challenges of climate change – from its intergenerational responsibilities to the impossibility of perfect prediction. As Bastian (2012) argues ‘our conventions for coordinating ourselves—for telling the time—are simply not adequate in the current context.’(Bastian, 2012 :24).

Different ways of thinking about and with time are needed in the Anthropocene: this is both a theoretical and an educational challenge.

The aim of this seedcorn activity is to bring together colleagues across the University with a research interest in the topic of time to help to lay the theoretical foundations for understanding what a pedagogy of ‘teaching time’ might consist of – and to put these ideas into dialogue with teachers who are interested in exploring how to teach time in schools.

The activity will comprise:

1. Conceptual mapping – what are the existing theoretical tools to allow humans to encounter, understand, interrogate and reimagine time?
2. Pedagogic exploration – what are the practices or technologies that might support students to reflect on time and use this to come at contemporary problems or issues (including those relating to climate change) in new ways?
3. Political exploration – how might different ways of thinking in and with time inform political decisions and policy making?