Education for Spaceship Earth

The workshop’s context centres around one notion: the noosphere! This term was first introduced in 1923 in Paris, emerging from the discussions of a unique trio of intellectuals. Diversity often gives rise to potent ideas and the trio that coined the concept of the noosphere was indeed diverse. At first glance, they appear to have little in common. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a Jesuit mystic and seasoned palaeontologist, a man of faith deeply rooted in empirical study. Edouard Le Roy was a Parisian philosopher, a devoted student of Bergson. Vladimir Vernadsky was a Ukrainian communist from Moscow and a prominent scholar in mineralogy and geochemistry. The meeting of their minds gave rise to the noosphere—a scientific and philosophical counterpart to the biosphere. The term is derived from the Greek word νοῦς (nous), meaning ‘mind’. It points to a sphere—be it a dimension, phase, or dynamic attractor—where our collective consciousness is coalesced.

Today, the biosphere’s recognition as a complex living entity is widely accepted. Yet, a century ago, Eduard Suess’ groundbreaking idea was still emerging. At the time, viewing all distinct organisms as integral parts of a single interconnected system was a revolutionary perspective in scientific thought. The construct of the noosphere threaded an analogous path: can we see our individual minds meet in and belong to an integrative dimension? Do the minds converge?

The workshop is sponsored by Human Energy, an international project focused on the scientific exploration of the concept of the noosphere and its worldwide popularisation. As this year marks the centenary of the Paris discussions between Teilhard de Chardin, Le Roy, and Vernadsky, Human Energy is spearheading a series of global events to celebrate the ‘100 Year Anniversary of the Discovery of the Noosphere, culminating in the N2 Conference on November 17-19 at the International House at University of California, Berkeley.

With this historical and scientific background in mind, in our Brussels workshop we delve into the daily practices of education.

Teilhard wrote that ‘the history of the living world can be summarised as the elaboration of ever more perfect eyes within a cosmos in which there is always something more to be seen.’ If we regard all our minds and pairs of eyes as integral faculties of the noosphere—an ever-evolving web of understanding—what practical implications should this have for our classrooms?

How do we envision the development of our learners? How can we support them if we view individual minds, both theirs and ours, as facets of humanity’s global, distributed mind? Does this expansive re-contextualisation have tangible implications? Can we integrate it into our daily classroom activities? What would a normal day at school look like if we accepted the noosphere as the true context for our teaching and learning?

The workshop is for anyone who wishes to advance their ability to facilitate learning and development in adolescence in manners that are:

• well attuned to complexity—the complexity of the world and the complexity of the mind,
• immersed in the entire web of meaning and existence—rather than bounded out by particular social identities,
• integrative and interdisciplinary.

Participation will be particularly useful for:

• Teachers, educators, coaches, counsellors.

• Researchers and students in education, psychology, and related fields.

Dr. Marta Shaw

expert

Professor of educational leadership at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Educational researcher at University of Minnesota & Bethel Seminary.

Lotte Van Lith

expert

Coach and educator specialised in the art of creative, emotional and existential development. Author of Intens Mens.

Dr. Weaver D.R. Weinbaum

expert

Philosopher at Buckminster College and CLEA VUB.  Founder of NuNET. Author of Open-Ended Intelligence.

Chantal Woltring

facilitator

Iwona Sołtysińska

facilitator

Dr. Maciej Świeży

facilitator

Dr. Marta Lenartowicz

facilitator, host

Triopticon

The first half of the workshop will be conducted according to the Triopticon method of the Cynefin Co. This formal workshop method facilitates interaction between different disciplines, participants, ideas and beliefs, encouraging the sharing of conflicting points of view and thus the analysis and synthesis of elements of disagreement between traditionally diverse fields in order to enhance understanding. The Triopticon process was designed to provide a fresh compromise between a formal conference and the more unstructured unconference. The method presents a more structured variation of the Ritual Dissent and Silent Listening methods, particularly adapted to events where there are subject matter experts presenting new ideas to practitioners and generalists who need to make sense of the content for their own environments and application. This method is designed to enable deeper listening, and promote synthesis.

Teaching Practices

Day 2 will predominantly focus on a hands-on approach to developing teaching skills. Utilising the experiential learning model, attendees will co-design, conduct, and refine micro-teaching demonstrations, creatively integrating their newfound ‘noospheric’ insights into educational practices. Materials from a typical day in the Buckminster College full-time curriculum will serve as a ‘sandbox’, providing a source for teaching materials.

Interdisciplinary Constellation

The final day will culminate in a co-creative exploration of the interdisciplinary ‘Constellation’ class, a signature component of all Buckminster College curricula. Held daily, these classes will involve the entire school, weaving together all day’s lessons into a cohesive, free-associated, global pattern. The Constellation approach epitomises collaborative thinking, transitioning from gathering individual facts to connecting them into meaningful wholes.

On-campus (recommended):

• This is the default and full-featured attendance, lasting for 3 days and including all workshop events held at the Free University of Brussels’ (VUB) campus in Brussels, Etterbeek.
• Inclusions: Coffee breaks on Thursday (*2 times), Friday (*2 times), and Saturday (*1 time), as well as lunches on Thursday and Friday. The events conclude at 1 pm on Saturday.
• Sponsored by the Human Energy project, a co-payment of €38* per person is required.

Online-active:

• This format demands full online engagement, requiring participants to attend all workshop sessions via a stable Zoom connection.
• Note: This mode does not guarantee full audio-video connectivity with all on-campus participants. However, it allows attendees to follow main talks, discussions, and join in dedicated online discussion spaces and group tasks.
• Due to methodological and technical considerations, this mode will only be confirmed if a minimum number of participants register.
• Sponsored by the Human Energy project, a co-payment of €28* per person is required.

Online-audience:

• This is a streaming-only option.
• Participants can follow all central talks, main discussions, and selected group activities.
• Sponsored by the Human Energy project, a co-payment of €18* per person is required.

*Fee Waivers:

Participation fees are automatically waived for:

• individuals holding active faculty contracts at Buckminster College (if your contract is pending please finalise it with ),
• researchers affiliated with CLEA-VUB,
• researchers affiliated with Human Energy.

Day 1

Thursday, 21 September 2023

• 9:30 Start

U-Residence (Blvd Géneral Jacques 271), the Green Room

• Triopticon Process
• Coffee
• Triopticon Process
• Lunch (campus cafeteria ‘Resto’, open 11:30-1:45 PM)
• Triopticon Process
• Coffee
• Triopticon Process

• 17:15 Estimated end time

Day 2

Friday, 22 September 2023

• 9:30 Start

Campus building D, room D.2.12

• Triopticon Process
• Coffee
• Triopticon Process
• Teaching Practices
• Lunch (campus cafeteria ‘Resto’, open 11:30-1:45 PM)

Campus building I (like in Irene), rooms I.1.01 + I.1.02 + I.1.06

• Teaching Practices
• Coffee
• Teaching Practices

• 17:15 Estimated end time

Day 3

Saturday, 23 September 2023

• 9:30 Chitchat Start

• 9:45 Real Start

U-Residence (Blvd Géneral Jacques 271), the Green Room

• Teaching Practices
• Coffee
• Interdisciplinary Constellation

• 13:00 Estimated end time

The workshop is taking place at the VUB campus in Etterbeek, Brussels.

Day 1: U-Residence (Blvd Géneral Jacques 271), the Green Room

Day 2 – before lunch: Campus building D, room D.2.12

Day 2 – after lunch: Campus building I (like in Irene), rooms I.1.01 + I.1.02 + I.1.06

Day 3: U-Residence (Blvd Géneral Jacques 271), the Green Room

Do not hesitate to get in touch!

Please be advised that a significant portion of this event will be conducted using the formal ‘Triopticon’ workshop method. As such, the experience might differ from what you’re typically accustomed to. In the Triopticon sessions, speaking opportunities will be structured, with designated times allotted for each participant to share their insights. Furthermore, the method entails moments where attendees are encouraged to silently listen to a speaker.

Additionally, we’d like to note that the online version of this workshop will not offer the same richness or comfort as the on-campus counterpart. If you can choose between the two, we strongly recommend attending in person for a more comprehensive experience.

Once registered for the workshop, you are warmly invited to familiarise yourself with (some of) the following materials:

The workshop is organised by Buckminster College, an academic spinoff initiative reimagining international, interregional, intercultural education for ages 10-18. Our general idea is that cognitive development in adolescence must be supported (and indeed boldly inspired!) along accelerating, asynchronous, and divergent learning trajectories. The aim is good attunement to complexity. The underlying theoretical and philosophical approaches are sourced from interdisciplinary research in the domain of pedagogy of individuation and thriving in the complex, uncertain, open-ended world. Behind the project is an international group of academics affiliated with the Center Leo Apostel (CLEA) of the Free University in Brussels (VUB) and instructors and alumni of the Postgraduate School of Thinking VUB.