IN-PERSON MADRID FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY. SECTION B

Abstract

The increasing presence of generative AI in education demands pedagogical approaches that are both critical and ethically reflective. This ethnographic AI-ecopedagogical experiment, conducted in a Dutch high school classroom, focuses on media representations—particularly the consumerist ideals embedded in popular role models from films and social media. The ‘role model’ functions as a pedagogical anchor, guiding a role-taking exercise in which students critically examine these portrayals through perspectives often marginalized, including Indigenous communities and animals (Jungle Fever, Kuikuro, 2022), ecological entities (Refugia, De Carbuccia, 2022), and animal-machine hybrids (Hybrids, Brauch et al., 2017). Following this examination, students encounter a poetic short film featuring a non-human role model (Lichen, Jackson, 2019), which provokes a conceptual shift and introduces Wâhkôhtowin—an Indigenous epistemology centered on kinship and mutual responsibility across human and non-human worlds. This shift prepares students to reimagine sustainable, more-than-human role models using generative AI tools (Midjourney, DALL-E, and Imagine). The methodology blends experiential learning and critical reflection, combining traditional and emerging media within a relational ethical framework. Findings show that AI acts both as a co-creative partner and a site of tension that reveals contradictions between ecological pedagogy and the consumerist logics embedded in AI technologies. The study argues that meaningful educational engagement with AI cannot be separated from the embodied, affective, and material dimensions of classroom experience. This research contributes to contemporary education by integrating sustainability, decolonizing pedagogies, and critical media literacy—fostering relational, reflective learning responsive to both technological and ecological challenges.