Archive:Place-Based Education

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Authors: User:Amy Chang, User:Thuang, and User:LinChiehHuang(黃麟傑) is working on this page during November 6~December 6, 08.

Introduction

This page is written for parents of young children, teachers, and others who want to use Place-Based Education. It is written by practicing teachers in a graduate inquiry class at Ashland University.

The definition of place-based education

Smith(2002,p.586)stated that place-based education is an educational approach which focuses on helping children learning local phenomena and their lived experience. Knapp(2005,p.278)stated that place-based education is also known as environment education, outdoor education, service learning, or experiential education.

The benefits of place-based education

There are many benefits of place-based education such as connecting learning experiences and daily lives, making a close relationship between instructors and children, (may)helping reduce the dropout rate, helping children become life-long learners and love literature, helping children discover their cultural background, helping children love and protect the nature, helping children understand how to deal with the real world, and helping children understand textbooks well.

1. Connecting learning experiences and daily lives

Children are curious about everything. When children bring those curiosity to school, some teachers think that is not important and think the most important thing is helping children past the standardized tests. Smith(2002,p.586)stated, "The disconnection between children's lived exprience and school learning has only been exacerbated by our national preoccupation with standardized test scores." This action are reducing children's curiosity. Teachers or parents who use place-based education to teach children will help them know how to use what they learn in their daily lives.

Further, after place-based education is used appropriately, children will love to find answers on their own to solve daily lives problems which they have encountered. Some children may also begin to realize whay home, school, and community needs and want to find their own ways to serve their home, school, and community. Jaycox(2001,p.1)stated,"Place-based educators use local particulars to teach universal concepts, engage students in community life, and involve people and resources unique to the home community."

2. Making a close relationship between instructors and children

Either teachers teach children in a school or parents teach children in their home(home-schooling), children will feel boring when teachers or parents always focus teaching on textbooks. Place-based education can overcome this problem and make a stronger relationship between teachers/parents and children. Smith(2002,p.586)stated,"They (children) enjoyed being outdoors and working with teachers who acted more like partners than supervisors."

4. Helping children become life-long learners and love literature

When teachers/parents always focus their teaching content on textbooks, children may begin to feel boring. Using place-based education to elicit children's curiosity and give children more opportunities to choose what they want to learn is a good way to help children become life-long learners. Fleming and Billman (2007, p.1) stated, "Through the use of picutre books, children of all ages are able to learn about many facets of their environment and better understand the interrelatedness of their lives with it." Thus, teachers/parents can use picutre books to help children love literature and understand their environment.

At first, teachers/parents can ask some quesiotns which related with textbooks' topic. For example, the textbook topic is "The XXX river". Teachers/parents can ask some questions such as "Do you like rivers?" "Have you ever seen a river?" "Do you know what forms a river?" Second, teachers/parents can offer some opportunities for children to choose such as making frequently field trips to local rivers, going to some children's website to do research about rivers, drawing a picture of a river, and asking their parents, older sibling, neighbors about local rivers. Third, teachers/parents should help children make connection between what children learn from local rivers and the rivers in textbooks. When children become interested in topics, they will try to learn more information on their own without teachers/parents' requirement. That's how life-long learners form.

8. Helping children understand textbooks well

Sometimes children do not understand and are not interested in textbooks. Using place-based education to offer children more options such as related pictures books or stories, related posters or local maps, related cartoons or movies will help children more interesting and want to discover a topic of their textbooks in depth. Fleming and Billman (2007, p.2) stated, "While children's picture books can be an excellent vehicle for teaching students about environmental literacy, educators must take time to discuss issues related to the content so that the historical, scientific, or ecological principles associated with a given topic can be fully explored."

The lesson examples of place-based education

Amy's Place-Based Education Unit Outline

Place-Based Education is a good pedagogy which combines studen5ts learning and the environment. Moreover, it is a student-centered oriented teaching style. In order to let my students know more about our community, I create ten lessons in this unit. Students will learn their living environment naturally. For instance, in Lesson One; students will pick up falling leaves, flowers in zippered bags. And they noticed the season’s changing in this way.

Daphne's Place-Based Education Unit Outline

Young people need to be equipped with an understanding of their natural environment so that they become wise guardians of the earth’s future. Learning through nature can provide young people with first hand experience, leading to a greater understanding of our dependence on the earth’s life support systems. In my teaching unit of study will involve observation within the variety methods to examine wetlands. It also focuses on how children learn from natural environment and how they use natural sources appropriately. In addition, it will discuss the correlation of agricultural products based on their origins. It will introduce agricultural producers and processed in which are used to create products that are purchased by consumers. The food guide will show how these products will help students maintain healthy life choices.

Excellent place-based education internet links

• 1 Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education

• 2 Environmental Education Council of Ohio

• 3 North American Association for Environmental Education

• 4 Save our land,save our towns.

• 5 Woods Institute for the Environment

• 6 World Resources Institute

Excellent books focus on place/local study

• Another turn of the crank by Wendell Berry

• Save our land,save our towns:a plan for Pennsylvania by Thomas Hylton.

• Scratching the woodchuck:Nature on an Amish farm by David Kline

References

• Fleming,L.C.,& Billman,L.W.,(2007, p.1).Using children's literature to enhance environmental literacy. EECO.

• Knapp,C.E.,(2005).The "I-thou" relationship, place-based education, and aldo leopold. Journal of experiential education, 27(3), p.277~285.

• Jaycox,R.,(2001).Rural home schooling and place-based education. ERIC DIGEST

• Smith,G.A.,(2002).Place-based education:learning to be where we are.Phi Delta Kappan,83(8),584~594.