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I wanted to include something here from a Special Education lens. PBL fits so well with the idea of inclusive classrooms. I have been searching and searching for the intersection, but folks are not writing about this yet. I am inspired to start.

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Considering the potential of inclusive education at your school? Perhaps you are currently working in an inclusive classroom and looking for effective strategies. Lean into this deep-dive article on inclusive education to gather a solid understanding of what it means, what the research shows, and proven strategies that bring out the benefits for everyone.

What is inclusive education? What does it mean?

Inclusive education is when all students, regardless of any challenges they may have, are placed in age-appropriate general education classes that are in their own neighborhood schools to receive high-quality instruction, interventions, and supports that enable them to meet success in the core curriculum (Bui, Quirk, Almazan, & Valenti, 2010; Alquraini & Gut, 2012).

The school and classroom operate on the premise that students with disabilities are as fundamentally competent as students without disabilities. Therefore, all students can be full participants in their classrooms and in the local school community. Much of the movement is related to legislation that students receive their education in the least restrictive environment (LRE). This means they are with their peers without disabilities to the maximum degree possible, with general education the placement of first choice for all students (Alquraini & Gut, 2012).

Successful inclusive education happens primarily through accepting, understanding, and attending to student differences and diversity, which can include physical, cognitive, academic, social, and emotional. This is not to say that students never need to spend time out of regular education classes, because sometimes they do for a very particular purpose - for instance, for speech or occupational therapy. But the goal is this should be the exception.

The driving principle is to make all students feel welcomed, appropriately challenged, and supported in their efforts. It's also critically important that the adults are supported, too. This includes the regular education teacher and the special education teacher, as well as all other staff and faculty who are key stakeholders - and that also includes parents.

The research basis for inclusive education

Inclusive education and inclusive classrooms are gaining steam because there is so much research-based evidence around the benefits. Take a look.

Benefits for students

Simply put, both students with and without disabilities learn more. Many studies over the past three decades have found that students with disabilities have higher achievement and improved skills through inclusive education, and their peers without challenges benefit, too (Bui, et al., 2010; Dupuis, Barclay, Holms, Platt, Shaha, & Lewis, 2006; Newman, 2006; Alquraini & Gut, 2012).

For students with disabilities ( SWD), this includes academic gains in literacy (reading and writing), math, and social studies - both in grades and on standardized tests - better communication skills, and improved social skills and more friendships. More time in the general classroom for SWD is also associated with fewer absences and referrals for disruptive behavior. This could be related to findings about attitude - they have a higher self-concept, they like school and their teachers more, and are more motivated around working and learning.

Their peers without disabilities also show more positive attitudes in these same areas when in inclusive classrooms. They make greater academic gains in reading and math. Research shows the presence of SWD gives non-SWD new kinds of learning opportunities. One of these is when they serve as peer-coaches. By learning how to help another student, their own performance improves. Another is that as teachers take into greater consideration their diverse SWD learners, they provide instruction in a wider range of learning modalities (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic), which benefits their regular ed students as well.

Researchers often explore concerns and potential pitfalls that might make instruction less effective in inclusion classrooms (Bui et al., 2010; Dupois et al., 2006). But findings show this is not the case. Neither instructional time nor how much time students are engaged differs between inclusive and non-inclusive classrooms. In fact, in many instances, regular ed students report little to no awareness that there even are students with disabilities in their classes. When they are aware, they demonstrate more acceptance and tolerance for SWD when they all experience an inclusive education together.

Parent's feelings and attitudes

Parents, of course, have a big part to play. A comprehensive review of the literature (de Boer, Pijl, & Minnaert, 2010) found that on average, parents are somewhat uncertain if inclusion is a good option for their SWD. On the upside, the more experience with inclusive education they had, the more positive parents of SWD were about it. Additionally, parents of regular ed students held a decidedly positive attitude toward inclusive education.

Now that we've seen the research highlights on outcomes, let's take a look at strategies to put inclusive education in practice.

Inclusive classroom strategies

There is a definite need for teachers to be supported in implementing an inclusive classroom. A rigorous literature review of studies found most teachers had either neutral or negative attitudes about inclusive education (de Boer, Pijl, & Minnaert, 2011). It turns out that much of this is because they do not feel they are very knowledgeable, competent, or confident about how to educate SWD.

However, similar to parents, teachers with more experience - and, in the case of teachers, more training with inclusive education - were significantly more positive about it. Evidence supports that to be effective, teachers need an understanding of best practices in teaching and of adapted instruction for SWD; but positive attitudes toward inclusion are also among the most important for creating an inclusive classroom that works (Savage & Erten, 2015).

Of course, a modest blog article like this is only going to give the highlights of what have been found to be effective inclusive strategies. For there to be true long-term success necessitates formal training. To give you an idea though, here are strategies recommended by several research studies and applied experience (Morningstar, Shogren, Lee, & Born, 2015; Alquraini, & Gut, 2012).

Use a variety of instructional formats

Start with whole-group instruction and transition to flexible groupings which could be small groups, stations/centers, and paired learning. With regard to the whole group, using technology such as interactive whiteboards is related to high student engagement. Regarding flexible groupings: for younger students, these are often teacher-led but for older students, they can be student-led with teacher monitoring. Peer-supported learning can be very effective and engaging and take the form of pair-work, cooperative grouping, peer tutoring, and student-led demonstrations.

Ensure access to academic curricular content

All students need the opportunity to have learning experiences in line with the same learning goals. This will necessitate thinking about what supports individual SWDs need, but overall strategies are making sure all students hear instructions, that they do indeed start activities, that all students participate in large group instruction, and that students transition in and out of the classroom at the same time. For this latter point, not only will it keep students on track with the lessons, their non-SWD peers do not see them leaving or entering in the middle of lessons, which can really highlight their differences.

Apply universal design for learning

These are methods that are varied and that support many learners' needs. They include multiple ways of representing content to students and for students to represent learning back, such as modeling, images, objectives and manipulatives, graphic organizers, oral and written responses, and technology. These can also be adapted as modifications for SWDs where they have large print, use headphones, are allowed to have a peer write their dictated response, draw a picture instead, use calculators, or just have extra time. Think too about the power of project-based and inquiry learning where students individually or collectively investigate an experience.

Now let's put it all together by looking at how a regular education teacher addresses the challenge and succeeds in using inclusive education in her classroom.

A case study of inclusive practices in schools and classes

Mrs. Brown has been teaching for several years now and is both excited and a little nervous about her school's decision to implement inclusive education. Over the years she has had several special education students in her class but they either got pulled out for time with specialists or just joined for activities like art, music, P.E., lunch, and sometimes for selected academics.

She has always found this method a bit disjointed and has wanted to be much more involved in educating these students and finding ways they can take part more fully in her classroom. She knows she needs guidance in designing and implementing her inclusive classroom, but she's ready for the challenge and looking forward to seeing the many benefits she's been reading and hearing about for the children, their families, their peers, herself, and the school as a whole.

During the month before school starts, Mrs. Brown meets with the special education teacher, Mr. Lopez - and other teachers and staff who work with her students - to coordinate the instructional plan that is based on the IEPs (Individual Educational Plan) of the three students with disabilities who will be in her class the upcoming year.

About two weeks before school starts, she invites each of the three children and their families to come into the classroom for individual tours and get-to-know-you sessions with both herself and the special education teacher. She makes sure to provide information about back-to-school night and extends a personal invitation to them to attend so they can meet the other families and children. She feels very good about how this is coming together and how excited and happy the children and their families are feeling. One student really summed it up when he told her, "You and I are going to have a great year!"

The school district and the principal have sent out communications to all the parents about the move to inclusion education at Mrs. Brown's school. Now she wants to make sure she really communicates effectively with the parents, especially as some of the parents of both SWD and regular ed students have expressed hesitation that having their child in an inclusive classroom would work.

She talks to the administration and other teachers and, with their okay, sends out a joint communication after about two months into the school year with some questions provided by the book Creating Inclusive Classrooms (Salend, 2001 referenced in Salend & Garrick-Duhaney, 2001) such as, "How has being in an inclusion classroom affected your child academically, socially, and behaviorally? Please describe any benefits or negative consequences you have observed in your child. What factors led to these changes?" and "How has your child's placement in an inclusion classroom affected you? Please describe any benefits or any negative consequences for you." and "What additional information would you like to have about inclusion and your child's class?" She plans to look for trends and prepare a communication that she will share with parents. She also plans to send out a questionnaire with different questions every couple of months throughout the school year.

Since she found out about the move to an inclusive education approach at her school, Mrs. Brown has been working closely with the special education teacher, Mr. Lopez, and reading a great deal about the benefits and the challenges. Determined to be successful, she is especially focused on effective inclusive classroom strategies.

Her hard work is paying off. Her mid-year and end-of-year results are very positive. The SWDs are meeting their IEP goals. Her regular ed students are excelling. A spirit of collaboration and positive energy pervades her classroom and she feels this in the whole school as they practice inclusive education. The children are happy and proud of their accomplishments. The principal regularly compliments her. The parents are positive, relaxed, and supportive.

Mrs. Brown knows she has more to learn and do, but her confidence and satisfaction are high. She is especially delighted that she has been selected to be a part of her district's team to train other regular education teachers about inclusive education and classrooms.

Summing Up

The future is very bright indeed for this approach. The evidence is mounting that inclusive education and classrooms are able to not only meet the requirements of LRE for students with disabilities, but to benefit regular education students as well. We see that with exposure both parents and teachers become more positive. Training and support allow regular education teachers to implement inclusive education with ease and success. All around it's a win-win!
Lilla Dale McManis, MEd, PhD has a BS in child development, an MEd in special education, and a PhD in educational psychology. She was a K-12 public school special education teacher for many years and has worked at universities, state agencies, and in industry teaching prospective teachers, conducting research and evaluation with at-risk populations, and designing educational technology. Currently, she is President of Parent in the Know where she works with families in need and also does business consulting.

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Inclusive Education: Definition, Examples, and Classroom Strategies | Resilient Educator

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Get a solid understanding of what inclusive education means, what the research shows, and proven strategies that bring out the benefits for everyone.

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Amazing resource that charts developmentally appropriate activities for developing stewards of this Earth. If not for your students, for your own children.

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Pathway to Stewardship - Final Digital Version (3)

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Creative Placemaking - the intersection of art and change - Sage Ryan

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Creative Placemaking - the intersection of art and change - Sage Ryan

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This is a great resource that taps into concepts from the DYP project! I think we all felt appreciative of the opportunities to express our place based ideas through our collages -  this resource offers more ideas and systems to do similar things in blending art and outdoor park spaces to deepen community relationship to place and address problems with an artistic approach.

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Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) offers teaching tools and lesson plans to help educators engage young people with powerful stories representing America’s diverse history.

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Place-based learning puts "place" - a historic structure, an archaeological site, a cultural landscape, or National Park - at the center of the story. By rooting the study of the past in the physical geography, the Teaching with Historic Places program help learners more deeply connect to their local community as well as communities across the country.

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Place-based Learning - Teaching with Historic Places (U.S. National Park Service)

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Place-based learning puts "place" - a historic structure, an archaeological site, a cultural landscape, or National Park - at the center of the story. By rooting the study of the past in the physical geography, the Teaching with Historic Places program help learners more deeply connect to their local community as well as communities across the country.

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The primacy of place in education in outdoor settings

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This is a chapter from the International Handbook of Outdoor Studies. I appreciated how it directly connects PBL to outdoor education. A lot of PBL resources discuss how to incorporate place into a traditional school. Since I run a forest school, this was a more relevant perspective.

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Great simple and to the point to share PBTL with colleagues and families. -Paige Carter-

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An excerpt from What is Place-Based Education and Why Does it Matter by Getting Smart in partnership with eduInnovation and Teton Science Schools

Here at Teton Science Schools, we talk about and experience the power of place on a daily basis. Whether it's welcoming leaders in our community into our Independent School classrooms, watercoloring aside a glacial lake at the base of the Tetons or venturing outside the classroom walls with teachers in St. Louis, place is at the heart of how we approach every learning experience - it's why our approach to education is called place-based education .

Over the years, alongside some of our valued partners , we've learned a few things about place-based education and how "the approach can serve as a framework to connect learning models, increase the power of our educational system and serve as a foundation for a thriving democracy." So we're breaking it down for you, step-by-step.

Let's get started.

What is Place-Based Education?

If you're reading this, you've likely had a first introduction to place-based education - maybe it was through a program you attended alongside students, maybe it was as part of a continuing education workshop, maybe it was during a breakout session at a national educational conference or maybe your school is just getting started as a place-based school. Whatever the reason, the premise of using the entire world as your classroom can have even the best of us feeling equal parts inspired and intimidated.

No need to worry though - place-based education can look completely different from school to school and place to place. There's no one right way to do it and that's the beauty of it.
Here are 3 things to know about place-based education:
It's nothing new

In his essay on the history of place-based learning, Gregory Smith writes:

"This approach, with its focus on the incorporation of local knowledge, skills and issues into the curriculum, involves an effort to restore learning experiences that were once the basis of children's acculturation and socialization prior to the invention of formal schools."

Before formal education, "the great majority of children learned within the context of their families, neighborhoods and communities as they watched, listened to and imitated adults, explored the natural and human-made world and interacted with one another" ( Smith, 2016 ).

While the approach widely diminished with the rise of industrialization and standardization in the 20th century, it is once again emerging as a promising approach "to help students find purpose and develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions to thrive as adults" ( McClennen, 2019 ).
2. It connects learners to their communities and the world around them
Place-based education is designed to connect what students are taught in school to real-world challenges, opportunities and connections; learning experiences match the complexities of real life and are taught through an integrated, interdisciplinary and frequently project-based approach where all learners are accountable and challenged. Students work towards the production of "high quality products and performances... modeled after real-world formats, guided by professional models and created for an audience beyond the classroom" ( source ) - celebrations of learning that impact communities for the better.
3. It's anytime, anywhere learning
It's never been easier to learn anything - anytime, anywhere. Provided an internet connection, powerful learning experiences are at the fingertips of just about anyone with a device. And it's not unusual to hear the phrase "anytime, anywhere learning" applied to such "wifi-enabled" scenarios. What's unfortunate is that in reducing these "anytime, anywhere learning" experiences to those enabled by technology, we fail to fully acknowledge their vast potential beyond the screen.

Place-based learning can truly happen anytime, anywhere - in cities, in rural towns, in parks, virtually, in classrooms, in museums and even, in our own backyards. What matters is that the experience leverages the power of place to personalize learning and "equip students with the tools and skills they need - through authentic experiences - to collaborate, think critically and solve complex challenges" ( source ).

Place-based education enables personalized learning by:

Giving students "voice and choice" in determining what, how, when and where they learn

Tailoring learning to each student's strengths, needs and interests

Ensuring mastery of high academic standards

Promoting student agency

Why is place-based education beneficial?

Under the umbrella of place-based education, learning can take many forms - from informal to formal, from out-of-school individual and family experiences to teacher-led or classroom based activities, and from one lesson experiences to fully-designed place-based education programs - the benefits of which, can impact everyone including students, teachers, families, communities and society as a whole.

Overall, the primary goals of place-based education are to increase student engagement, boost academic outcomes, impact communities and promote an understanding of the world around us. Beyond these goals, other benefits include:

Learning is grounded in local communities and contexts

Learning experiences are student-centered and personalized

Learning is relevant and engaging

Social-emotional learning can be a priority

Instruction can be interdisciplinary

Lessons can be inquiry-based

Students can be challenged to see the world through ecological, political, economic and social lenses

Students can have more agency and autonomy - boosting motivation and persistence

Design-thinking can be encouraged

Students can meet deeper learning outcomes

Students gain a better appreciation and understanding of the world around them

Getting Started

Now that you've got a firm basis on what place-based education is and why it's beneficial, it's time to get practical. Here are three first steps in getting started with place-based education.

Know where to start

There are just as many ways to implement place-based education as there are places in which to implement it. Rather than being overwhelmed by the possibilities, it can be useful to think about getting started in two ways:

Example: Students examine electric bill for the school during different seasons. Through observations of behavior and interviews (inquiry), they determine that electricity use is higher during the winter due to the use of electric heaters. Students design and install door insulators to reduce heat loss after experimenting with various ways to insulate.

Example: Students notice the frequency in which blackouts are occurring at school and ask the driving question: "Why are blackouts happening at school?" (inquiry). Teacher delivers a lecture on power and work. Students interview a power company employee and take a field trip to tour the local power station. Students design solutions and write to the local power company (interdisciplinary).
2. Get familiar with the place-based education design principles
At the heart of every place-based activity, project or full-blown unit lies six place-based learning design principles. Knowing what they are and how they inform the development of place-based learning is a key first step in designing your first place-based learning experience. We've even provided project examples for each principle!

Local to Global Context: Local learning serves as a model for understanding global challenges, opportunities and connections.

Learner-Centered: Learning is personally relevant to students and enables student agency.

Inquiry-Based: Learning is grounded in observing, asking relevant questions, making predictions, and collecting data to understand the economic, ecological, and socio-political world.

Design Thinking: Design thinking provides a systematic approach for students to make meaningful impact in communities through the curriculum.

Community as Classroom: Communities serve as learning ecosystems for schools where local and regional experts, experiences and places are part of the expanded definition of a classroom.

Interdisciplinary Approach: The curriculum matches the real world where the traditional subject area content, skills and dispositions are taught through an integrated, interdisciplinary and frequently project-based approach where all learners are accountable and challenged.
3. Just start
Like with any change we make in our everyday lives, preparing to make the change is often the easier part of starting than the actual starting. But alas, the time always comes to put our fears aside, rip the bandaid off, and just give it a go. Our biggest advice: start small.

Looking for more? Founder and President of CraftED Curriculum, Jennifer Pieratt, offers some great advice in her article, Five Tips for Testing the Place-Based Education Waters.

Build your Place-Based Education Community

Community is what place-based education is all about. Not only can it become the basis for student inquiry and real-world problem solving, but it can also become the backbone that keeps you motivated, pushes you in taking the next step and celebrates all of the hard work you're putting in for your students, your school and, of course, your community itself.
Here are three ways to start building your place-based education community:
Create Local Partnerships

One of the biggest questions you'll likely find yourself asking as you and your students design your place-based projects is: "Where or who in the community could help bring this unit/project to life?" While the initial process of reaching out those organizations or individuals can be quite time consuming, the end product - your community partner database - will be extremely valuable to your place-based endeavors in the future. Seek out parent volunteers, create an email templates and get your students involved in the process!
2. Participate in Place-Based Professional Development
Connecting with members of your own community is one thing, but what about connecting with those that are working through their own versions of place-based education implementation? Chances are the questions, fears or yearnings for something more you're experiencing as you work to incorporate place-based principles into your curriculum are being had by someone else. Registering for a workshop or course is a great way to connect with other place-based education professionals. Better yet, find one that is taught using place-based practices!
3. Join a Place-Base School Network
What's better than having a go-to group of educators to turn to in your place-based education endeavors? For us, it's having a network of place-based focused schools all across the country. Networks like Place Network are working with administrators, teachers and students in rural communities all over the country to not only implement place-based education in their schools, but form connections between the schools to share best practices, learnings, challenges and wins along each school's journey.

Resources for Place-Based Education

Looking for more? We've put together a list of great resources to take your place-based education knowledge even further.
Articles Books Talks
Whitepapers by Getting Smart in partnership with eduInnovation and Teton Science Schools
Websites Centers & Institutes

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Getting Started With Place-Based Education, Step-by-Step

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An excerpt from What is Place-Based Education and Why Does it Matter by Getting Smart in partnership with eduInnovation and Teton Science Schools Here at Teton Science Schools, we talk about and...

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"Shelburne Farms is an education nonprofit on a mission to inspire and cultivate learning for a sustainable future. We believe that transformative learning experiences sow the seeds for a thriving and more just world." The Farms' blog offers many great resources for implementing place-based education. In this blog post, Aimee Arandia Østensen presents a historical look at ways to decolonize place-based education by highlighting Abenaki philosophy with powerful visuals. -McKenna Earl

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This blog is based on the ideas that emerged through collaboration between four educators - myself, Judy Dow, Marie Vea, and Emily Hoyler - for the Decolonizing Place-Based Education workshop.
This is a Two Row Wampum belt. If you haven't seen one before, Wampum belts are beautiful, intricate works of art; each bead is handcrafted from purple and white quahog shells and strung on sinew and leather. Behind these rows of beads is a centuries-old idea of walking two paths with one like mind, a concept that can help inform our work as place-based educators today.

A vision for peace and respect

The Two Row Wampum treaty, made in 1613 between the Onkwehonweh of Turtle Island (the original people of North America) and European immigrants, outlined a vision for peace and respect. In the context of the treaty, the belt's two purple rows symbolize the paths of two nations moving side-by-side.

The idea still resonates. The belt pictured here was handmade by Judy Dow (Winooski Abenaki), educator and frequent collaborator of Shelburne Farms, who was commissioned to create the belt as a thank-you gift to none other than musician and activist Neil Young. As Dow describes, Young held a series of concerts to benefit the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation in 2014, which spent millions in legal fees to fight oil sands development. "The Athabasca and Young were of like mind that the tar sands coming onto Indigenous reservation lands was bad. Young fought the developers with his music, and the Athabasca fought with lawyers," Dow explains. In that way, Young and the Athabasca walked two paths, with one shared goal.

Stories of walking two paths with one like mind can be found in everyday life. "For example, we may both have a like mind in agreeing we have a climate change issue, but how we might solve it is different," says Dow. "Teachers and students are always learning at the same time. In that respect, they're walking down different paths with like minds. This concept is all about learning."

A multitude of pathways to learning

Contemporary, mainstream schooling often feels as though all learners and teachers are traveling on a single path of white dominant culture. The outcomes of this single pathway through the education system are predictable: a few will succeed, many will struggle, and some will be left behind. Additionally, the roots of the so-called traditional American education system stem from an extractive relationship to place and land, a relationship based on land theft, ownership, objectification, and resource management.

If we were to imagine schooling as a transformational space, a living process of intricate, interdependent connections, what might the outcomes for the land and our individual and collective selves be? If we aimed to create a 13-year learning journey in which we each could, as Tema Okun writes, "appropriately be in one's majesty, and share in each other's cultural bounty," what would that look, sound, and feel like?

If we reference maps, learning standards, and other representations of geography, they underscore a separation of people from land, and a separation of experience from knowing. Maps carve out pieces of land claimed by one person or another, and demarcate the artificial separation of groups despite the continuity of the natural world. Commonly used science standards highlight human dependence on, and extraction of, natural resources from the land, describing this dynamic as a one-way, human-centric transaction. Bringing in the diverse experiences of personal connection to place, and the vast multi-generational knowledge of living in relationship with the land, adds dimensions that go beyond those structures. This graphic of Wadagwobagezi (above), developed by Judy Dow, illustrates the interdependent layers of relatedness for all of us who exist within Gedakina, "our world," from an Abenaki perspective. It pushes us to consider a vision and practice of learning and living centered on relationships and reciprocity.

If we interrogate what we mean by education, specifically, the practices that teachers and learners engage in at school, what do we see? The structures that commonly dominate schooling today include rigid time schedules, single measures of achievement, learning in silos, and an emphasis on the individual. Leaning on the wisdom of the Two Row Wampum, we understand that there are a multitude of pathways to learning, and that honoring at least two of them is possible.

This Venn diagram (above) of "Learning in Two Vessels" holds some of the characteristics of traditional school-based experience and of traditional ecological learning, with the potential for connections across difference. As educators, learners, and community members, how might we inspire a multitude of pathways and inspire the well-being of all?

Final questions

A deep examination of how we do school, the underlying structures that support and restrain how teaching and learning happens, and our visions for something healthier open up a world of wonderful questions, questions that invite all of us to envision and create teaching and learning practices that transform the relationships between self, Land, and community for the benefit of all.

As you unsettle your approach to place-based education, ask yourself the following:

What would happen if we, as a community, held Land as kin?

What are the values that shape the river of learning, the shared space where a diverse community of learners travels?

What would school look, feel, and sound like if we centered these values?

What can I do today to learn within and across difference?

What future do we want to be creating right now?

Watch a presentation from Shelburne Farms, Gedakina, and the University of Vermont on unsettling place-based education. See our calendar for upcoming events and educator workshops.

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Two Paths, One Like Mind: Unsettling Place-Based Education

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This blog is based on the ideas that emerged through collaboration between four educators - myself, Judy Dow, Marie Vea, and Emily Hoyler - for the Decolonizing Place-Based Education workshop. This is a Two Row Wampum belt.

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Podcasts - Indigenous Science Practices (Tracy Edwards)

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Podcasts - Indigenous Science Practices (Tracy Edwards)

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While not strictly about PBLT, I recently listened to two NPR podcasts about using indigenous science practices to address concerns in indigenous communities. These podcasts made me think of the readings and videos we listened to about decolonizing pedagogy, including voices from the community about project related decisions, and conducting projects that improve the community.

Link to second podcast: https://www.npr.org/2022/04/21/1094119159/fresh-banana-leaves-an-indigenous-approach-to-science

-Tracy Edwards-

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Addressing Water Contamination With Indigenous Science : Short Wave

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Ranalda Tsosie grew up in the Navajo Nation, close to a number of abandoned uranium mines. The uranium from those mines leached into the groundwater, contaminating some of the unregulated wells that Ranalda and many others relied on for cooking, cleaning and drinking water. Today on the show, Ranald…

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Promise of Place is a great website to check out regarding Place-Based education resources in the New England area.  It has an overview of PBTL, curriculum and planning tools, as well as local PBTL events. It also has links to articles about how PBTL is being incorporated in various ways and in different places. I think knowing about local events where you can collaborate with other educators is a wonderful place to gain more knowledge and ideas about PBTL. Having curriculum and planning tools is so helpful especially when starting out in the field or trying to take your classroom in this direction.

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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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IHE is a great resource for educators and activists hoping to inspire change in their communities. Founder, Zoe Weil reminds us all that "the world becomes what we teach."

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Humane Education Lesson Plans & Curricula | Solutionary Education | Institute for Humane Education

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Find humane education lesson plans and curricula to help you teach about human rights, environmental preservation, and animal protection.

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If you want a really fun activity to do with your students, raise brook trout in your classroom/school with this program! There are grants for the set-up, and your local fish hatchery will deliver around 100 eggs for you to raise and then release into a designated waterway in the spring. It's an awesome way to integrate water studies. -Devin

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Environmental Education

Trout Unlimited's environmental education program is a gateway stewardship experience for students. It fosters a new generation of advocates for salmonids and the watersheds in which they live.

Learn how it works

30+
Years
Trout in the Classroom has been in classrooms across the country for more than three decades.

100,000+
Students Annually
The turnkey program is compatible with diverse curriculums and engages with hundreds-of-thousands of students every year.

" Trout in the Classroom is the most unique and memorable STEM classroom experience available to students. "

Ms. Luna
Teacher, Manhattan, N.Y.

Always Engaging

Hands-On STEAM Learning All Year

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Trout in the Classroom - Connecting students with watersheds

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Environmental Education Trout Unlimited's environmental education program is a gateway stewardship experience for students. It fosters a new generation of advocates for salmonids and the watersheds in which they live. Learn how it works 30+Years Trout in the Classroom has been in classrooms across the country for more than three decades.

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NOBIS Project - Creating "Global" PBL Lesson (Marley)

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NOBIS Project - Creating "Global" PBL Lesson (Marley)

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https://nobisproject.org/resources/#lessons

I was recently introduced to the NOBIS project and was inspired by their focus on social and racial justice. Check out their FREE educator resources. There are some great ideas in her that can definitely be applied to local projects.

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Embedded in all our work, Nobis Big Ideas, provides a conceptual framework for thinking about global issues and building them into all community engagement work. These concepts, history, power, relationships, global citizenship and cultural responsiveness, inform classroom activities so that the experiences and knowledge of the community partner are understood through an authentic global lens.

Historical knowledge is necessary for understanding the world in which we live and share with others. History is a collection of various analyses and imaginative interpretations of the human experience that seeks to explain how society has changed over time.

Collective Identity - History provides individuals and communities with a sense of identity through their understanding of a shared past. In this way, history shapes how people identify and interact with one another, often in ways of which we are not aware.

Preparing for the Future - Exposing and questioning differences in interpretations enhances our understanding of the human condition throughout time and therefore better prepares us to imagine and work towards different futures. Learning about the historical context of people, places, and events helps us to understand the immense complexity of our world and provides insights to help imagine possibilities and actively work to solve the problems of the present and future.

Power, as a social force, is the degree of impact of a person, institution, or system in relation to others' beliefs, behaviors, or values. Power is not necessarily only defined as 'power-over', it is also the capacity to act or to prevent an action. Power has often been defined as something one does, not something one has. Systems of power-over remain in effect only when the oppressed consents, implicitly or explicitly, to the imposed power dynamic. In principle, any person or organization is able to resist the power of others. At times, however, they may feel powerless to resist, fear failure in resisting, or perceive the social, political, economic, personal, and/or emotional cost is too great.

Privilege - Privilege operates on personal, interpersonal, cultural, and institutional levels and gives preferential treatment to one individual or group, while withholding from another. Characteristically invisible to those who have it, privileges are unearned assets granted to dominant groups, whether desired or not.

Categories of Difference - Socially constructed systems that stratify dominance or subordination on group members. These systems include gender, race, class, ability, sexual identity, age, religion, and country of origin. Often there are large implications that effect politics, food systems (such as access to clean water), and patterns of violence that stem from these categories of difference.

Central to the mission of the Nobis Project is the empowerment of individuals and communities; accordingly, our approach seeks to develop relationships between individuals, groups, and/or organizations in communities both locally as well as abroad. This criterion is fundamentally about responding to the needs of others, and balancing the needs of the individual with the needs of the group. Strong and diverse relationships develop in students a commitment to the welfare of others and a conviction that all people are of equal worth.

Reciprocity - Only through reciprocal community partnerships, where both parties are set to benefit, can meaningful relationships be achieved and the work of sustainable empowerment begin.

Global citizenship education consists of the development of civic engagement skills and fostering in students an understanding of humanity's shared fate and social responsibility.

Civic Engagement - Preparing students for globally relevant participation in society, at the local, national, and international levels through teaching them the civic engagement goals of knowledge, skills, values, efficacy, empathy, and commitment.

Shared Fate - Informing students of the global interdependence of humanity and the environment and how these interconnections create consequences on a global scale.

Social Responsibility - Developing in students a sense of mutual obligation and critical understanding of social rights and how to take responsible action that impacts global issues and works towards peace and social change.

A culturally responsive classroom nurtures students' curiosity and their development of respect for the values and perceptions of others. Students learn to listen to other people's thoughts, feelings, experiences and perspectives without judgment; and develop a respect for everyone with the idea that everyone has a piece of the truth. The learning environment is established in which conflicting sets of values are processed analytically and with respect for the differences in people and their cultures, identities, and world-views.

Written By: Christen Higgins Clougherty, Ph.D.

This ebook outlines the benefits and step-by-step strategies for implementing globally focused projects in your classroom. This model can also be used in your local community. This interdisciplinary model encourages inquiry and solutions-based learning among students. The goal of the program is to make students aware of our global interconnectedness and to foster respect of difference among cultures.

Edited By: Christen Higgins Clougherty, Ph.D.

This workbook offers educators (from elementary to higher education) the tools to map out projects, activities to jump start projects, and sample lesson plans. Nobis Project will continually add more lesson examples, and we encourage YOU to share your success with us via email.

These lessons prepare students to engage with community partners prior to a global (or domestic) service-learning projects. Created in partnership with Rethinking Orphanages.

These resources are designed to help educators to navigate the complexities of ethical global volunteer practices. Created in partnership with Rethinking Orphanages.

By Christen Higgins Clougherty, Nobis Project Founder & Executive Director - Like many people these days, I have a thunderstorm in my head and a flooding in my heart. So many elements of the world feel like they're unraveling. We're caught in a tidal wave, rushing...

By Josiah "Jazz" Watts, Nobis Project facilitator - On February 23rd, 2020, an unarmed Black man was murdered while jogging in a neighborhood local to his home in Brunswick, GA. His name was Ahmaud Arbery and he was a Sapelo Island descendent, a son, a brother, a...

By Emma Balsam, Nobis Project Intern - Earlier this year, 11th grade students at Brooklyn Friends School (BFS) in Brooklyn, NY embarked on a Nobis Project field experience titled "Race, Power, and the Preservation of African-American History & Gullah-Geechee...

Nobis Project is committed to working hard to make participation in Nobis World programs as affordable as possible. There are a limited number of scholarships available for teachers. Because aid is limited, please carefully consider all the resources available that might help fund your trip before deciding how much aid to request. You can apply for a scholarship by completing the appropriate sections of the application form.

Additionally, we encourage teachers to explore alternative funding sources and recommend you

Speak with your school's principal and/or professional development coordinator. Inquire about available professional development funds or grants that your school district or state offers.

Contact your school's PTA about available professional development funding support.

Contact professional or community organizations of which you are a member.

Contact your local Rotary Club, their main objective is "service - in the community, in the workplace, and around the globe" of which the Nobis World programs meet all three.

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Grants

There are a tremendous amount of small grants available for educators. With a little bit of time and energy you maybe able to have a part to your whole trip funded. Nobis Project has prepared these Grant Writing Tips for teachers to use. And we have complied this list of grants we have come across that could be used towards a Nobis World program. Please let us know if you come across any other applicable grant opportunities so that we may spread the word for teachers in the future!

Grants for Classroom Projects

Kids in Need Foundation - Kids In Need Teacher Grants provide K-12 educators with funding to provide innovative learning opportunities for their students. The Kids In Need Foundation helps to engage students in the learning process by supporting our most creative and important educational resource - our nation's teachers.

Donors Choose - Site offers public school teachers the ability to post classroom project requests on their site in order to solicit funding, and then viewers can donate any amount to the project that most inspires them.

Ezra Jack Keats Foundation - awards $500 to public schools and public libraries for projects that foster creative expression, working together and interaction with a diverse community.

Target Stores Field Trip Grants - Available to K-12 schools nationwide. Each grant is valued up to $700. Grant applications accepted between Aug. 1 and noon CST Sept. 30.

If you know of other funding opportunities for teachers that are not featured on our website, please let us know!

If you know of other travel programs for teachers that are not featured on our website, please let us know!

By Christen Higgins Clougherty, Nobis Project Founder & Executive Director - Like many people these days, I have a thunderstorm in my head and a flooding in my heart. So many elements of the world feel like they're unraveling. We're caught in a tidal wave, rushing...

By Josiah "Jazz" Watts, Nobis Project facilitator - On February 23rd, 2020, an unarmed Black man was murdered while jogging in a neighborhood local to his home in Brunswick, GA. His name was Ahmaud Arbery and he was a Sapelo Island descendent, a son, a brother, a...

By Emma Balsam, Nobis Project Intern - Earlier this year, 11th grade students at Brooklyn Friends School (BFS) in Brooklyn, NY embarked on a Nobis Project field experience titled "Race, Power, and the Preservation of African-American History & Gullah-Geechee...

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Embedded in all our work, Nobis Big Ideas, provides a conceptual framework for thinking about global issues and building them into all community engagement work. These concepts, history, power, relationships, global citizenship and cultural responsiveness, inform classroom activities so that the experiences and knowledge of the community partner are understood through an authentic global lens.

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Teton Science Schools: Courses, Workshops, Place-Based Symposium

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Teton Science Schools: Courses, Workshops, Place-Based Symposium

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TSS, helping educators on their Place-Based journeys. Courses for experienced educators in the field and online. -Bri-

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The Teacher Learning Center (TLC) of Teton Science Schools is excited to offer online professional development opportunities for aspiring and current educators. All of our online courses are developed for educators by educators-whether you are a graduate student or a veteran teacher, our online courses are designed to meet you where you are in your place-based education journey.

Gain practical skills through our on-demand webinars, join us for a virtual workshop, or take a deeper dive into place-based education with our multi-week virtual courses!

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The Teacher Learning Center (TLC) of Teton Science Schools is excited to offer online professional development opportunities for aspiring and current educators. All of our online courses are developed for educators by educators-whether you are a graduate student or a veteran teacher, our online courses are designed to meet you where you are in your place-based education journey.

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Project WILD, Growing Up WILD, Aquatic WILD, and Flying WILD

These are interdisciplinary conservation and environmental education program curriculum guides that focus on wildlife and habitat. They are all tailored to place. The website has a link to connect with state/local coordinators. I've been a certified WILD One for many years now, and would be happy to answer questions about the curriculum. -Bri-

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Project WILD's mission is to provide wildlife-based conservation and environmental education that fosters responsible actions toward wildlife and related natural resources. All curriculum materials are backed by sound educational practices and theory, and represent the work of many professionals within the fields of education and natural resource management from across the country.

Schedule a workshop today! Contact your state coordinator to find out how.

Click on the program images below to learn more about the curriculums specifically designed for pre-K-12.

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International and national wildlife education program. Professional development for teachers and wildlife educators. Curriculum guides available.

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A great online resource with blog posts and podcasts relating to Place Based Education and equity. "We focus on ensuring equity and inclusion as it relates to learning design, learning science, educational leadership and the day-to-day work that we do with districts, teachers and learning organizations."

Search "place based" on their website for pages of resources. -Bri-

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Getting Smart explores and implements trends at the cutting edge of powerful and equitable learning experiences.

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Connecting children to communities through food - Farm to School

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Connecting children to communities through food - Farm to School

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Integrating farming and learning on food systems is a large part of my teaching philosophy. This website, Vermont FEED, gives great resources on how to connection children to the growing world of food!

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The resources below are published by VT FEED or its parent organizations, Shelburne Farms and NOFA-VT.

Click on any of the individual resources to learn more or download that particular item.

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The resources below are published by VT FEED or its parent organizations, Shelburne Farms and NOFA-VT. Click on any of the individual resources to learn more or download that particular item.

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The book that we used for this class is on this list, as well as several others that may look familiar. A good list to keep handy as we all move forward with placed-based teaching and learning strategies.

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In the realm of professional development for place-based education teachers, books are an important, but often overshadowed resource. Many of us tend to gravitate towards more engaging and interactive professional development opportunities like coaching, courses and hands-on teacher workshops. Since most in-person trainings have been cancelled or postponed due to the global surge of COVID-19, educators are turning to books for at-home, self-paced learning, inspiration and growth.

Recommended by Teton Science Schools' staff and teachers, here are 18 books to inspire your development as a place-based education teacher.

Place-Based Education Books: Getting Started

The Power of Place: Authentic Learning Through Place-Based Education by Tom Vander Ark, Emily Liebtag & Nate McClennan

Dispelling the notion that place-based education is an approach limited to those who can afford it, the authors (including Teton Science Schools' VP of Education and Innovation, Nate McClennan) describe how schools in diverse contexts-urban and rural, public and private-have adopted place-based programs as a way to better engage students and attain three important goals of education: student agency, equity, and community.

Place- and Community-based Education in Schools by Greg Smith & David Sobel

Place- and Community-based Education in Schools - an approach to teaching and learning that starts with the local - addresses two critical gaps in the experience of many children growing up in the United States: contact with the natural world and contact with community. It offers a way to extend young people's attention beyond the classroom to the world as it actually is, and to engage them in the process of devising solutions to the social and environmental problems they will confront as adults.

Envisioned as a primer and guide for educators and members of the public interested in incorporating the local into schools in their own communities, this book explains the purpose and nature of place- and community-based education and provides multiple examples of its practice.

Bringing School to Life: Place-Based Education Across the Curriculum by Sarah Anderson

The place-based approach brings students into their communities to learn necessary content and skills by working to meet the needs of local agencies and organizations. Students are more engaged because they know they are doing real work, teachers are reinvigorated by creating exciting learning opportunities, and the school takes on a more active role in the community. At the heart of this process is the place itself: the land, the history, and the culture.

This book offers insights into how to build a place-based program across the K-8 grades. Anderson addresses key elements such as mapping, local history, citizen & community science, integrated curricula, and more. Additionally, Anderson suggests strategies for building community partnerships and implementation for primary grades.

Place-Based Education Books for Early Childhood & Elementary Educators

The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Experience in Transformation by George Forman, Carolyn Edwards & Lella Gandini

Educators in Reggio Emilia, Italy, use a distinctive, innovative approach that supports children's well-being and fosters their intellectual development through a systematic focus on symbolic representation. From birth through age six, young children are encouraged to explore their environment and express their understanding through many modes of expression or "languages," including verbal communication, movement, drawing, painting, sculpture, shadow play, collage, and music. This organic strategy has been shown to be highly effective, as the children in Reggio Emilia display surprising examples of symbolic skill and creativity.

In this book, the authors provide the reader with a comprehensive introduction to the Reggio Emilia experience, and address three of its central themes: teaching and learning through relationships; the hundred languages of children, and how this concept has evolved; and integrating documentation into the process of observing, reflecting, and communicating.

Mapmaking with Children: Sense of Place Education for the Elementary Years by David Sobel

Mapmaking with Children presents an inspired alternative to geography education. Maintaining that there is no substitute for hands-on experience, David Sobel places the initial emphasis on local projects - projects that begin in students' own backyards and communities, projects that provide a sense of place.

Mapmaking, as Sobel uses it, has relevance across the curriculum. In addition to appealing to social studies teachers, this book will be of interest to science teachers, language arts teachers, and math teachers looking for new ways to invigorate the curriculum.

Project Based Learning Books

Today's projects need to be rigorous, engaging, and in-depth, and they need to have student voice and choice built in. Such projects require careful planning and pedagogical skill. The authors -leaders at the respected Buck Institute for Education - take readers through the step-by-step process of how to create, implement, and assess PBL using a classroom-tested framework.

By successfully implementing PBL, teachers can not only help students meet standards but also greatly improve their instruction and make school a more meaningful place for learning. Both practical and inspirational, this book is an essential guide to creating classrooms and schools where students-and teachers-excel.

Project Based Teaching: How to Create Rigorous and Engaging Learning Experiences by Suzie Boss and John Larmer Larmer

It's no secret that in today's complex world, students face unparalleled demands as they prepare for college, careers, and active citizenship. However, those demands won't be met without a fundamental shift from traditional, teacher-centered instruction toward innovative, student-centered teaching and learning. For schools ready to make such a shift, project-based learning (PBL) offers a proven framework to help students be better equipped to tackle future challenges.

In this book, Suzie Boss and John Larmer build on the framework for Gold Standard PBL originally presented in Setting the Standard for Project Based Learning and explore the seven practices integral to Project Based Teaching. For each practice, the authors present a wide range of practical strategies and include teachers' reflections about and suggestions from their classroom experiences.

Place-Based Education Books on Nature

Into the Field provides teachers with curriculum ideas for taking their students out of doors. The book is both theoretical and practical, combining pedagogical background on why field work enhances educational experiences with the nuts and bolts details of how one gets started. "A place is nothing more than a space with a story, and the basic question in all nature writing is, 'What happened here?'"

This book elaborates on The Orion Society's mission to advance environmental, place-based education. This collection of stories from teachers in the field is insightful and provides concrete examples of how environmental education can be built into classroom curriculum no matter what part of the country you're from, what age/grade you teach and what sort of financial restraints are placed on the school.

The most inspiring part of the book was hearing how teachers dramatically impacted the lives of their students by introducing them to the outdoors. The countless student success stories are uplifting, and make me hopeful that my children are taught by individuals with the same appreciation for the environment as those in this book.

Each chapter concluded with a lesson plan that other teachers could implement in their classroom.

As children's connections to nature diminish and the social, psychological, and spiritual implications become apparent, new research shows that nature can offer powerful therapy for such maladies as depression, obesity, and attention deficit disorder. Environment-based education dramatically improves standardized test scores and grade-point averages and develops skills in problem solving, critical thinking, and decision making. Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that childhood experiences in nature stimulate creativity.

Books for Informing Culturally Competent & Inclusive Classrooms

Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies raises fundamental questions about the purpose of schooling in changing societies. Bringing together an intergenerational group of prominent educators and researchers, this volume engages and extends the concept of culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) -teaching that perpetuates and fosters linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of schooling for positive social transformation.

The authors propose that schooling should be a site for sustaining the cultural practices of communities of color, rather than eradicating them. Chapters present theoretically grounded examples of how educators and scholars can support Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian/Pacific Islander, South African, and immigrant students as part of a collective movement toward educational justice in a changing world.

Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see Black, White, and Latino youth clustered in their own groups. Is this self-segregation a problem to address or a coping strategy? Beverly Daniel Tatum, a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, argues that straight talk about our racial identities is essential if we are serious about enabling communication across racial and ethnic divides. These topics have only become more urgent as the national conversation about race is increasingly acrimonious. This fully revised edition is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the dynamics of race in America.

Drawing on examples of teaching from elementary school classrooms, this timely book for practitioners explains why LGBTQ-inclusive literacy instruction is possible, relevant, and necessary in grades K-5.

The authors show how expanding the English language arts curriculum to include representations of LGBTQ people and themes will benefit all students, allowing them to participate in a truly inclusive classroom. The text describes three different approaches that address the limitations, pressures, and possibilities that teachers in various contexts face around these topics. The authors make clear what LGBTQ-inclusive literacy teaching can look like in practice, including what teachers might say and how students might respond.

Reading the Rainbow is designed to be interactive, providing readers with opportunities to consider these new approaches with respect to their own classrooms and traditional literacy instruction.

In Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks - writer, teacher, and insurgent Black intellectual - writes about a new kind of education, education as the practice of freedom . Teaching students to "transgress" against racial, sexual, and class boundaries in order to achieve the gift of freedom is, for hooks, the teacher's most important goal.

bell hooks speaks to the heart of education today: how can we rethink teaching practices in the age of multiculturalism? What do we do about teachers who do not want to teach, and students who do not want to learn? How should we deal with racism and sexism in the classroom?

Full of passion and politics, Teaching to Transgress combines a practical knowledge of the classroom with a deeply felt connection to the world of emotions and feelings. This is the rare book about teachers and students that dares to raise questions about eros and rage, grief and reconciliation, and the future of teaching itself. "To educate is the practice of freedom," writes bell hooks, "is a way of teaching anyone can learn." Teaching to Transgress is the record of one gifted teacher's struggle to make classrooms work.

Books that Explore Connection to Place, Nature & Culture

Yard Work by Daniel Coleman

How can you truly belong to a place? What does being at home mean in a society that has always celebrated the search for greener pastures? And can a newcomer ever acquire the deep understanding of the land that comes from being part of a culture that has lived there for centuries?

Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings - asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass - offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world.

In distinctive and illuminating prose that is attentive to the rhythms of language and landscapes, she weaves together human stories of migration, silence, and displacement, as epic as the continent they survey, with uplifted mountains, braided streams, and eroded canyons. Gifted with this manifold vision, and graced by scientific and lyrical diligence, she delves through fragmented histories - natural, personal, cultural - to find shadowy outlines of other stories of place in America .

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18 Books to Inspire Your Development as a Place-Based Education Teacher

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In the realm of professional development for place-based education teachers, books are an important, but often overshadowed resource. Many of us tend to gravitate towards more engaging and interactive professional development opportunities like coaching, courses and hands-on teacher workshops.

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making maps with children (from Sandra S)

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making maps with children (from Sandra S)

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One of my favorite parts of this class, and of my teaching practice as well, is creating and using maps with young children. This site has activity ideas for use with lots of different age groups.

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Map Skills for Elementary Students - National Geographic Society

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This collection can help you teach an assortment of map skills through activities that address the spatial thinking abilities of young children and developmental appropriateness.

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A mapping resource to understand native lands

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A mapping resource to understand native lands

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A great place to understand the indigenous history of the places we live. They have resources for teachers and students can easily engage with the map and information.

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Mapping

We strive to map Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages across the world in a way that goes beyond colonial ways of thinking in order to better represent how Indigenous people want to see themselves.

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Native Land is a resource to learn more about Indigenous territories, languages, lands, and ways of life. We welcome you to our site.

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The Beetles Project (not to be confused with the bug) is a hub for place-based science teaching ideas.... I have used lots of their resources especially when working on field science curriculum

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Science and Teaching for Field Instructors

Student-Centered ♦ Nature-Centered

For a slightly longer introduction to BEETLES, watch the 7-minute video.

BEETLES: Infusing outdoor science programs with research-based approaches and tools to improve science teaching and learning.

Our professional learning resources are designed for program leaders to use with field instructors. They provide experiences and rationale about outdoor science instruction designed to inspire instructors to improve their teaching. Our student activities inspire students' wonder and curiosity about the natural world, support their innate tendencies for exploration and guide them to make explanations based on evidence.

All BEETLES resources embody our five research-based design principles.

People learn Outdoor Science best when they:

ENGAGE DIRECTLY WITH NATURE

Experience Instruction based on how people learn

PARTICIPATE IN CULTURALLY RELEVANT LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

LEARN THROUGH DISCUSSIONS

One Centennial Drive
Berkeley, CA 94720-5200
Contact Us

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Science and Teaching for Field Instructors Student-Centered ♦ Nature-Centered For a slightly longer introduction to BEETLES, watch the 7-minute video. Our professional learning resources are designed for program leaders to use with field instructors. They provide experiences and rationale about outdoor science instruction designed to inspire instructors to improve their teaching.

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A little ditty on 'place-based art education'.

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A little ditty on 'place-based art education'.

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Interesting ideas that can help you reflect further on the DYP collage work.