Methaphors of the Anthropocene

Dissertationsprojekt von Teklit A. Habteselassie ramarahel@gmail.com

The Anthropocene concept which has been introduced to describe the human impacts on our environment is now getting momentum across many disciplines to which our education system has to respond. Several metaphors have been in use since the time scientists started to use the word Anthropocene, including the word itself.  Educators can take advantage of these metaphors in their classrooms. Even though in general the importance of metaphors in science education is without doubt, there is no study yet regarding the use of metaphors for teaching science in the context of the Anthropocene. This study aims to explore the metaphors introduced with the concept of the Anthropocene and to investigate how the metaphors can be used to teach science in the context of the Anthropocene. Using systematic metaphor analysis, this study will identify and analyse the metaphors introduced with the concept of the Anthropocene. Then, document analysis of the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) document will be commenced in order to find sections where the metaphors can be incorporated within the NGSS. Various changes will be proposed and iteratively developed until the change is accepted by experts responsible for the NGSS document. The study is expected to clarify ways and means of how to teach science in the context of Anthropocene.