Abstract
This narrative imagines the future of education through three vignettes, each of which describes a community of learners exploring artifacts from the past even as they learn together in the present. Scenarios trace the experiences of Eden, who was born in 2012, and her involvement with learning and educational institutions. Threaded through vignettes are clues about what is valued and how what is valued is created and measured—all of which relate directly to the influence of policy in shaping society. By focusing on the experiences of participants at three points in time, narratives explore how society might evolve toward the preferable, toward ecologies that nourish and sustain life—and lifelong learning.
Words should be scattered like seed; no matter how small the seed may be, if it has once found favourable ground, it unfolds its strength and from an insignificant thing spreads to its greatest growth. ―Lucius Annaeus Seneca.
1
Fall 2030: Unearthing a time capsule from 2020
Tilling the soil
“Are you two ready to go yet? We’ve got to get to the spot—30 August 2030 at 3:30! Do you even remember what we put in this thing?” Eden looked at her friends, Scarlett and Judah.
“Uh, no. That was forever ago.”
“All I remember was that Ms Vivant made us share pictures and stuff—but she couldn’t figure out how to link to our TikToks. Can you believe we were allowed to make TikToks when we were 8?”
The children break into laughter.
“I can’t wait to see Ms Vivant. She was one of the best teachers we had, but I knew she wasn’t going to teach forever. She just seems like one of those people who constantly needs a new challenge.”
“Agreed. She was a good one. She made things fun—she didn’t just assign worksheets like a lot of the other teachers.”
“Yeah—she made you think, and she tried to connect to things we were interested in.”
“Ha. But not TikTok.”
“Definitely not TikTok.”
“Let’s go! We’ve got to go find that box with all the papers and stuff inside.”
“Haha. So old-fashioned—paper! I’m so glad we’re past that. What a waste of trees. Come to think of it, we wasted soooo much paper in elementary school—books, worksheets, it was almost all on paper.”
“We wasted so much everything—paper, plastic, remember those styrofoam lunch trays? Gross!”
“And then the pandemic hit, and suddenly no more paper! Our teachers were struggling there for a while.”
“Yeah—they didn’t know what to do without their worksheets.”
“C’mon now—let’s gooooo! We’re going to be late.”
A changed school
It is 30 August 2030, and Eden and her elementary school classmates, now 18, are headed to their former elementary school—School 30—to meet up with anyone who remembered that today was the day: 8/30/30 at 3:30 at School 30. Their teacher, Ms Vivant, stands outside the large brick building, eager to greet her former students. A group of 15 is assembled outside and they spend a few minutes catching up. A handful of them have returned from college, some have begun professional apprenticeships, and a few others have committed to a year of service. Ms Vivant, as predicted, had spent about 6 years teaching and went on to found a non-profit focused on educating young people about climate change and sustainability initiatives.
Ms Vivant began. “Wow! It’s such a joy to see all of you again. 2020 was a pivotal year for us, both as individuals and as a nation. I’ve been anxiously awaiting this date for years. We’ll start with a walkthrough of the school. I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised at some of the changes. I’m going to take you in the new wing they added in 2028.”
As Ms Vivant leads the group around the building, the classmates comment on the building’s transformation. What they remembered as a parking lot had undergone a metamorphosis. Student exclamations echoed over the campus grounds.
“I didn’t think schools were supposed to be beautiful!”
“Look at the way the windows bring light into the building!”
“Is that a pond? How’d they break through all that pavement? Look-between the lilypads—the koi are gigantic!”
Ms Vivant explained, “A lot of this is related to the Environmental Education Act of 2025, which funded partnerships to support sustainable schools. When my dad was starting his business after COVID, the district contracted with him to demolish the lot, as well as an adjacent row of vacant houses that were falling apart. They were able to use the land to create this urban recreational space. It has a community garden as well as sports fields, playgrounds, and interactive spaces for outdoor learning.”
Scarlett chimed in, “Hey—I heard that the university’s architecture department also partnered with the school on the design implementation of sustainable materials. The middle schoolers actually got to work with the university students on the blueprints in their STEM and visual arts learning pathways. My little brother actually decided to pursue architecture at the university because of the experience.”
Hearing a high-pitched warble, Judah smiled when he spotted a yellow finch overhead. “This kinda reminds me of when we did that project with Ms Vivant where we cleaned up the Canalway Park and built birdfeeders, planted trees donated by New Horizons, and then drew pictures and wrote journal entries about birds.”
More revelations greeted the group as they entered the foyer and continued their journey to their classroom. Sunlight streamed through floor-to-ceiling windows and reflected off an exhibition of live foliage encircling the foyer.
As they toured the school, some children were preparing to leave for the day while others were just arriving. Parents and caregivers socialized in the community room; some engaged in projects, some at computers working through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and others socialized, catching up and chatting about their days. Recognizing the unique needs of families (i.e. varied schedules, optimal times for learning), schools had recently begun to offer flexible scheduling options in relation to time of day. This allowed parents and other family members to engage more actively in the learning community and promoted learning through the generations.
One of Eden’s classmates commented enviously on the flexible scheduling, “I sure wish that I had been able to choose an afternoon session. I was always half asleep until lunch!”
Several members of the group nodded vigorously, and one called out, “No joke!”
Walking through the hallway to their 3rd grade classroom, they noticed that some of the walls between classrooms had been taken down and more flexible spaces had been created. Hall lockers had been torn out and halls had been converted to learning hives with colorful cushioned stools and round tables. “Classrooms” were now labeled learning studios where students could work independently or in groups on a variety of multi-modal projects. Other students who were working from home (their least restrictive learning environment) appeared on large screens interacting with their teacher and peers. The group noticed technology stations where students donned integrated reality 2 headsets and interacted with chatbots on knowledge level objectives. Eden considered how the students seemed to be architects of their own learning, where the teacher was the learning designer and guide. The hallways and learning studios hummed with laughter and chatter; it was joyful.
Capsule time
They finally reach the space that housed their former classroom. Ms Vivant digs out an old file box from the bottom of the classroom closet. The box was decorated with magazine clippings from 2020, and a message that read “TOP SECRET. Do not open until 8/30/30.”
“Alright everyone,” Ms Vivant paused dramatically, “are you ready to go back in time?”
Scarlett turned to Eden and laughed, “Ha! I guess so. Now that we’ve seen some of the amazing changes that have been made, I’m not sure I really want to.”
Inside the box, the group finds two Google Cardboard headsets and a URL printed on white paper.
Judah examined it, “I don’t know if my device is going to work with this, but I’ll give it a go. This is so old school compared to Integrated Reality (IR).”
Eden replied, “Ha--you’re right. I wonder if we can use this same link to view in IR.”
They waited expectantly. A moment later images sprang to life, eliciting happy cries: “It works! It works!”
Suddenly the group sees themselves in their third grade classroom, talking about what they want to be when they grow up. Their own voices, high and youthful, surround them through the classroom IR system. Their responses linger, “Teacher programmer, firefighter, veterinarian, and dancer.”
When the clip ended, reactions erupted.
“Oh my gosh! Can you believe us? So many of the careers we’re pursuing now didn’t even exist back then. I don’t ever remember learning about Algorithm Bias Auditors at career days, and now that’s my learning focus.”
In the video, the sound of a bell marking the transition to lunchtime plays. Bells marking periods and lunch times are one more relic of the past as schools have shifted to more variable schedules, designed around the objectives of individual learning activities and more natural break points.
“Oh wow—it looks like we’re off to the cafeteria. That food—can you believe how much pizza and pasta we ate—and from those styrofoam trays?”
In the 10 years since they had been third graders much greater attention had been paid to the quality of school lunches, with all schools establishing and tending to community gardens that yielded fresh food for meals. Health disparities and the disparities in the quality of school foods were concerns taken up in subsequent years. Since school times grew more accommodating, breakfast, lunch, and dinner were now freely available to any students or families who might be hungry.
The video footage ends on the playground during the 15 min recess that followed the students’ lunch period.
Startled laughter rose from the group: “Hard to believe we only had 15 min to burn off energy before we got back to those literacy and math blocks!”
Eden reflects on how little play had been part of their school day at the young age of nine. Play and exercise were now as integral to school curriculum as the literacy and math blocks that they remember.
Twin pandemics
Ms Vivant draws the group’s attention to a second video and uses the IR to present this new scene. Suddenly the 3D world turns flat—and instead of the rectangular desks that pervaded learning spaces in the school building, the group stares at the 12 third grade faces, each of which occupied its own square on the screen.
“And then it all changed. COVID.”
Suddenly, they felt nostalgic for the brief, mask-free playground scene.
Lively conversation ensues, with group members remembering zoomschool, less than fondly, and remarking that there were ordinarily more than 12 children in class. Ms Vivant reminds them that the shift to virtual learning had disconnected many students from their classmates, teachers, and schools.
“It was such a hard year in so many ways,” Ms Vivant muses. “I was heartbroken not to see some of your faces, to not be with you, to not know if you were ok. It was the most painful time of my teaching career.”
Ms Vivant notes that schools were mostly able to resolve student access to devices, but reliable WiFi had remained a challenge. A significant number of students had remained disconnected from their schools and teachers, not logging in frequently—or at all—during COVID times. Fortunately, 7G hyperspeed WiFi was freely accessible to everyone now, regardless of location.
The tenor of the group changes dramatically when Scarlett pulls another item out of the box. It’s a black face mask with BLM printed in white letters. This one item reflects the twin pandemics that came to define 2020—COVID-19 and racism. The group meditates quietly as they gaze at the photo of Eden holding a Black Lives Matters sign at a protest in June 2020 (Figure 1).
“I remember this moment so clearly,” Eden says. “I had sort of an idea what a protest was before that, but I didn't fully understand all of what was going on. I was 9. But being there all together, I felt it in my body and my heart, and that power surged through our collective voice. I knew we were calling for change even though I wasn't quite sure what that meant. Finally the world was paying attention to the injustices so many of us and so many of our friends were facing.”
“People really showed up.”
“Finally.”
The group considers the ways that the changes made in their school reflect some of the shifts that followed this one exceptional, marking year. They think aloud about whether any of the changes would have happened had the Summer of 2020 never happened. Their school, which served primarily students of color and those who qualified for free lunch, had not been high on the priority list of anyone other than their families and the surrounding community. And yet, the group recalls, small changes had started to happen that year they’d filled this time capsule. They recalled titles of the different books they’d read, realizing that it was in Ms Vivant’ class that they’d started to see themselves reflected in the texts and the history they studied. In hindsight, they realize, there were incremental changes that they experienced along the way and that ultimately had led to the transformed school space that they occupied today. They also realize that they have collectively embodied what it means to be a co-conspirator and have continued the fight for more just, equitable, and inclusive educational spaces.
Ms Vivant notes, “You were and remain a powerful group of people. You advocated for change and never gave up. You’re still doing the work of building the society that ought to be.”
Eden recalls: “I remember my early elementary years as fun and easy. The year of COVID changed everything, and I’m glad it did. It’s what helped me to know that I wanted to teach.”
At that moment, Ms Vivant silently hands Eden a key.
“What’s this for?”
“You’ll see. And I can’t wait to see.”
Winter 2045—Exploring a time capsule from 2030
Teacher Eden
*Ring, ring, ring*
In the year 2045, it is 6:45 AM, and Eden’s smart home reminds zir 3 that it’s time to wake up and prepare for the school day. “Alexa, end alarm,” Eden says, as zie 4 groggily rolls out of bed for another day of digital instruction. Making zir way from the bedroom to zir ensuite, Eden begins zir usual routine, “Alexa, start morning shower.” On zir way, Eden feels a sticky wave of humidity emanating from the cracked window. “Alexa, decrease water temperature by 5°,” Eden says, as zie is reminded of the troubling increases in temperature and humidity zie read about on zir 3D smart glasses weather app last night. Just as zie’s about to step into zir shower dome, Eden remembers that today is not an ordinary day—it is the day zie finally gets to download the time capsule that was shared with zir when zie first became a teacher 15 years ago.
In the year 2020, educators decided it was necessary for future teachers to learn from historical educational artifacts to make informed decisions for the future of teaching and learning. In 2030, when Eden accepted a teaching apprenticeship at New Horizons Academy, zie received zir capsule in the cloud, but would not be able to access it until 1 January 2045. The day is finally here, and Eden turns on zir fully-integrated augmented reality computer to download zir 2030 time capsule (Figure 2). Eden can’t believe zir eyes!
Opening the 2030 capsule
As zie opens the time capsule, a virtual introduction robot pops up to greet Eden. “Welcome to the past, Eden!” says the robot. “Enjoy this journey through time as you explore five digital artifacts from the year 2030.”
Artifact 1: Continuous improvement app
The first item Eden examines from zir 2030 time capsule is an app that tracks students’ past performance and modifies future curricular experiences based on that performance. As Eden sifts through students’ profiles and observes differentiated lessons and activities, zie is reminded that personalized learning apps grew in popularity during 2020. Eden also remembers that the pandemic era of 2020 was the starting point of the shift from learning in physical classroom settings to learning in students’ homes using artificial intelligence (AI), such as apps.
Suddenly, an automated message appears, and the teacher who created the digital time capsule shares a message. “Greetings, Eden! My name is Historia, and I am so pleased to share this artifact with you. Together, let’s check out this simulation of how teachers in 2030 used the Continuous Improvement App with their students.” Eden watches as the app illuminates students’ strengths and opportunities for growth, zie sees how the adaptive app supported teachers’ facilitation of increased personalization in student learning. “One important thing to remember,” Historia says, “is that teachers of the future should be aware of the app’s limitations. In 2030, when the capsule was filled, the education field had not entirely phased out standardized tests, which Eden and zir colleagues now understood to be destroyers of creativity and transformative potential. Back then, the notion that students are dynamic learners and factors other than their past performance (e.g., their attitudes, self-concept, or engagement) affect their future performance was less accepted by proponents of standardized assessments.” Eden recognizes that teachers like Historia created digital time capsules to warn future educators that AI does not capture the flexibility and intricacies of human learning (Figure 3), and zie appreciatively shifts zir focus to the next artifact.
Artifact 2: Multimodal digital portfolios
Eden accesses the second item, which includes students’ multimodal digital portfolios composed of videos, music, texts, and images. In another VR message, Historia explains that students of 2030 created digital competency portfolios to demonstrate their acquisition of skills and knowledge. Impressed by the creativity and complexity of the portfolios, Eden also notices that for collaborative projects, students communicated primarily through Zoom and other video communication platforms, and used digital shareware apps to log their working hours. “You see, Eden,” Historia continues, “it is difficult for teachers to assess students’ depth of competency using only one or two assessment tools. Although attitudes were shifting during the 2020s, it was not until 2030 that all educational stakeholders valued students’ demonstration of skills or knowledge in multimodal forms. I must also warn you that despite heavy reliance on video communication technologies, students struggled with miscommunication due to limited physical cues in fully online educational contexts.” Contemplating Historia’s warning, Eden decides zie is ready to continue learning from the following artifact.
Artifact 3: Virtual reality global engagement
Opening the third item, Eden encounters another VR message from Historia, who presents the VR Global Engagement app for distance field trips: “This app included detailed guidelines for both caregivers and students on how to conduct explorations of students’ immediate and virtual environments.” Eden also notices that the guidelines were presented in multimodal forms such as text, video, and graphics. “These guidelines,” says Historia, “were purposefully created to accommodate for students’ different learning preferences and reading comprehension techniques.” Inspired by the ways in which educators of 2030 transformed methods of teaching and learning, Eden is especially encouraged by students’ video recordings of local landmarks, farms, and community gardens which link their real-world explorations with academic competencies. Realizing that zie soon needs to connect with zir students, Eden quickly moves on to zir last two artifacts.
Artifact 4: Extended community involvement
The fourth item Eden finds in the time capsule is a unit plan on the Arctic. The unit plan includes a series of emails initiated by Historia in which she communicates with a team of Arctic scientists, the scientists’ photos and videos of their Arctic expedition, a VR message from the scientists, and a videotaped live discussion with the scientists during an environmental science class. In the clip of the live talk, Eden observes that Historia and all of the students had joined the video call from their home computers, and the scientists were participating from their arctic base. “Ah, yes,” Historia explains in her description of the unit plan, “this was one of my favorite units. Students had an opportunity to learn about what used to be referred to as ‘climate change.’” Eden is mesmerized by the photos and videos, and notices the activation of an automatic language translation feature to support seamless communication among multilingual students and scientists. “I wish I could continue watching these videos of the Arctic, Eden says, “but I’d better open the fifth and final artifact before the students log on for today’s learning activities!”
Artifact 5: Flexible online teacher education
Eden accesses the fifth and final item, which is Historia’s online teacher certification, earned through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). “Wow,” Eden thinks, “it was so forward thinking of Historia to complete zir coursework and teacher residency experience entirely through MOOCs!” Eden is also intrigued to see that Historia’s coursework was centered on Historia’s specific areas of interest and expertise. “The thing you must understand,” comments Historia, “is that before MOOCs, in order to complete their degree programs, teacher candidates were required to pay for and pass courses whether or not they were interested in the academic subjects.” Anticipating Eden’s questions, Historia continues, “Policies about teacher certification were once determined by people in leadership positions who decided they knew what was important for everyone to learn, even if the content didn’t reflect their interests, experiences, cultures, or even languages.” Perplexed by this antiquated notion, Eden notes that while Historia’s coursework requirements were flexible, a socioemotional experiential learning component was mandatory for Historia’s completion of the teaching certification. “Well,” says Eden, “this has certainly been an informative trip to the past, but further exploration will have to wait. It’s time to finish getting ready so I can greet my community of learners!”
Danger! data leak!
After zie finishes exploring the 2030 time capsule, Eden decides to share the educational efforts and challenges of 2030 with zir class and discuss what they can learn from the past. Using zir students’ information saved in zir cloud, Eden creates a plan to simulate the apps from the time capsule with zir students. In Eden’s cloud, all of zir students’ personal and academic information is stored in the form of texts, audios, and videos. Since many of Eden’s students work through socioemotional issues and trauma, zie saves the guidelines and recommendations from students’ therapists and doctors in the cloud to ensure that zie does not lose track of such important information. Being careful to avoid sharing zir students’ personal information, Eden asks the AI assistant of zir computer to share the 2030 adaptive learning app and multimodal digital portfolios with students. Before executing Eden’s request, an augmented reality message appears: “Eden, in order to complete this command, please confirm your permission to access students’ information.” Absorbed in her reflections on the artifacts, Eden clicks, “Yes,” on the augmented reality screen.
Eden’s Cloud freezes. “AI assistant,” zie commands, “please troubleshoot the frozen cloud.” 45 seconds later, reading the report based on the AI assistant’s analysis, Eden panics. In a quavering voice, zie asks the AI assistant, “Does this mean that all my students’ information and private records were just disseminated to all New Horizons Academy users?”
Zir fears confirmed, Eden immediately contacts zir school IT office and reports the situation. “We’re sorry,” says the IT administrator, “but we are unable to locate the origin of the leak and cannot retrieve the students’ private information.” Now in a frenzy, Eden checks the school’s social media site, which is especially popular among students. “Oh no!” zie exclaims. Not only are all of Eden’s students’ grades posted, but information about students’ health histories have already been bibbled 5 and re-bibbled by more than 10,000 students at New Horizons Academy. Eden sees that many of the bibbles 6 use mocking, insulting, discriminatory, and stigmatizing language, which causes zir heart to sink. Devastated, Eden murmurs, “This is all my fault. I absentmindedly made one wrong selection, and now I’ve turned the world upside down. If only I had taken an extra second to think about the consequences before I moved ahead.”
Less than an hour after the leak, half of Eden’s students have already deleted their accounts on New Horizon Academy’s social media platforms. Zie also notices that the majority of students who deleted their accounts were students whose medical histories were published, and most of these students were submitting requests to drop out of Eden’s classes. In zir augmented reality phone, which is synchronized with zir augmented reality computer, Eden sees numerous video messages from the students’ caregivers indicating that students are refusing to attend Eden’s online classes because they are humiliated and afraid to participate in the active group discussions. Profoundly saddened, Eden decides to try a proactive use of data: “Alexa, please analyze students’ anticipated levels of engagement in today’s Zoom classes.” After a nanosecond, Alexa notifies Eden that zir students’ levels of engagement are expected to be at record lows, based on the number of assignments received and the results of students’ daily socioemotional health check-ups.
Caution, not yield: Signs for responsible use of technology across time
Shaking zir head frantically, Eden shouts, “I can’t just sit here and do nothing. I need to do something to rectify my error.” Zie pauses, addressing zir AI assistant “Alexa, please retrieve all of my students’ information in the cloud and move it to my encrypted cloud.”
Alexa responds with a warning, “Transferring all of your information to the encrypted cloud will require you to create a security key for every single chunk of students’ information. Using these keys, it will take approximately 57–59 s longer to open any information. On average, it would take approximately 1 hour to pull up each students’ comprehensive information record. And you will no longer be able to execute access to the information using only your voice; you will be required to first review and acknowledge potential outcomes of your actions before confirming a response. Is this acceptable to you?”
Considering this warning, Eden recalls the reasons for zir previous decision not to save all of zir students’ information in the cloud with encryption. The additional time and mental energy required had seemed excessive. However, Eden is certain that the security measures are worth the trouble. Thinking of zir students, Eden replies, “Yes, Alexa, execute the transfer immediately.” Eden knows that the safety of zir students’ information should never be sacrificed for the sake of convenience.
Eden’s next move toward redemption is to recommend to New Horizon Academy’s administrators that a real-time monitoring tool and authenticator should be implemented for all of the school’s social media platforms. To transform this terrible error into a learning opportunity, Eden decides that sharing her experience could serve as a cautionary tale for current and future teachers who may find themselves in similar situations—that is, situations where total reliance on digitized information and “clicking before thinking” could lead to disastrous breaches of sensitive and confidential information that disrupt learning, harm students, and discourage students’ interest in participating in their educational communities. More importantly, safeguards should be implemented to prevent the kind of leak she had inadvertently precipitated.
Wondering, “How can I grow from this? How can I be a better teacher, and better serve my students?” Eden begins to imagine a world where technology enhances educational experiences, without educational experiences being entirely dependent on technology. Eden wonders, “What would a future without technological dependency look like?” Eden dreams of a community of learners, of all ages, where learners’ lives and experiences are globally and locally connected to nature and the earth—rather than centered on and filtered through AI.
Realizing that zie can, ironically, use technology to visualize such a future, Eden exclaims, “Alexa, please activate the visualization app. Record what I say for the next 30 s then provide visuals that match my description. Save the subsequent recording and associated visuals for future educators to explore.” After Eden describes zir vision of a globally-engaged future of learning that relies more on nature and less on technology, the visualization app presents a series of images and videos depicting garden dreamscapes and environmental learning.
Eden clicks on a picture of a greenhouse and records, “Dear future educators, in this visual, a community of learners is co-constructing knowledge and curating a research seed bank for the scientific community.” Once the visualization app saves Eden’s recording, another visual within the greenhouse image emerges. Eden enlarges the picture and observes learning segments that are shaped like coiled plants. Eden realizes the learning segments contain information from a wide range of disciplines and have been intertwined to embolden the value of interdisciplinary learning. Eden also notices that the learning segments are positioned to continue growing, which leads zir to exclaim, “This is it! This is the style of learning that I’ve been imagining for everyone in my community!” Eden proceeds to access zir lesson planning folder and attaches the future-learning visualization recording to zir records. “For my next class, Eden decides, “I will create a learning segment like the plant represented in the future greenhouse. Together with my students, we will use it as a foundation for a time capsule to be shared with future educators and learners.”
Interlude
Eden’s decision to create a learning segment like the plant in a future greenhouse is carried through the next vignette, both figuratively and literally. The greenhouse is the physical representation of the overall learning environment, where cultivators (teachers) and growers (students) co-construct knowledge. Scapes signify interdisciplinary learning centers where learners collaborate and nurture seeds–the ideas that have sparked curiosity among the growers. More literally, the learning segment which frames the vignette is a bioecological unit of study with the goal of understanding issues which surround environmental sustainability.
Spring 2070: Connecting to a time capsule from 2045
Eden follows the well-worn dirt path toward the greenhouse, turning a key over in zir fingers deep in zir jumper pocket, as zie approaches the glass structure. Zie tilts zir face up to feel the warmth of the sun a moment more before zie enters. Shifting zir gaze down, as the breeze ripples through zir wavy red hair, zie catches a glimpse of the carved wooden sign that hangs above the greenhouse door: Osge’e’ 7 .
Cultivating growers and growth
Eden, 53, a cultivator, tends to the plants and flowers—and their growers—in this particular learning greenhouse (Figure 4). This morning, zie takes in the peaceful moment, looking out on the verdant rows and vibrant colors and breathing in the warm, humid air. The greenhouse will soon come alive with growers of all ages, visiting seed-curating tables, gathering in incubation halls and approaching the florae. Some days, growers select from uptakes, sensory enregistrements of their out-in-the-world experiences, and curate events, thoughts, feelings into seeds. Other days, they share their seeds-in-progress with other growers, in the incubation halls, where ideas emerge and are shared, and learning takes shape in community. Still other days, growers can be found traversing the tile floor of the greenhouse, stopping at plants and flowers that Eden helps guide them to. They aim their biolenses to focus in on a plant and become immersed in a multidimensional learning flow: the dimensions related to time and space, as well as the human dimensions of optics, haptics, and emotics. On more rare days, new seeds are planted, either by growers who frequent the greenhouse that is part of their community or by growers who have traveled from other places to share their grains of knowledge and experience.
Today, though, is special. Today, Eden commemorates the opening of this greenhouse, Osge’e’ Greenhouse, the space zie cultivates with zir growers. In accordance with tradition, all cultivators intentionally situate their greenhouses across time—to the past, present, and future. Eden’s decision to connect zir brick-and-mortar (or more accurately, glass and steel) workspace to the time capsule revelation in 2045 is reflected in the commemoration zie would facilitate today. Eden had arrived early to this space that, in a previous era, might have been called a school, and now began preparations. The greenhouse was divided into growth scapes, each of which exhibited the values, interests, and progress of the grower designing it. Befitting a multigenerational learning space, scapes differed, representing a range of learning strands that illustrated development within. Just feet from where zie stood, a newly emerging scape, cultivated by a child, featured sprouting plantlets grown from zir artistic and scientific impressions of the lake near zir home; not far beyond, a more developed scape flourished, teeming with growth and sprung from the seeds a group developing next generation, nutrient-rich and information-dense vegetables had planted. Proto-data, integrated into plant DNA sequences, had opened infinite horizons for this type of local tinkering and innovation. Surveying zir greenhouse made Eden think about the vast array of similar structures around the globe: narrow skyscraping vertically-irrigated glass enclosures planted in large urban centers, sprawling open acreages that filled rural regions, and the myriad sizes and shapes of greenhouses in between these extremes. What they had in common was orientation to their own contexts, and purposes that addressed both local and global communities. Separately, and taken together, these greenhouses nurtured learning within and across disciplines, with the dual goals of human development and environmental sustenance.
Learning greenhouses
In a world where ecologies are recognized as networked and technologies evolve to support joy, justice, and life itself, learning and human development are socially and globally linked. Self-actualization is intertwined with needs of the community and the earth; learning and work exist in a balance that animates curiosity and inspires passion. Resources are shared equitably, so competition borne of scarcity is nonexistent. With the aid of technologies, people have what they need, so work and learning intersect without worries about working to generate income for subsistence. Consequently, people’s desire to contribute in accordance with their abilities and interests is endlessly honored, and societies thrive in communal peace. Having lived through decades of transition to these conditions, Eden is especially able to appreciate the effects of the changes on education. Back then, in fact, zie was at the center of seismic shifts that re-shaped ways of learning.
Drawn back into the present moment by the gentle spraying sound of irrigation sprinklers switching on, and filled with gratitude for the past and anticipation of the future, Eden begins preparing for the day. Other cultivators and some growers have now arrived, most of whom walk with purpose toward a particular part of the greenhouse, some of whom meander. First, zie checks into spaces where learning strands are planned or underway. Learning strands, named because they are both bounded by time yet continuous, are part of larger ecocycles of learning. Like vines, engagement in learning strands is materially and temporally anchored; yet tendrils of curiosity reach out beyond the here and now, seeking new connection points and bending to the sun. As zie tours the greenhouse spaces, Eden consults to determine what supports are necessary, making links among growers and to resources as appropriate. In the expanse of the greenhouse, spaces represent engagement in every configuration of every discipline imaginable, and many push or transcend disciplinary boundaries. In these spaces, strands are led by growers of all ages and levels of expertise. Growers, assisted by cultivators as needed, issue invitations, then detailed rosters are generated prior to each strand.
Eden reviews the roster for the strand zie will facilitate today, the specificity of which has enabled zir to tailor germination activities, rooting pathways and growing materials. For this strand, this included artifacts that zie would share when the group gathered, access to plants here in the greenhouse as well as others connected in through the global root network that cultivators could pursue according to zir interests, and all of the raw tools to shape these experiences into learning seeds. Zir multimodal roster, compiled from responses to the announcement about the strand, includes images with names and ages of participants, as well as brief visuo-sketches about their interest in the topic, what they hope to contribute to the segment, and what they hope to apply to their own learning spaces in their home greenhouses. In the past few days, Eden has viewed the roster several times and has used it to plan possible rooting pathways activities and incubating questions.
As Zie Reviews once more, alongside it appears an image from 2045: Osge’e’ Greenhouse—Class of 2045 M. Lerner and zir growers! Earth Social Studies A listing of names, 20 “7th graders” and six adults, appears below a photo of a smiling group, standing in front of a small but lush array of greenhouse plants.
Next, Eden clears a space for participants while rehearsing zir introductory remarks. Before zie knows it, growers for zir segment start to arrive. First to enter is a 14-year-old Robin, who bursts through the greenhouse door like a spray of sunshine. Following close behind is Robin’s sibling, Ivy, who is seven. Ivy and Robin share a space in Eden’s greenhouse where they frequently co-lead learning strands, sometimes with their parents, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. As zie welcomes them into the space, Eden projects the invitation, which, after being translated into the Universally Shared Language (USL), had announced the learning segment across the globe. In English, it reads as follows: Gather and grow with us. A remembrance and commemoration of how we have learned; a contemplation of how we will continue to grow. Who planted the first learning seed? Robin and Ivy, walking through the Osge’e’ Greenhouse greenhouse, have asked. Together, we explore: Where did it come from and what is inside? How do we grow from it?
As Robin, Ivy and others from the local community settle in to the benches in the learning space, others join from a distance, a handful as fully sensitized holograms, many others through connection with biolenses of the in-person participants. Eden senses their readiness and begins an opening meditation on remaining rooted: We share this space today as collaborators in learning, in constructing knowledge that will make the world a better place. To begin, we acknowledge cultivators and growers of the past, those whose efforts and insights planted the seeds that grew into the roots, stems, and blooms that have nurtured our ancestors and now nurture us. We express gratitude for the earth, our home in this universe, the planetary greenhouse on which all of our own greenhouses depend. We engage in this work with the understanding that we are answerable to all the people, animals, plants, and natural wonders that we share the land with. Let us spend this time together productively, using our talents, skills, and questions to find our mistakes and rectify them, and to assure that we, our loved ones, and the earth are better when we conclude than they were when we began.
To connect the past with the present and future, all learning strands are bounded by opening and closing meditations. Sometimes cultivators lead these, and sometimes they invite growers to offer these remarks.
Eden turns to Ivy and asks zir to voice the launching inquiry question again—What can communities learn from natural systems to improve our common future? As zie does, Eden carries a luxuriantly leafy plant from the greenhouse to a center stand, zir own bioluminescent subdermal underlay glowing through zir skin as she connects.
The growers’ lens screens make connections and now show the first Greenhouse Council’s call for transformation projects. CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Full proposals submitted by 1 December 2045 will be reviewed by the Greenhouse Council, led by director, M. Vivant. In preparing your transformation project proposal: Immerse in all modules to familiarize yourself with M. Lerner’s learning seed innovation. Review integrated reality sequence telling the story of Osge’e’ Greenhouse, where the first learning seed was crafted and planted and where the greenhouse school was born. Design a transformation simulation which demonstrates the plan for re-making your existing school site as a learning greenhouse; introduce your transformation team, its roots and its branches in the community; voice your commitments to growth, for individuals, the community and the earth.
Ivy pipes up, “What was in the first learning seed in Osge’e’ Greenhouse?” Robin’s face flashes with recognition, “That is you in the class picture, isn’t it, cultivator Eden? Were you at the first learning greenhouse?”
“Yes, how connected you are, Robin. I was what we called a teacher and suffered a moment of deep pain when the tools I had come to rely on led to harm for those I cared so much about.” The group’s emotics surge, first with sadness and then slow-building determination and confidence. “I began to imagine a greenhouse school, where learners and teachers could re-root in their communities and the natural world around them and where they could re-imagine how technologies worked to grow humanity rather than stifle it. I turned to one of my own teachers, M Vivant. Zie had nurtured in a younger me a sense of community, and I needed advice. Although zie had left the school where we first crossed paths to partner with others to change the world, zie kept her roots there. Zie suggested I return to my own childhood school, to make real the image I had in my mind of the learning greenhouse. I even had the key to unlock the front door, which she had pressed in my hand, presciently, so many years before.”
The growers now see on their lens screens a series of exchanges: Eden and M Lerner clasping hands as they met for the first time, boisterous idea incubation sessions carrying learners and teachers and community members into transformative envisioning and concrete planning, and M Lerner explaining the breakthrough discovery zie and a team of biologists and ethicists had made in information bio-storage. This advance was still being carried forward, in the Osge’e’ Greenhouse, the plants here infused with insights and invention surging in from other greenhouse plants across the world through the root system and pushing ahead humanity’s scientific, ethical and artistic evolutions.
Eden explains the propitious moment when the advent of bio-tech information storage capabilities intersected with pressing human and environmental need. Societies facing impending food shortages were ripe for a call to action and one focused on re-growing the natural world and a newly connected humanity. “Our schools were ripe for change too,” Eden continues. “We came together that year, as a community we committed and planned and learned and grew. And we decided together what from our shared experience would go into the first learning seed.”
Growers in the group now see the first seed (Figure 5), a tiny but powerful orb, encapsulating in its smooth brown casing invisible data radiating and powered by a young child’s question. As they observe, Eden explains a community-designed sustainability project:
“Rey, a student in M Lerner’s 2045 class asked, ‘How can we re-make the concrete grain silos on our lake waterfront and help them come alive again to feed our community?’ This question launched the group’s learning, inspired the class to gather with their community and to transform their surroundings.”
As Eden speaks, the growers see into the seed and begin to hear the sounds of marking moments in key dialogs, to feel gritty concrete on their palms as children in the 2045 class did when they first laid their hands on the imposing structures. The retinal fibers of the growers’ eyes glow as they begin to see and immerse into M Lerner’s “lessons” on design and construction, math and physics, eco-ethics and bio-sustainability. Rey, zir teacher, the children, and other adults gather in a subsequent visual segment for a planting ceremony, the learning seed they crafted together brought into the school’s small greenhouse. Growers now feel the smooth seed and see Rey tenderly place it into dark soil and detail plans for the group to carry out their intentions for transforming the silos together.
“Did they do it?” Robin clamors, “did they re-make the silos? How did the first learning seed grow?”
Eden explains the transformation took some years but was a success. The seed grew into a strong plant, the group came back to the greenhouse to feed new data and insight into the plant, and this triumph of reconnecting the people, their land, their histories and their futures garnered the attention not only of M Vivant’s non-profit group, but of the world. The Greenhouse Council was formed, adopted a mission to support transformation of schools into learning greenhouses, with the mission of building knowledge and human-nature-technology interdependence the world over.
“This place, where we congregate now, was a school but became the Osge’e’ Greenhouse. It was a demonstration site and source of inspiration for the greening of education. The plant, sprouted from the first learning seed, now sits in front of you, brought out for our communal connection by your inquiry, Robin. Thank you for this chance to commemorate the first growers. Their crafting of the first learning seed was such a powerful demonstration of their learning and such a significant contribution to the community that our efforts were held up as an undeniable alternative to ‘assessment’ as it was called. It was the heralding of a new era of regrowth that was born in those days. It was the intertwining, a re-rooting of human and natural growth. It inspired scientific innovation and multiplied our perspectives inward and outward. It was a moment in which we freed ourselves from the tramles of our technology-dominated existence, breaking free and turning back to the earth and to our communal bonds, to sow and to re-grow.”
Arriving here, Eden senses that Ivy, Robin and the other growers in attendance are all ready to proceed along their own rooting pathways. The group’s lenses and subdermal underlays connect and start to glow with understanding, experience, and feeling. Before they wander too far, zie offers a closing meditation on new crafting and future planting of seeds: “In closing, we express gratitude for this time together, and we each will share a seed of learning we will take with us as we continue today and in future days to follow this learning. What have you learned, where will you plant it, and how do you hope it will bloom in ways that impact yourself, your community, our earth?”
Eden sits alongside Robin and Ivy a few minutes longer and then asks them to return the plant with zir to its place in the greenhouse. Ivy holds the plant and zir delicate hands glow in connection for the short walk. As Ivy places the plant back into the soil, its roots stretch down, connecting back into the network and briefly illuminating as they do. Eden accompanies the two children as they walk toward the greenhouse door to re-enter the warm day feeling renewed and seeing the expanses of fauna in a new light.
The three inhale the sweet fragrance of honeysuckle bushes lining the path. “Learning seeds, and greenhouses, they are like time capsules,” says Robin. “Have you heard of that before?” zie inqui
Eden demonstrates for racial justice (photo credit: Derek Neuland (Neuland, 2020)).
Eden gazing at the time capsule (image by Pexels from Pixabay (Pexels, 2016)).
Students as dynamic learners (image by Trevor McNally from Pixabay (McNally, 2020)).
Learning greenhouse (image by Chew Seong Cheong from Pixabay (Cheong, 2019)).
Learning seed (image by Lutz Peter from Pixabay (Lutz, 2017)).
A key and a seed (image by suju from Pixabay (Schweiz, 2019)).
Footnotes
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
