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Bringing Core Content to Life With Outdoor Education

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This is a very insightful article on music and PBL.

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"It’s local, and it’s connected to students in a way that they can identify with.."

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Place-based education is a vibrant approach to education that takes students out in to the communities, to learn, to do and to grow as human beings. Students are given the opportunity to learn subject matter in deep and lasting ways, understand the places they live in and participate in community renewal that makes a different to themselves and others. By " engaging the local," place-based education presents a wide span of purpose and possibility.

Place-based education:

centers curriculum in a specific locale that integrates content and creates focus.

invites some different ways of teaching and learning. Larger, more authentic questions are considered and teachers, students and communities form partnerships that fuel and sustain the work.

makes learning more relevant and applicable. Learning about PLACE fosters personal connections and understandings about one's role in society that last a lifetime.

when students ask the "big" whys -- the study of PLACE has the potential to transform individuals, institutions and communities.

My favorite definition of place-based education comes from Gay Craig, a Vermont teacher:
"It's local, and it's connected to students in a way that they can identify with. It's either a problem in their community or an event that's happening, or it could be a geological phenomenon. But it's something that they're familiar with....so it means something to them. And then we ask questions about it."

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Place-based education is a vibrant approach to education that takes students out in to the communities, to learn, to do and to grow as human beings. Students are given the opportunity to learn subject matter in deep and lasting ways, understand the places they live in and participate in community renewal that makes a different to themselves and others.

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This is my favorite resource because it breaks down different categories of place based learning.

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I liked this video because it explained how students use learning in their environment to gain a better understanding of subjects

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Place-Based Learning: Using Your Location as a Classroom

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This is a whole website promoting PBE

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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.
Find out more about PBE Explore online events!

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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.

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This website article explains what PBE is and how it impacts children in society and their community.

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We're handing off some complex challenges (and some great opportunities) to young people. How do we get them up to speed on what they're in for and jump start their contribution?

We think getting children outdoors and immersing youth in extended community-based challenges is the answer. We call it place-based education. It is uniquely well suited to build the confidence and skills young people need to contribute to their community.
What is place-based education?
Place-Based Education (PBE) is anytime, anywhere learning that leverages the power of place to personalize learning. PBE is an immersive learning experience that "places 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 deepens personalized and project-based learning , providing a way to connect these efforts to students' local community and environment for engaging learning that leads to more engaged citizens.

David Sobel from Antioch University, keynote speaker at a recent symposium described place-based education as " the process of using the local community and environment as a starting point to teach concepts in language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and other subjects across the curriculum.

Sobel sees community vitality and environmental quality "improved through the active engagement of local citizens, community organizations, and environmental resources in the life of the school."

Getting young people into the community helps to develop a sense of place, an awareness of the ecological, economic, social, and political factors in a community, and serves as a critical foundation of a democratic society. If students are unaware of and not challenged by the complexity of the local, it is a difficult task to understand the greater regional, national, and global issues.
Why bother?
For some schools, organizing place-based education can be as simple as opening the door. For others, it may involve planning, a bus ride and permission slips.

Administrators might ask "What's the point? Why not just focus on the basics?" The rationale is simple. It is more and more apparent that basic literacies are not enough. Students need to find ways to apply, own, and direct how literacy and problem-solving skills are used. Place-based education does this uniquely well while it builds capacity for citizenship.

Place-based education builds youth affinity for local assets and context. Providing ample opportunity for students to explore and engage with the world around them builds on the neuro-wired context in developing brains. Sense-making is easier, social-emotional skills build, and responsibility grows. In young children, a sense of wonder is firmly established that will lead to the deep inquiry needed in STEM and other subjects later on in life.

Strong Reggio-Emilia programs (like the Journeys School in Jackson), emerging early childhood networks (like Wildflower Schools ), and forest kindergartens are examples of using the outdoors, local community, play, and student interest to lay critical foundations for future success.

A showed that a sense of awe develops altruism. UC Irvine researchers describe awe as "that sense of wonder we feel in the presence of something vast that transcends our understanding of the world." Awe is cultivated in the natural world and by the arts. It promotes a broader sense of context and prosocial behavior including kindness and contribution.

Community challenges are interdisciplinary by design, with multiple inputs and large data-sets. Setting students loose on these types of experiences develops systems thinking skills, computational expertise with big-data, and multiple approaches to complexity.

With a deeply ingrained sense of inquiry and curiosity in local places and frequent iteration of authentic, community-based challenges, students build thick and well-developed community connections. One great example is Health Leadership High in Albuquerque where staff and students solicit project ideas from community health providers. Every project must have deliverables valuable to the community. "We see where needs are. We create advocates for change," said Executive Director Blanca López.

With equity issues surrounding a student's ability to build social capital, PBE offers these opportunities through multiple adult interactions and collaborations. Simultaneously, communities build capacity for their own place-based learning to revise and reimagine community. This mutually beneficial partnership impacts the future of local places.
Place-based is central to next-generation learning.
Next Generation Learning Challenges , a national innovation grant program, describes situated learning which includes project-based learning along with community-based education, apprenticeships, and other authentic learning modalities. Extended challenges at the top of Bloom's taxonomy in complex settings embed social interaction and collaboration.

Rural schools, by default, have led the way on the ecological side due to small size and abundant spaces to explore. A growing cohort of schools are leading the way such as the l in Arizona, Cottonwood School in Oregon, Journeys School in Wyoming, in Idaho, University Charter School in Alabama, and Teton Valley Community School Crellin Elementary School in Maryland.

Place Network , an initiative developed by Teton Science Schools, is place-based learning model that is shared and accelerated within a partner network of rural schools.

is an example of an urban place-based experience for high school students. The New York City program combines seminars, city expeditions and meetings with a variety of New Yorkers. Below, Elizabeth Irvin leads a tour of Sunset Park culminating a week long deep neighborhood study.

Under the leadership of Mayor Marty Walsh and Superintendent Tommy Chang, a network of nonprofits brought together through Boston After School and Beyond, the city has seen a dramatic increase in student learning outside the classroom. Citizen Schools embraces the city as a classroom to create 10 week apprenticeships for middle school students.

is an innovative university program that combines socratic seminars and location-based applications in seven cities.
What's the link to social impact?
"Emphasizing hands-on, real-world learning experiences, this approach to education increases academic achievement, helps students develop stronger ties to their community, enhances students' appreciation for the natural world, and creates a heightened commitment to serving as active, contributing citizens," said David Sobel.

Place-based education is not just about visiting; it is about investigating, participating, and contributing. It benefits schools by building thick school community connections that result in partnerships and resources. In return, school communities contribute to social impact in several ways:

Builds impact dispositions: With extended and authentic challenges, PBE is a uniquely efficient approach to build student agency as well as design and entrepreneurial skills.

Values contribution: Rather than a focus on preparing for future opportunity, place-based experiences value community contributions today.

Develops appreciation: Every place has something to offer and something to teach. Investigating places builds an appreciation for roots and connections making it more likely that young people will make sustained local contributions.

An emerging opportunity is to use PBE to illustrate how everything has become computational. Every big issue--health, poverty, water, traffic--has a big data set associated with it. Like in Oakland, place-based experiences and connections with computer science experts help young people engage in developing solutions to big challenges.

Deeply connecting learning to community allows students to routinely appreciate, understand, and positively impact a place - while meeting required outcomes. By also putting place-based education at the core of next-generation learning experiences in schools, students develop the depth of knowledge, skills, and dispositions to engage as effective change-agents in a place - local, regional, national, and global.

For more see:
Nate McClennen is the Vice President of Education and Innovation at Teton Science Schools.

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Get Kids In The Community And Change The World

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It has become apparent that basic literacies are no longer enough. Students must find ways to apply, own, and direct how literacy and problem-solving skills are used. A look at place-based education and how it's doing just that while also building capacity for citizenship.

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I liked this one because it shows how others use place-based learning and how to approach it.

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A veteran teacher and author discusses how to bring fieldwork into your project-based learning curriculum.

Connecting students with issues, experts, and allies right in their own backyard is a surefire strategy to make project-based learning (PBL) more accessible and immediate. Students can meet academic goals by doing things like investigating access to neighborhood parks, mapping local food deserts, or telling the stories of people who help to give a place its identity. They become more engaged citizens who understand "how everyone and everything in a community is interconnected," according to educator and author Sarah Anderson.

Anderson is a veteran teacher and coordinator of fieldwork and place-based education at Cottonwood School of Civics and Science, a K-8 public charter school in Portland, Oregon. She's also the author of a new book, Bringing School to Life: Place-Based Education across the Curriculum, that is full of practical strategies for turning any community into a learning lab.

She shared some highlights in a recent conversation.

EDUTOPIA: How did you become an advocate of this community-centered approach to PBL, which you describe as place-based education?

SARAH ANDERSON: After college (I was an American Studies major), I came to Portland with AmeriCorps. My project was about getting people to embrace public land and take care of it. That got me thinking about, how do you foster democracy and promote the public good? I kept coming back to education. Eventually, I went to graduate school at Antioch University specifically to study with David Sobel, an expert in place-based education.

EDUTOPIA: At Cottonwood School of Civics and Science, you've been able to put theory into practice. Tell us about the school and your role there.

ANDERSON: The school had only been open a year when I arrived in 2008 to develop the middle school program. It was started by a group of parents whose neighborhood school had closed. Getting a public charter school started taught them a lot about what it means to be civically engaged, and they brought that idea into the school mission. Today, the school has about 200 students from K to 8. Students take part in at least three in-depth projects in each grade, often in collaboration with a community partner.

After six years teaching middle school humanities, I took on a new role as coordinator of fieldwork and place-based education. Now I work with teachers to help them learn about place-based education and design projects, and do outreach to connect with community partners. I also do professional development with teachers from other schools.

EDUTOPIA: What questions do you hear most often from teachers who are new to place-based education?

ANDERSON: The biggest struggle seems to be with integrated learning. Our traditional system has content all siloed and segregated, and teachers have been trained to teach that way. It feels easier to organize and control. But that's not the way the world works, and you can't do project-based learning (or place-based education) that way.

Some teachers also wonder about schedule. They'll ask, "When do I have time in the day to do projects?" It takes time for them to see that projects aren't something you add to the curriculum-projects are the curriculum.

Some teachers are uncomfortable reaching out to potential partners. They're good at working with children, but forging relationships with organizations may not be their forte. I spend about a third of my time now on outreach.

EDUTOPIA: Your school emphasizes fieldwork instead of field trips. What's the difference?

ANDERSON: Field trips are often little additions or treats at the end of a unit. Fieldwork is the way our students gather information. They approach fieldwork with a specific focus or set of questions they want to answer. Their work might involve surveys, observations, interviews, or data collection.

Our third graders create an exhibit every year for an Archaeology Roadshow. In preparation, they visit a local museum and learn from professional curators about how to make a good exhibit.

Our seventh and eighth graders are finishing a pop-up museum about immigration that will be installed temporarily at the Portland Mercado, a public market serving the Latino community. They visited another pop-up museum, interviewed museum designers, and kept journals to record what they were learning. On the content side, they spoke with an immigration lawyer and other experts to understand current issues like DACA and sanctuary cities. Their exhibit will help to inform visitors to the Mercado about these issues.

EDUTOPIA: How much choice do students have in these kinds of projects?

ANDERSON: Our projects are designed by teachers, often in collaboration with a community partner. We design projects to build certain skills that cross disciplines and grade levels-such as knowing how to do research-and also to meet specific content standards. Some projects are used again and again, with slight updates. Students do Project Citizen, for example, in both seventh and eighth grades.

So students aren't necessarily coming up with the project ideas themselves. But within each project, students make decisions about what they will create and, sometimes, which role they want to take. For the pop-up project, students could apply to be curators, researchers, fact checkers, art makers, cartographers, or documentarians. In the same project, there were learning activities that everyone was doing to build background knowledge. For example, they all read the same book, Enrique's Journey, and mapped the difficult journey that the main character made through Central America and Mexico on his way to the United States.

EDUTOPIA: What advice would you offer to schools interested in place-based education?

ANDERSON: Be patient. It takes time for teachers to get comfortable teaching this way. It also takes time to develop relationships with community partners.

But the investment is worth it if we want to help kids grow into people who are compassionate and caring and want to take care of others. There are plenty of serious challenges in our world that our students will face. How will they even start? Tackling local problems is way more realistic. You can often make change faster at the local level.

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A veteran teacher and author discusses how to bring fieldwork into your project-based learning curriculum. Connecting students with issues, experts, and allies right in their own backyard is a surefire strategy to make project-based learning (PBL) more accessible and immediate.

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This picture is good on how place base learning is resourceful and shows kids adventuring, enjoying, and making nature useful.
(Antonio's Post)

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I thought this video was interesting because it shows a school inside of an actual museum which engages the students by going to different exhibits and environments in the museum to learn

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This video is part of our Cool School Models series, which features seven new and emerging school models. Across the country, some standout schools have thrown out the old playbook and created something totally new. Kids tend to love these schools, as do the educators who work there, which makes for creative, innovative learning environments where kids grow and thrive. Check out the other six emerging school models ( project-based learning; language immersion; high expectations, high support; Montessori; environmental science; and performance-based learning) to get a glimpse of what's possible - and then look for schools like these near you.

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Inside a place-based school | GreatSchools

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The idea behind place-based education is to immerse students in learning by locating the school inside an inspiring learning environment. Public Museum School, a middle school in Grand Rapids, MI, for example, is on the top floor of a museum.

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Cool take on how place base learning has benefitted both the students and teachers.

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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.

Place-based Education Goals

Place-based education can "feed three birds with the same seed" as it addresses the integrated goals of:

Student Achievement

PBE boosts students' engagement, academic achievement, and sense of personal efficacy as stewards of their local environment and community. It also can re-energize teachers.

Community Social and Economic Vitality

PBE forges strong ties between local social and environmental organizations and their constituencies in the schools and community, which helps to improve quality of life and economic vitality.

Ecological Integrity

Through project-based learning, students make tangible contributions to resolving local environmental issues and conserving local environmental quality.

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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.

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This video is good for showing the kids interacting with PBL and how we can intertwine this method to the everyday classroom.

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Place-Based Learning: Connecting Kids to Their Community

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This is a good resource to learn about PBL and how it can affect the students.

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Click here to download the publication.
Last July, we launched a thought leadership campaign called " Learning & The Power of Place." We set out to learn more about Place-Based Education (PBE) and to share what we learned through a blog series, social media campaign, podcasts and publications designed to support new programs in their implementation.

We were overwhelmed by the response of the education community. To date, more than 60 blogs have appeared in the series and hundreds have shared contributions to the social media effort.

Today, we're excited to share the results of this collaborative effort-the first publication in what will be a three-part series.What Is Place-Based Education and Why Does it Matter? offers an overview of PBE including definitions, benefits and examples.

What Is Place-Based Education?

Through our work in partnership with dozens of contributors to the campaign with guest blogs and social media, we arrived at a new definition of PBE. The new definition situates PBE inside global conversations about innovative instructional approaches that enable student agency, boost access and opportunity, prioritize deeper learning and personalize learning.

What Does PBE Look Like In Practice?

In the guide, you'll also find dozens of examples of PBE in practice. The array of examples captures the diversity of approaches towards PBE across rural, urban and suburban areas; in early education, K-12 education and higher education; in formal and informal settings; and from single lessons to full programs.

Why Does Place-Based Education Matter?

Our exploration of PBE revealed that teachers and communities are creating place-based opportunities for students in many different settings. Place-based learning is truly possible anywhere-from the most rural schools to the most urban ones, and everywhere in between. We are just beginning to understand the possibilities for implementing and scaling place-based learning with the deliberate intention of boosting equity, access and outcomes.

As we included in the Smart Cities book: "Learning is the best formula for promoting economic growth and reducing the crippling effects of poverty...Schools can serve as the foundation for highly functioning democratic and sustainable communities and societies."

We believe Place-Based Education offers a path to achieving this goal, and invite educators to learn more about PBE and how they can implement it in their schools, districts and programs.
Download What is Placed Based Education and Why Does it Matter? here.
This overview is the first in a three-part publication series from Getting Smart. For additional publications in the series, including "Quick Start Guide to Implementing Place-Based Education" and "Quick Start Guide to Place-Based Professional Learning," see our Place-Based Education . For a collection of all of the contributions to our " campaign page Learning & The Power of Place" campaign from educators all over the world, see our collection of posts here. And don't forget to c heck out the hundreds of examples of Place-Based Education in action and share your own using #PlaceBasedEd on social media.

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What is Place-Based Education and Why Does it Matter? | Getting Smart

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Click here to download the publication . Last July, we launched a thought leadership campaign called " Learning & The Power of Place." We set out to learn more about Place-Based Education (PBE) and to share what we learned through a blog series, social media campaign, podcasts and publications designed to support new programs in their implementation.

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This resource is very helpful in understanding what place-based learning and how to start using it in your classroom.

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With Place Based Learning you can enhance education for you students. Learn what Place Based Learning is and how it can be used in your teaching.
What is Place Based Learning?
Did you think that the classroom was the only teaching place for students? If yes, then think again. Using Place based education, you can convert anywhere and everywhere into a classroom and provide an enriching educational experience for your students.
Definition of Place Based Education:
The Rural School and Community Trust(2005) defined it as " Place based education is learning that is rooted in what is local- the unique history, environment, culture, economy, literature, and art of a particular place. The community provides the context for learning, student work focuses on community needs and interests, and community members serve as resources and partners in every aspect of teaching and learning. This local focus has the power to engage students academically, pairing real-world relevance with intellectual rigor, while promoting genuine citizenship and preparing people to respect and live well in any community they choose." (p.23).
Goals of Place Based Education
The three fundamental goals of Place Based Education are:

Improving student achievement- Place Based Education encourages student participation within and for the community and aims to improve their sense of responsibility and ownership of their environment. This has been found to stimulate academic excellence.

Collaborating between school and community: The practice of Place Based Education helps develop a strong bond between the various local organizations and the school, which is mutually beneficial in terms of improving quality of life and communities.

Preserving the environment:As the students learn from their enviornment they are encouraged to take steps to preserve it and solve existing environmental issues.
Getting started on your Place Based Education
Here are some tips to help you get started with your own Place Based Learning:

Look for opportunities: While some learning ideas are right there in your school property, others may need to be searched for or created. For instance, the trees surrounding your campus can be a great lesson in science, while a tour around the community will familiarize your students to its outstanding history. Conducting small community projects or addressing community needs also serves as a lesson in how to tackle or resolve existing issues.

Set your goals: When you realize the immense potential for learning all around you, it is quite easy to be distracted and get lost in all the options. To help you stay focused, set your learning goals, create a lesson plan and then search for the places or locations that can help you attain your goals.

Include your community: As well as the local environment, the various members of your community also have a significant role in Place Based Learning. Parents and community leaders are great sources of resources just waiting to be utilized.

Use all resources: Do not limit your teaching to familiar areas. Instead explore, find and create unique learning experiences. You should also be comfortable to reach out to others for help. Use commity leaders to collaborate in teaching your students about their particular fields.
With these resources you are able to step out of the box. Take your students on a comprehensive learning experience that will be hands on and unforgetable. Like this article for teachers?
Browse the Professional Learning Board COURSE CATALOG to find related online courses for teachers in your state. Professional Learning Board is a leading provider of online professional development classes that teachers use to renew a teaching license or renew a teaching certificate.

About Network

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What is Place Based Learning and how can it be used in your Curriculum?

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The community provides the context for learning, student work focuses on community needs and interests, and community members serve as resources and partners in every aspect of teaching and learning. This local focus has the power to engage students academically, pairing real-world relevance with intellectual rigor, while promoting genuine citizenship and preparing people to respect and live well in any community they choose.

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After looking through many articles regarding this topic, I decided this resource was my favorite! This website provides answers to all of the "whys," "hows," "wheres," "whens," and "whos" of place-based learning and how PBL can enrich education.

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This is my favorite picture because it shows the children engaging in learning and having fun with it. Showing all the beauties nature have to offer.

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I really liked this video because it explains how students should use their surroundings as learning tools. It gets the students to use the world around them and connect it to what their learning in the classroom. I also enjoyed this video because it helps teachers to know what to talk about when using place based learning.

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Place-Based Learning: Using Your Location as a Classroom