Place-Based Learning, another PBL that incorporates interdisciplinary instruction, is a method of teaching that connects students to their place in a meaningful way. In the words of David Sobel (a thought leader in place-based education and Professor Emeritus of Antioch University New England):
Place-based education is 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. 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. Community vitality and environmental quality are improved through the active engagement of local citizens, community organizations, and environmental resources in the life of the school. - Sobel (2005) Place-based education: Connecting classrooms and communities.
Place-based education has significant overlap with project-/problem-based learning including diving deep into a topic or a problem (often identified by the students) and culminating in a project or presentation made by the students for an audience beyond the classroom. Content area subjects are taught within the structure of the project.
Some key elements that stand out in quality place-based lessons that may or may not be present in something defined as 'project- or problem-based learning' include:
- the connection to the community as a classroom,
- moving the student's view from local learning to global connections, and
- the process of design thinking as part of the method for learning and making meaningful impact.
Maine DOE supports the development of place-based learning as a means to achieve interdisciplinary education. This PBL aligns to learning goals by designing curriculum that connects academic learning to building connections across the community, helping students develop a sense of identity and pride.
To start your learning journey with place-based learning, explore one or more of the resources listed below, which will prepare you to dive deeper into the six place-based learning principles.
RESOURCES
Teton Science Schools has collected a lot of resources about how to do place-based education. To learn more, choose one or more of these options:
- Website: Spend some time exploring their site in general
- Infographic: Take a look at the infographic they designed in collaboration with Getting Smart and EduInnovation
- Podcast: Listen to this audio field trip to experience place-based learning in action.
Reflect:
How might these resources support your work in implementing a place-based learning approach in your classroom?
What are some key take-aways from these resources that will support your work in implementing place-based learning in your curriculum?
In the remaining lessons of this starter pack you can find more information about each of the place-based learning principles. Each of those lessons will include:
- What do we mean by this principle?
- Why do we do it? What are the benefits of incorporating it?
- Where can I find more resources?
- Example connections to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines
Coming away from this starter pack, you should feel prepared to talk with other educators about what makes a module/lesson/unit/etc. 'place-based'.
Time to go explore!
- Principle #1: Local to Global Context
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What do we mean by this principle?
In a Local to Global Context, we work with students to first understand themselves and their actions and then move out to their school, broader community, their geographical/geopolitical area, and then the world. (Image credit: Teton Science Schools)
Why do we do it? What are the benefits of incorporating it?
Grounding students in a local context helps them create a mental model they can then use to understand global challenges. This understanding naturally becomes more and more complex as the student develops through their educational career, ultimately preparing them to be knowledgeable and empowered global citizens.
Where can I find more resources?
Anything related to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is a great place to look for creating local to global connections. Choose one or more of the resources below to explore for this principle.
- Website: If you aren't familiar with the SDGs at all you could start with the resources from TeachSDGs.org
- Curriculum Framework: The Manitoba Council for International Cooperation has a fantastic overview and curriculum framework for actually teaching with the SDGs. If it feels overwhelming to see the whole thing, you can zoom in on the pages where they make cross-goal connections for you, like this one from the 'Good Health and Well-Being' goal.
- Overviews: Here is another summary of local to global context from Teton Science Schools and an article on their website that includes some examples of student projects
Example connections to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines
These aren't all the connections but here are some connections to the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines that are particularly well aligned with this principle.
- Foster Collaboration and Community
- Highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships
Reflect:
Think about a unit of study in your curriculum, how might you make revisions to implement this principle?
- Principle #2: Learner Centered
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What do we mean by this principle?
'Learner-centered' is also often referred to as 'student-centered'. In this framework, the student is the one who is driving their learning decisions with guidance from their teacher. The teacher becomes a facilitator of learning rather than a dispenser of information. This can happen along a spectrum of student ownership including how much choice the student has in the topic and method of learning as well as how they will assess and demonstrate their learning.
Why do we do it? What are the benefits of incorporating it?
Putting the learner at the center is an awesome way to increase student engagement as the learning becomes inherently relevant to the student. This also helps the learning proceed at a pace and in a method that is conducive to the students' capabilities and connected to the students' prior knowledge. Overall, this leads to increased feelings of efficacy and empowerment
Where can I find more resources?
Choose one or more of the resources below to continue your learning journey.
- Article: Learner-centered education exists on a spectrum. This article helps you see the different levels learner-centeredness you could design for.
- Summaries: This overview document from the Teton Science Schools includes more resources of a variety of types
- Article: Imagine what a learner center classroom looks like with this article from Teton Science Schools
- Video (below): What does a learner-centered classroom look like? Get some examples from this video.
Example connections to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines
These aren't all the connections but here are some connections to the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines that are particularly well aligned with this principle.
Reflect:
Think about a unit of study in your curriculum, how might you make revisions to implement this principle?
- Principle #3: Inquiry-Based
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What do we mean by this principle?
Inquiry-based learning is inherently on the spectrum of learner-centered education but it specifically focuses on using observations, questioning strategies, predictions, and data collection/analysis to guide investigation and learning. Inquiry-based instruction is not limited to science, even though this is a common place to see it used.
Why do we do it? What are the benefits of incorporating it?
Helping students make observations about themselves, their environment, their community, and beyond and use that data to then formulate questions is a powerful way to prepare them to be compassionate and informed citizens. They become better able to make their own decisions and provide rationale for those decisions based on 'data'. This method also increases students' feelings of efficacy as it puts them closer to the center of their learning process.
Where can I find more resources?
Choose one or more of the resources below to continue your learning journey.
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Article: Learn about the challenges and frustrations as well as the powerful benefits of inquiry-based learning.
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Model: The 5E Model is an example of an inquiry-based approach. This is a peer-reviewed article on the topic and it has an example lesson on the last page.
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Overview: This summary document from Teton Science Schools provides an additional overview and resources.
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Video (below): Watch this video to see what inquiry-based learning looks like in an art classroom.
Example connections to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines
These aren't all the connections but here are some connections to the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines that are particularly well aligned with this principle.
Reflect:
Think about a unit of study in your curriculum, how might you make revisions to implement this principle?
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- Principle #4: Design Thinking
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What do we mean by this principle?
Design thinking is a way of approaching an existing problem that helps students come up with relevant and workable solutions. Students go through phases of defining the problem, generating multiple solutions, reflecting on those solutions and their potential impact, enacting their solution, and evaluating their solution. Design thinking is commonly applied to physical 'products' but it works just as well for implementing other solutions (e.g., behavioral, psychological, etc.).
Why do we do it? What are the benefits of incorporating it?
Design thinking complements the other components of place-based learning really nicely because it gives students the framework to actually make a difference in a real world problem. The structure helps them to organize their thinking and enact change in meaningful ways, leading to feelings of efficacy and empowerment. This method of thinking is also broadly applicable across other contexts in their lives, including designing around their own behavior to develop greater executive functioning.
Where can I find more resources?
- Guide: This teacher's guide to design thinking for students is a great overview.
- Toolkit & article (this gets meta....): We can even use design thinking to design educational experiences for students. This is a pretty awesome toolkit to add to your own toolbox and this is an article about how to use design thinking to solve challenges in schools.
- Overview: This summary document from Teton Science Schools gives more information and resources for the principle of design thinking.
- Video (see below): Heartwarming view of the power of design thinking in schools.
Example connections to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines
These aren't all the connections but here are some connections to the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines that are particularly well aligned with this principle.
Reflect:
Think about a unit of study in your curriculum, how might you make revisions to implement this principle?
- Principle #5: Community as Classroom
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What do we mean by this principle?
When we refer to the community as classroom that can actually mean engaging students in their classroom/school, out in their local community, or even online. The key really is rooting the learning within the context of community-based problems. What constitutes a 'community' looks different from PreK-12 but the idea that the students are accessing individuals, locations, and experiences that take them and/or their thinking outside their immediate classroom is what connects students to their 'place'.
Why do we do it? What are the benefits of incorporating it?
Helping students develop relationships across their community helps with their sense of belonging and enhances their interest in continuing to improve their communities and relationships going forward. The community as classroom context also increases the level of relevancy for students who can connect their learning to real people, places, and things that they know.
Where can I find more resources?
- Connections: This awesome directory from TeachMEOutside (a Maine focused collaborative) helps you find community connections that are already in your area or connections for specific needs/topics.
- Article: This article expands on the 'what constitutes a community?' question
- Overview: This overview document from Teton Science Schools has more information about the community as a classroom and additional resources.
- Video (see below): A great overview of both project-based learning and using the community as classroom
Example connections to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines
These aren't all the connections but here are some connections to the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines that are particularly well aligned with this principle.
Reflect:
Think about a unit of study in your curriculum, how might you make revisions to implement this principle?
- Principle #6: Interdisciplinary Approach
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What do we mean by this principle?
Interdisciplinary focuses on truly integrating multiple disciplines within a real-world context. This is not a sequential method of learning but rather a way of bringing multiple disciplines to bear on a meaningful problem. The interdisciplinary learning starts with the question rather than what 'topics' need to be covered.
A multi-disciplinary approach involving butterflies might have students learning about them by reading about them in English, studying their metamorphosis in science, and calculating how much nectar they eat in a day in math. This is what we are trying to transcend with the place-based interdisciplinary approach so that students start with a meaningful problem (How do we support the survival of important pollinators?) and proceed to look at the problem from all angles. Students are provided (or find) reading on butterflies migratory habits, they raise caterpillars in the classroom to determine what conditions lead to better survival, they learn about the laws in their town governing public green spaces before proposing a pollinator garden to the city council, complete with their artistic rendering of what the new space will look like.... and so on.
Why do we do it? What are the benefits of incorporating it?
Life beyond the classroom IS interdisciplinary. Interdisciplinary approaches more closely connect students with real-world contexts, giving them experience with the types of challenges that they will continue to navigate through their lives. The learning is more process/skill centered rather than knowledge centered and celebrates relevant knowledge, providing greater student engagement because there is a 'why' for what they are learning.
Where can I find more resources?
- Website: Couldn't just call this an article because of how many directions it approaches interdisciplinary learning from (e.g., bias, ambiguity, ethics, etc.). Great resource.
- Overview: This overview document from Teton Science Schools gives another view on using an interdisciplinary approach and provides more resources.
- Video (see below): Building a tiny home is a highly interdisciplinary challenge for these third graders (and is a great example of community as classroom!)
Example connections to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines
These aren't all the connections but here are some connections to the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines that are particularly well aligned with this principle.
Reflect:
Think about a unit of study in your curriculum, how might you make revisions to implement this principle?
Return to PBLs: Place-, Project-, and Problem-Based Learning page