The dimension of care in American woodshop class and wood play in schools

Abstract

This article posits that within American woodworking and wood play school curriculum—across time periods and age ranges—there is a hidden-in-plain-site dimension of care toward non-human things, like tools and wood. Analyzing American teacher guidebooks, curriculum descriptions, educational research journals, technical education magazines, newsletters, school textbooks, and other sources, this study describes how the dimension of care is revealed, despite not being named as an explicit educational purpose. An ethics of care is theorized in this study as quotidian habits of maintenance and reverence toward non-human things. Emphasizing this style of care provides a new way of seeing American wood shop class, and related lessons, away from their vocational backdrop, and provides current educators with inspiration on how woodworking and wood play could be integrated into curriculum concerned with promoting a less anthropocentric ethics in the classroom.