“If you don’t know where you are, you don’t know who you are.” Wallace Stegner  ~The Foundations of Place-based Learning

Place-Based learning addresses this quote directly.  Like problem-based and project-based learning, place-based learning is another form of experiential learning that requires higher level of students to construct meaning through doing.  Throughout history, different groups of people have been loosing their cultural identity due to our ever fast-changing world.  New technologies are coming out every day and children are introduced to things that we never thought imaginable when we were children.  However, while this is going on, children are losing site of what was important to us and missing out on opportunities that we may have taken for granted.

More and more families are pushing their children into joining a multitude of sports and extra-curricular activities in the hopes to keep them busy, safe, out of trouble, maybe to excel in an activity or sport.  At the same time, these children are not aware of their surroundings, their community and what makes up the world we live in.  It is possible to incorporate some of these fading activities like walking in the woods and running in the fields into what we teach our students.  It is called place-based education.

The Process

In David Sobel’s book, Place-Based Education Connecting Classrooms and Communities, he discusses how it is important to involve the whole community in the education of our children and it creates and interconnectedness that need and empower each other. I feel that this idea overlaps with the ideas of Service Learning and therefore can be interconnected as well.  Like in his book Childhood and Nature, Sobel explains how children need to first care about their environment before they can begin fixing it and helping to make it better.  The six strategies to create Place-Based Schools emphasize the relationships and interconnectedness of the self, friends&family, global&local community, biosphere-Mother Nature and create opportunities for learning right relationships.  They also provide rich opportunities for the PBLs and Service Learning.
#1- Environmental Educator in every school
#2- Create SEED Teams to Provide Vision and Guidance
#3- Build Connections Through Community Vision to Action Forums
#4- Tread Lightly When You Carry a Green Stick
#5- Nurture Continuous Improvement through Ongoing Professional Development
#6- Nurture Community Exchange
Sobel’s seven design principles from his book, Childhood and Nature:Design Principles for Educators make learning fun and memorable.  These are what I have been incorporating into my teaching as I begin my journey of Place-Based learning. The seen principles are: Adventure, Fantasy and Imagination, Animal Allies, Maps and Paths, Special Places, Small Worlds, and Hunting and Gathering are natural ways children learn through play at different ages.

 What’s My Thinking on Place-Based Education?

I grew up in the country, down near the seacoast.  I remember taking off through the woods as a child to go ice skating on the pond with my sister and having no one worry about where I was or need a cell phone to go.  I knew the way there and back  like the back of my hand and about when to go home-when I was cold, hungry, tired, or it started to get dark.  Today is SO different.  In David sobels book Childhood and Nature, he describes several ways to teach children through nature. This idea has really struck me as a way to include problem-based learning, inquiry and our own back yard.

Last fall, I took students just inside the woods behind our school to create miniature structures (or fairy houses for many).  After laying the ground rules for finding a location that would support the structure to survive our NH elements, they were off!  It was truly amazing to see them investigate a variety of locations and discuss with their partner the pros and cons of each before settling on one spot.  Unfortunately, we needed to get back inside relatively quickly for lunch and would continue later in the day.  I expected students to need help finding their places since they had not begun the building yet.  They were little ants focused on something sweet!

The school that I teach at is in a rural community with woods and trails behind the school.  We seem to have the resources to implement aspects of place-based learning. It will take some time to shift thinking from inside the four walls to get outdoors and connect the curriculum, but it can be done. After some exploring withe the seven design principles, I am looking for more ways that I can integrate it into the units that I already have in places our school is already part of a district initiative adopting the International Baccalaureate Programme.  I feel that the underlying concepts of problem-based learning can still apply here and I  can bring it outside.

Here is a short video of a place-based unit that we were working on in 2nd grade.  As part of How the World Works unit, students built fairy houses in the woods behind our school.  The task was to build a miniature structure using only natural materials that would help the fairies to survive the changes in our natural world.  Students worked in pairs or small groups discuss the pros and cons of location, materials, and design.David Sobel’s 7 design principles for younger children are integrated throughout the video.

Place-Based video of a second grade class

 More Resources on Place-Based Learning:

“What is Place-Based Education?

Place-based education (PBE) immerses students in local heritage, cultures, landscapes, opportunities and experiences, using these as a foundation for the study of language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and other subjects across the curriculum. PBE emphasizes learning through participation in service projects for the local school and/or community.

Research has shown that well-designed initiatives can achieve the goals outlined below. Learn more about the principles of the place-based education and answers to frequently asked questions.”

Source: Promise of Place

“Place Based Learning is an educational approach that uses the most effective developments in teaching and learning to tackle critical issues of sustainability and community development in the actual context that young people are growing-up.”

Source: Place-Based Learning 

 

“Nearly a century ago, John Dewey called for experiential learning that engages students in their own environments.

An increasing number of teachers are embracing place-based learning as a strategy that captures students’ imaginations and advances environmental stewardship and civic engagement.

Place-based learning begins with asking questions such as, “Where am I? What is the natural and social history of this place? How does this place fit into the larger world?”