Tracing the Origin and Creating the Future to Find the Lost Dimension of Nature in Modern Education: The Second Follow-up Study of Life-Practice Educology

Abstract

This paper focuses on the relationship between nature and education, which is crucial to educology and educational reform yet has not received much attention in educology or educational reform efforts or research in China. Through retrospection and analysis of the history, this study attempts to sort out the emergence of views of nature in China and changes in them over time as a preliminary to reconceptualizing the relationship between contemporary education and nature from a theoretical perspective and advancing the research on relevant themes in practice. This paper is divided into three parts. Part 1 elaborates on the evolution of classical views of nature in ancient China, from the beginning of Chinese civilization. Part 2 examines how classical views of nature were changed or even lost in social upheavals. Part 3 explores the intricate process of “stepping out from the shadow” and “shaping the future” and discusses its characteristics. This work attempts to recover and reconstruct the long-lost dimension of nature in education and educology. Only if we retrieve the lost dimension of nature in society, educational systems and schools can we achieve a holistic change in Chinese education from modern to contemporary.