An examination of student attitudes, decolonization and reinhabitation, community involvement, and attainment of curricular outcomes as components of Place-based education
Date
2018-04-26
Authors
Richardson, Chelsea
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Abstract
In modern society, children often spend limited time outdoors or in the local community and increasing time online. Although there is presently a resurgence in outdoor and community learning, in previous decades, schooling tended to focus on indoor, pen-and-paper tasks and standardized testing. Previous educational practices have tended to lead to a lack of personal connection to and understanding of the local environment and sustainability practices. In the United States and other developed western countries, there is a reliance on “traditional” school-based teaching methods, including standardized testing: curricula tends to focus on decontextualized conceptual learning rather than on concrete learning where concepts are connected to the local place. Place-based education offers an alternative approach to decontextualized, school-based learning by developing students’ sense of attachment to place through experiences in the local community with curriculum that is co-developed by teachers and community members, including Indigenous knowledge keepers. Research has shown that a place-based education approach, both through developing attachment to a place and also through community connections, can lead students to take action in their own communities. Further research needs to examine links between place attachment and student behavioural changes, as well as to examine the diversity of narratives, including Indigenous perspectives, which are a crucial component to understanding local places. The purpose of this research is to examine how a place-based curriculum affects students’ attitudes towards local places, how a place-based curriculum can bring about decolonization and reinhabitation, how community learning can enhance place-based education, and how place-based education affects traditional curricular outcomes.
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place-based education, place-based learning, school-community collaboration, decolonization, reinhabitation, Indigenous education, Indigenous knowledge, land-based learning