Place is more than where you go, itâs also why you are there
An excited group of students receive directions to meet at a mysterious destination at a specific time. The students arrive at a cemetery after dark! Their excursion is an introduction to a class being offered by The Pioneers Learning Lab (http://âwww.âthelearninglab.ânl), an innovative educational program associated with the University of Amsterdam. âWe go literally on a journey in which we do not know what the end station is,â explains the instructor, Thiel Besselink (Smit & van Doorn, 2011, 6:20).
Once on location, Besselink instructs the students to spend their time as they choose: âYou are pioneers. So you decide what you do with your timeâŠWhat are you going to do with your time? And life is short. Itâs really short. Tick tock tick tock. So what weâre doing is trying to stretch the boundaries of education, inside and outside of the classroomâŠinside and outside of your lifeâ (Besselink, as cited in Smit & van Doorn, 2011, 7:15). Taking flashlights, they explore the cemetery and then return for a large group reflection on the activity. Many of the students make profound connections between this introductory experience and the goals of the Pioneer program which they are about to begin. In this example, the location of studyâthe cemeteryâbecomes part of the learning journey. Imagine this same activity where the students were shown slides of a cemetery or simply asked to think about being in a cemetery.
Besselink designed this experiential activity to shift the studentsâ focus from a teacher-directed to a student-initiated classroom, modeling the experience of going to an unknown rather than prescribed final destination. Being on location played an important role in communicating the purpose of learning. The connections to the learning outcomes of this activity are made clear to the students through the instructorâs facilitation of the group discussion.
When we blur the boundaries of a classroom and expand the locations where learning occurs, as educators, we create opportunities for students to explore place as an important dimension in and of itself. The end result is that students and educators are inspired to imagine adventures that allow for the transfer of learning from an abstract discussion to a concrete exploration with ârealâ world connections. In this chapter we look at what is known about geospatial literacy and explore the different traditions from which place-based learning emerged.
What Is Place-Based Learning?
Place-based learning is a type of experiential pedagogy that puts students in a physical location outside of the school building, allowing the community to become the âclassroom.â By engaging with the people or the environment, the students experience learning that is not easily replicated within the walls of a traditional classroom space. The actual process of exploration enables students to establish connections with a site, developing a sense of place. In this approach to learning, the location, whether it is rural, urban, or in-between, is integral to the desired learning outcomes. These learning outcomes are not simply getting to know a geographic location; place-based learning can be a vehicle for learning other academic content. Beyond learning about a place, academic coursework related to biodiversity, language, civic education, design, or sound can be integrated into the experience. Smith (2002) identifies five themes in place-based education that can be adapted to different settings: cultural studies; nature studies; real-world problem-solving; internships and entrepreneurial opportunities; and induction into community processes. In all of these areas, regardless of the setting, our ultimate goal is to transform the way that students interact with their world as well as their willingness to âpromote a more just and sustainable worldâ (Israel, 2012, p. 76).
Long before internet access brought the world into our classrooms, the places where learning occurred were not always limited to the confines of a four-walled room dedicated to the purpose of schooling. Students ventured into their neighborhoods to explore, describe, and analyze, whether it was leaving the one-room schoolhouse out on the prairie or by taking an urban excursion. As we go back to the writings of John Dewey, who was advocating âprogressive education,â we see a call for teachers to become âintimately acquainted with the conditions of the local community, physical, historical, economic, occupational, etc. in order to utilize them as educational resourcesâ (Dewey, 1938, p. 40).
The value of place-based knowledge and experiences outside of school is noted by many who suggest having students apply lessons from school to everyday life (Buxton & Provenzo, 2011). Both John Dewey (1938) and Paolo Freire (Freire, 2011; Freire & Campos, 1990) noticed that what children learn outside of school is often devalued. The key difference between these two educators is that Freire links the observation to an analysis of power and privilege. He notes that children from different social classes will come to the classroom with different sets of experiences, with educational systems privileging certain knowledge and skills.
Sobelâs work on place-based education (2004) offers a foundation for understanding how this pedagogy can take advantage of the local community and environment âas a starting point to teach concepts in language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and other subject areas across the curriculumâ (p. 6). Through these hands-on, real-world learning experiences, the students:
- Develop stronger ties to their community;
- Enhance their appreciation for the natural world; and
- Have a heightened commitment to serving as active, contributing citizens.
By actively engaging local citizens, community organizations, and environmental resources, Sobel advocates for a place-based learning that contributes to community vitality and environmental quality.
Sobelâs concern for the stewardship of our natural environment is part of several educational movements connected with outdoor education. The term was coined to be in-opposition to âindoorâ education (i.e., a classroom) and primarily focused on learning about the natural environment. Over time, the field evolved to include a range of names and a variety of purposes: environmental education, camping education, and conservation education, as well as experiential and place-based education (Quay & Seaman, 2013). While these approaches share the common feature of learning in settings beyond the classroom, some of them are closer to âadventureâ education that focus on the personal growth benefits from overcoming uncertainty and obstacles (Ewert & Sibthorp, 2014). Others foster studentsâ connection to place by viewing the community as a classroom and encouraging students to âreadâ the landscape.
Courses that have service or community-based learning (Anderson, 2017), field trip, or study abroad components are naturally suited to place-based learning because they often assume an obvious link to the physical environment. To be effective, these experiences require a thoughtful pedagogy that anchors student learning in a specific place and facilitates the connections between conceptual material and geospatial location. In order to make these learning environments meaningful, a clear synergy needs to be created between out-of-classroom and in-classroom or online experiences. Otherwise, students become academic tourists, passing through their destinations without making connections or gaining an appreciation for the significance of the place.
To address this need for making these learning environments meaningful, some educators have developed place-based activities. The pedagogy of place-based learning is applicable across disciplines and emerged from several different areas. Surprisingly, many of these developments occurred outside of the field of geography (Israel, 2012). An early attempt to reach across disciplines was City as Text, which originated within the Honors Education community. Developed by Dr. Bernice Braid (Braid & Long, 2000) and shared through workshops held by the National Collegiate Honors Council, this technique involves the recursive process of mapping, observing, listening, and reflecting (Machonis, 2008). Resulting excursions involve an extensive planning process, which includes identifying a location and theme, selecting background materials (texts), and creating several participant assignments. More than just exploring a city, the goal for City as Text participants is the critical thinking process that requires students to hone their observational skills and generate questions that require locating additional information. While analyzing a city âas textâ is more likely to produce deep learning, it also requires a significant time investment on the part of teachers creating experiences as well as students participating in these experiences. In Shatter the Glassy Stare (2008), Machonis devotes an entire section to ideas for using the City as Text approach on a college campus to build community among a specific cohort of students or to promote positive âtown and gownâ relationships.
The Language of Place-Based Learning
Before going further, we should clarify how we are using the terminology that is associated with place-based pedagogy. Because this approach spans a number of disciplines, we find a variety of terms used, with the most popular reference being to place-based education (PBE). Here we will use the terms place-based learning and place-based education interchangeably. The ter...