Nonviolent Companionship with Nature

High School Students’ Pathways

Authors

  • MacKenzie Lance-Jones
  • Janet Smith
  • Hongyu Wang Oklahoma State University

Keywords:

ecological sustainability, teacher research, nonviolence education, companionship with nature, high school curriculum

Abstract

In this collaborative teacher research project, two high school teachers and a teacher educator explore what nonviolent companionship with nature means for two groups of students who engaged in eight weeks of interactions with nature near their schools. Theoretically oriented by nonviolence theory, the researchers adopted an emergent research design in which students were free to choose their own nature companions and interacted with them while researchers followed the unfolding of these students’ pathways. Two major findings from each group—a sense of belonging and whole-being learning—converged to convey the integrative capacities of nonviolence education.

Author Biographies

MacKenzie Lance-Jones

MacKenzie Lance-Jones is a PhD student in Curriculum Studies at Oklahoma State University. She received a Bachelors in Art History with minors in Human Rights, Peace and Conflict Studies, and Education from UC Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma. She teaches advanced math and sewing at a public school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has previously been selected as a teacher researcher through the National Endowment for the Humanities and National Science Foundation. Her interests include eco-justice, belonging, and nonviolence. 

Janet Smith

Janet Smith is a PhD student in Curriculum Studies at Oklahoma State University. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Communication at the University of Arkansas, a Bachelor of Science in Geology and a Master’s of Science in Environmental Geology from the University of Missouri - Kansas City. She currently teaches Earth and Space Sciences at a public school in the Tulsa area. Her interests include geoscience education and research.

 

Hongyu Wang, Oklahoma State University

Serving as Chuck and Kim Watson Endowed Chair in Education in the College of Education and Human Sciences, Hongyu Wang is a professor in Curriculum Studies at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa. Her main research and teaching areas include curriculum theory, nonviolence education, cross-cultural inquiry, and the human psyche and education. Her books related to nonviolence education include Curriculum as Lived: Currere, Mindfulness, and Nonviolent Companionship (2026), Awakenings to the Calling of Nonviolence in Curriculum Studies (2024) (See the YouTube book launch: https://youtu.be/QRW3BwKwvc0), Contemporary Daoism, Organic Relationality, and Curriculum of Integrative Creativity (2021), Nonviolence and Education (2014). Her other publications can be found at https://experts.okstate.edu/hongyu.wang. She founded a book series, “Lived Experience, Nonviolence, Curriculum Studies” at Emerald. She also opened a YouTube channel on nonviolence education (https://www.youtube.com/@NonviolenceEducation-rr4qk). 

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Published

2026-05-20

How to Cite

Lance-Jones, M., Smith, J., & Wang, H. (2026). Nonviolent Companionship with Nature: High School Students’ Pathways. Holistic Education Review, 6(1). Retrieved from https://her.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/her/article/view/3497

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2026): Spring 2026

Section

Peer-Reviewed Submissions