#931: Reconceptualizing Imagination as Social Practice in Science Education

In science education, imagination has largely been framed as a cognitive process, with comparatively less attention to its social, political, and ecological dimensions. This conceptual paper reconceptualizes imagination as a social practice that reshapes how we imagine and design possible futures. At the micro-level, I reframe imagination as a subjective and situated practice, shaped by individual histories and sociopolitical contexts. At the meso-level, it is explored as a relational act, co-produced through intergenerational collaboration, care, and the navigation of structural constraints. At the macro-level, an ecological imagination extends this practice to include socioecological relations with more-than-human partners, drawing on Indigenous and pluriversal ontologies. By analyzing imagination across these interacting levels, this paper offers a pathway for designing more just and thriving futures.