This post is part of Remake Learning’s series on Place-Based Education. For more, check out You Are Here: The Power of Place in Learning.
Remake Learning is grounding the start of 2020 in place—place-based education (PBE), that is. When learning is framed within the context of local geography or community, it comes alive for students. Whether getting their hands dirty during a life-sciences lesson in the park, hearing from a local councilperson in class, or launching their own student-run business, place-based learning is more personal, authentic, engaging, and relevant for students of all ages, disciplines, and backgrounds.
We recently covered place-based basics and highlighted some network members already employing PBE learning strategies. Now, we’ve collected our favorite tools and opportunities to help educators start or expand their own models for place-based learning.
Something missing from this rundown? Email info@remakelearning.org to let us know!
FROM GETTING SMART
In 2016, Getting Smart launched a multi-year thought leadership campaign designed to raise awareness and elevate the status of PBE in the national education conversation. Since the campaign’s start, they have compiled a comprehensive library of articles, podcasts, and visual aids covering all angles of PBE. Here are a few highlights:
- What is Place-Based Education and Why Does it Matter? A foundational report covering the who, what, why, and how of PBE.
- The Past, Present and Future of Place-Based Learning: Blog post revisiting the origins of PBE, beginning before formal education, through the growth of conservation efforts and environmental learning, to the current applications of PBE within the constraints of the “standards and accountability movement.”
- Experiencing Place-Based Education at Teton Science Schools: This podcast episode takes an “audio field trip” to Teton Science Schools, a longtime leader in place-based learning.
- 5 Levels of Place-Based Learning Implementation: An article with practical examples of how K-12 educators can incorporate and step-up their use of PBE in the classroom.
- Quick Start Guide to Implementing Place-Based Education: Offers even more examples and ideas for PBE in action, along with two helpful guides for understanding and scaling PBE implementation.
- The Power of Place: Authentic Learning through Place-Based Education, the forthcoming book from Getting Smart, culminating their PBE campaign and offering a compelling case for making communities the locus of learning for students of all ages and backgrounds.
Access Getting Smart’s full catalog of PBE resources at gettingsmart.com/powerofplace.
GUIDES
Guiding Principles for Exemplary Place-Based Stewardship Education: Rubric
A guide and rubric for building and assessing PBE learning programs from the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative.
Manual focusing on the parallels between PBE and civic engagement, including tips for building community partnerships and launching a community-based PBE program.
RESEARCH & EVALUATION
Benefits of Place-Based Education
Place-Based Education: A Program Evaluation
Researcher Hannah S. Moody designed and conducted a program evaluation of the PBE component at Summit Charter School.
The Environmental Commons in Urban Communities: The Potential of Place-Based Education
A report analyzing the reflections of over 200 4–12th graders (most from racial/ethnic minority backgrounds), who offered insight on what they learned while participating in place-based stewardship education projects in their urban communities.
EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES
Practical Training in Project-Based Learning
Educators can easily apply a PBE approach to project-based learning. Learn more about the fundamentals of project-based learning and design a project plan at the Consortium for Public Education’s upcoming two-day professional development session.
Looking to explore or start your own PBE project? An Ignite Grant from Remake Learning may be able to help! Apply by March 13, 2020.
WHAT’S NEXT?
For even more on PBE curriculum, research, and evaluation, browse resources from the Promise of Place and the Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition.