This paper explores how ecological inquiry with young people can challenge human-centered approaches to environmental education by incorporating posthumanist perspectives. The researchers analyzed a citizen science project in which secondary school students (ages 12-14) tracked urban rat presence in Helsinki, Finland, using track plates - white plastic squares painted with lampblack that capture animal paw prints.
The researchers found two main ways to connect traditional science with newer approaches that focus on relationships between different species. First, they talk about "animals' atmospheres," which simply means how different animals experience the same environment in their own unique ways. During the project, students had to try to understand "rat atmospheres" by imagining how rats would see and move through city spaces - thinking about what rats need, like food sources, hiding places, noise levels, and whether humans are nearby. This made students step outside their human point of view and see the environment differently (for example, seeing smelly garbage not as disgusting but as a sign that rats might live there
The study shows how research tools themselves play an active role in creating knowledge, not just the humans using them. Instead of seeing the track plates as simple tools that researchers control, these plates actually participate in making knowledge alongside both humans and rats. When rats leave their footprints on the plates (or sometimes when other animals or objects make marks), these changes create chances for researchers to wonder and interpret what happened. This approach recognizes that rats aren't just subjects being studied but are actively helping create scientific knowledge through their interactions with the materials.
The study argues that ecological inquiry can create opportunities for multispecies attentiveness without abandoning scientific aims. They suggest that environmental education could benefit from reconceptualizing ecological research as a collaborative endeavor where humans, animals, and materials participate in knowledge creation, rather than a process where human subjects study animal objects.
The researchers acknowledge limitations, noting that while the project created moments of attunement to rat perspectives, students' final discussions still primarily reflected human-centered concerns. They suggest that more explicit guidance might be needed to help students fully appreciate the collaborative nature of multispecies research.
The Bottom Line
This 2024 study examines how ecological citizen science inquiry with urban rats can disrupt human-centered approaches to environmental education. Researchers explored a case where young students (aged 12-14) participated in tracking rat presence in their school neighborhoods in Helsinki, Finland, using painted track plates to capture paw prints. The study analyzes how this scientific activity required students to attune to "ratty atmospheres" and engage with the materiality of research instruments in ways that challenged traditional subject-object divisions between humans and animals. By reconceptualizing ecological inquiry as "sharing atmospheres" with other animals and highlighting the material aspects of the research process, the authors propose conceptual tools that can help bridge posthumanist approaches with scientific research in environmental education. The findings suggest that despite seemingly incompatible premises, ecological inquiry can create opportunities for multispecies attentiveness without abandoning scientific aims.