Episode 79: Place-Based Education — A Dynamic Shift from Traditional to Experiential Learning

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Welcome to another episode of K12 Education Untangled. My name is Dr. Kim Fields, former corporate manager turned educational researcher and advocate, and I'm the host of this podcast. I got into this space after dealing with some frustrating interactions with school educators and administrators, as well as experiencing the microdiscriminations that I faced as an African American mom raising my two kids who were in the public school system. I really wanted to understand how teachers were trained and what the research provided about the challenges of the public education system. Once I gained the information and the insights that I needed, I was then equipped to be able to successfully support my children in their educational progress. If you're looking to find out more about current information and issues in education that could affect you or your children, then you're in the right place. Thanks for tuning in today. I know that staying informed about K12 education trends and topics is important to you, so keep listening. On today's episode, I'll be discussing place based education, what it means, and why you should know about it. Place Based Education, or pbe, extends the classroom outside to local places that textbooks and standardized curriculum may not address. Although textbooks and standardized curriculums are still necessary, PBE can be implemented in urban, suburban, rural, and virtual classrooms. Yet, what makes this teaching method so special? I explore the advantages and disadvantages of place based education on this episode, as well as specific actions you can take to utilize PPE in your home. Let's get started. We all live in places. All places are similar, yet all places are different. So what are these places? Well, they include towns, riverbanks, bridges, neighborhoods, forests, and city blocks or all of which tell stories about what things are and how they work. Place based education helps to give students better understandings of the world they live in. It's really about understanding how things function in actual places that will help students better comprehend global issues and phenomena. PBE is about creating space for students to ask questions about their world, to allow them to wonder about and come to know the stories of a place. The ability to investigate places and learn its stories creates bridges to deeper understanding of how the world works. There are four elements of place based personal experience, acquisition of content, understanding of place, and a student's role in or service to to their community. Research has proven that students become more socially, emotionally, and intellectually engaged with information that has to do with their own lived experiences. Students need to grasp the complexity of our interconnectedness as well as our uniqueness. The place in which learning occurs as part of place based education is important and should be nurtured, protected, and built upon. Place based education and early childhood includes the development of a sense of wonder, appreciation for the beauty and ministry of the natural world, and respect for other creatures. It also includes the development of problem solving skills as well as the development of interest in the world around us. All of this supports and prioritizes the need for play in the lives of young children. Additionally, outdoor education is a critical component of early education because it can provide the foundation of a positive and caring attitude toward the environment. Play Space education is a teaching method that involves exploring a local neighborhood or community which can lead students to find issues. These issues then can become the focus of lessons and activities that expand across content areas and may continue for weeks or months within the school year. It is not one field trip or an isolated event that brings the outside into the classroom. Rather, these field trips and events may lead to a focus on place based education. The experiences needed to improve neighborhoods and communities to make them more sustainable and beneficial to all who reside in these areas is not necessarily found in textbooks and standardized curriculum. Place based education is a method of teaching that incorporates the disciplinary practices that produce skills that can be applicable in multiple areas as well as in the real world. In order to thrive in the real world, students need to learn how to navigate, become change agents, and participate in the real world. Teachers that have utilized place based education have reported an increase in motivation and engagement in their students. This teaching method encourages students to embrace who they are as individuals as far as their experiences, perceptions, cultures, languages, and community. Students who've been classified as low performing can achieve more when using place based education because they can utilize their strengths while working with others who can support areas of weakness. Meaningful instruction like PPE leaves an impact on a child, prepares him or her to be a contributing citizen in their community, and teaches that child to be adaptable as the world changes. Having a relationship with one's community or neighborhood can be beneficial emotionally, mentally, socially, economically, and environmentally safe. Students must be provided with experiences to inhabit their neighborhoods and communities and to be trained on how to become contributing, democratic, decision making citizens. In other words, they need to be mindful of their places. Once students experience the community as their classroom and are provided with opportunities to make a difference, they become more aware of how their communities function. Needless to say the benefits of being outdoors are physical as well as emotional. Cognitive social Students who are apathetic towards school based learning are often more engaged in place based learning. Researchers found that it can be damaging in the long run to learn abstractly about many global environmental problems. Therefore, learning about environmental stewardship close to home and local places is more developmentally appropriate. Unless a caring connection is developed with local places, children will tune out problems they feel disconnected from or those they feel helpless to engage in. Place based education is going outside regardless of where one lives, whether that's in a rural setting or in an urban setting, to get to know the local conditions from many perspectives including geographic, social or historical. Place based education is a growing trend in the wide landscape of education reform. It is an immersive learning experience. PBE is an educational approach that uses the local environment for its education and learning context. The primary objective of place based education is to encourage students to get interested in their local community and to provide them with opportunities to take action to build a better future for their community. It's grounded in resources, issues and values and focuses on using the local community or neighborhood as an integrating context for learning. Place based education is multidisciplinary in that it is utilized in the arts, mathematics, social studies and and science education and it improves students perception about local heritage, culture, ecology, landscapes, opportunities and experiences. With each of these, place based education can benefit impoverished rural schools by helping students and teachers look at their communities in new ways and by working on lessons with more real world connections and impact. High poverty rural schools often lack traditional resources, yet place based learning can fill some of those gaps. PPE can lead to an improved quality of life for rural residents and their communities. Technology is not a prerequisite for personalized learning. The most important principles with place based education are engagement authenticity. Teachers who utilize place based education leverage local assets including parks, public spaces, museums and businesses to create strong partnerships. The fact is that the concept of place based education is not new. In some ways learning has always been locally connected. Indigenous peoples only had local geography as a classroom and along with storytelling and myth and generation, education was invariably linked to place. PBE can take many forms ranging from formal to informal learning, from out of school individual and family experiences to teacher related or school sponsored activities as well as from one lesson.

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One project, one unit, one course to an entire school fully designed around a place based mission. Common Core State Standards require connecting English Language Arts and math to other subject areas. However, STEM history, culture, art, and Civics should also be a part of that integration. These standards are the what of education but doesn't address the where Richer, deeper, and more personal and meaningful learning cannot really be successful within the four walls of a classroom. Students need to personalize their learning in many other places where they encounter real issues like in their city, state and national parks, historical sites, businesses, factories, libraries, and museums. In other words, the Common Core of the child aims to learn through the common core of the place. Through the Common Core of Place, students understand that every community is comprised of social, ecological and economic building blocks. This helps propel students toward being more active citizens in the places where they live. Complex local issues are generally addressed in project based learning. These types of projects could include such things as air and water quality, traffic congestion, etc. Using the principles of design thinking, students can come up with solutions that involve new products and services for local businesses and companies. The National Park Service has parks and historical sites that provide unique opportunities for students to study history, science, civics, culture, and global issues by providing access to historical resources, scientific data, subject matter experts and professionals, and community connections to local cultural heritage. Most people are unaware that about two thirds of the areas managed by the National Park Service are not only natural resource parks but are cultural and historical preservation sites as well. These include national memorials, national monuments, national battlefield cemeteries, national recreation areas, scenic and wild rivers, natural and historical trails, national seashores and lakeshores, as well as national preserves. Any of these places offer a unique opportunity for students to engage in place based learning activities at home or at school. Cultural preservation includes both tangible and intangible human culture. Intangible culture includes religion, language, music, dance, literature, and other non tangible characteristics of a group. Tangible culture, on the other hand, includes the natural and creative environments like architecture, art, cultural landscapes and other natural areas. Cultural preservation is one way to teach students global competencies like critical thinking skills and cultural literacy through engagement in real life problems and the creation of solution strategies. Students could work with a local National Park Service site on a service learning project in a park or in their community. Many schools look to the National Park Service for opportunities to take students outdoors so that they can learn firsthand about environmental issues. One notable resource provided through the National Park Service is free admission. Every Kid in a Park is a White House initiative designed to encourage every fourth grader in the United States to visit a federal land or water management area to participate in either educational or recreational activities. The program offers a one year free pass to federal land and water management areas to fourth graders and their families. Additional information can be provided by your child's teacher. PPE is a way to inject civic engagement into schools, thus encouraging student driven inquiry while also connecting students to the place where they live. This helps students contextualize larger global topics and themes. Place based learning projects give students hands on experience with investigation and problem solving, strengthening skills such as interviewing, surveying, map making and public speaking. It allows students to clearly see how curricular topics relate to their lives. PBE reinforces the statement quote Think globally, teach locally, end quote. The progression of curricula that include place based education goes something like this. In primary grades, students focus on home, family, school and neighborhood as places. In upper elementary grades, the focus extends to state and region. In middle school and high school, the curriculum scope widens to encompass a worldwide view, giving students more opportunities for service and change. Making the basic curricula construct is my place, your place, all places. There are six principles of place based learning. These include 1 community as the classroom 2 learner centered 3 inquiry based the key to this is to keep asking good questions 4 local to global based on what was found in the local community? What are things that can be potentially changing on global situation 5 design thinking, using inquiry to see what is and then designing to see what could be and six Interdisciplinary place based projects require that students explore the intersection of multiple topics and content areas and then rely on their ability to make connections. There are several examples of schools that leverage local assets including parks and museums in order to educate with a sense of place. Some of these examples include the Teton Science School in Northwest Wyoming, which has place based education as a core mission the Environmental Charter School in Pittsburgh Eagle Rock, a small high school in Estes Park, Colorado, which takes full advantage of Rocky Mountain National Park. There are at least a dozen preschool programs in Seattle that have an outdoor focus. The outdoor nature based programs focus on play and exploration, supplemented by a curriculum that further engages their curiosity. The Puget Sound Skills center, south of Seattle teaches a marine biology course that meets at Seahurst Beach. Tacoma School of the Arts has active relationships with each of the museums in downtown Tacoma. Metro Charter elementary and Downtown Los Angeles leverages the neighborhood resources like parks, culture centers, businesses and historical sites to provide meaningful learning opportunities for diverse students. Horace Mann elementary in Washington, D.C. is another example that uses food gardens and has partnerships with local universities. These various examples illustrate that place based learning takes different formats as they focus on areas such as the city at school, museum, school, marine science, and the environment throughout locations across the United States. Some of the benefits of place based education that have been mentioned thus far include building critical thinking skills, experiential learning, cultural awareness, engagement, and community involvement. So what are some ways that you can help your child build these skills while utilizing place based learning at home? You play a crucial role in supporting your child's learning and you can incorporate place based education principles at home. Here are five ways you can help your children with build on these skills through place based learning.

1.

Explore local environments. Take family outings to local parks, nature reserves, museums, historical sites or community events. Encourage your child to observe and ask questions about their surroundings. Create scavenger hunts or nature walks to explore the floor, fauna and landmarks in your community. This promotes observation skills and an appreciation for the local environment. 2. Connect learning to everyday life. Tie academic concepts to real life situations. For example, involve your child in cooking to teach math and science concepts or discuss historical events related to your local area. Explore the history of your community, including significant events, landmarks, and historical figures. Visit local museums or historical sites to make learning more tangible. 3. Community involvement Engage in community service projects together. This can involve participating in neighborhood cleanups, volunteering at local charities or or helping with community events. Could also attend town hall meetings, community forums, or local cultural events to expose your child to different perspectives and community issues. 4. Cultural Exploration Explore the cultural diversity within your community. Attend cultural festivals, visit local cultural centers or museums and try diverse cuisines. This helps children appreciate and understand the richness of their community's cultural tapestry. Encourage your child to interview family members or community elders to learn about their experiences and the history of the area and five. Hands on projects. You can undertake hands on on projects related to local issues. For example, create a garden to learn about local plants and sustainability, or start a compost bin to explore environmental responsibility. You could also document and create a family scrapbook or digital portfolio that showcases your child's experiences, discoveries, and projects related to your community. The key is to integrate learning into daily life in a way that makes it enjoyable and meaningful for your child. By incorporating these examples, you can help your child develop a strong connection to their community, foster critical thinking, and cultivate a love for lifelong learning. Here are this episode's takeaways. Place Based Education is a teaching method that involves exploring a local neighborhood or community which can lead students to find issues. These issues then can become the focus of lessons and activities that expand across content area and may continue for weeks or months within the school year. There are four elements of place based personal experience, acquisition of content, understanding of place, and a student's role in or service to their community. Research has proven that students become more socially, emotionally, and intellectually engaged with information that has to do with their own lived experience experiences. Students need to grasp the complexity of our interconnectedness as well as our uniqueness. PPE is a way to inject civic engagement in schools, thus encouraging student driven inquiry while also connecting students to the place where they live. This helps students contextualize larger global topics and themes. Place based learning projects give students hands on experience with investigation and problem solving, strengthening skills such as interviewing, surveying, map making, and public speaking. It allows students to see clearly how curricular topics relate to their lives. There are six principles of place based learning. These include the community as the classroom learner, centeredness, inquiry based, local to global focus, design, thinking, and interdisciplinary. Place based projects require that students explore the intersection of multiple topics and content areas and then rely on their ability to make connections. If this is the type of subject matter and discussion that resonates with you, please follow my podcast or whatever service you're listening to this. Also, I'd love to hear from you, so please leave me a rating, a review or comment on Apple or podchaser if you like this podcast. The best way to support me and help me grow it is by leaving a review. This helps my rankings and entices other people to listen to the show. And remember to share this episode with anyone that you think would find it valuable. Be sure to tell your friends, friends, family and your community about my podcast. Thanks for listening today. I hope you'll come back for more K12 educational discussions with even more exciting topics to untangle. Be sure to stay tuned on the next episode. I'll be sharing my thoughts on upgrading your mindset. Until next time, aim to learn something new every day.

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