Place-Based Education-What's the Deal?

What is Place-Based Learning?

          As a student, I think we've all asked ourselves the question, "When am I ever going to use this?" That question fuels the idea behind Place-Based learning. According to  promiseofplace.org,  "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."  

          The purpose of place-based education is to make the learning and the curriculum relevant to what's going on in students' lives. This week in class, we had to search pinterest for pins related to this type of education. Below are the links to my pinterest and the website I found regarding place based learning:

http://www.pinterest.com/haynestessa/premise-of-the-school/ (Links to an external site.)

http://www.tinasdynamichomeschoolplus.com/category/hands-on-activities/ (Links to an external site.)

          The website I found was created by a woman who moved from Texas to South America. She homeschools her children and incorporates their environment into the curriculum. One example I found on the website was the children visited Incan ruins. This trip tied in History as well as Geography. It is important to incorporate the environment into lesson plans because it helps create consciousness on the subject of environmental issues within individuals.

          It is extremely important to educate individuals to be aware of our environment. After watching The Story of Stuff,  I realized that the only way we are going to save our environment and create a new system that takes care of the environment is to create individuals who are aware of their environment. Place-based education is a great way to start educating students to take care of the environment, Just like the homeschooling mom in South America teaching her children about the Rainforests, teachers in Africa, America, England, etc. can be teaching their students how to take care of their vastly different environments. 

Our world is absolutely gorgeous. Through place-based education we are able to make curriculum relevant to our students as well as teach them how to take care of their environment. As educators, we are teaching our future. Someday, the kids we educate are going to grow up to be presidents, lawyers, doctors, engineers, teachers, etc. By creating environmentally aware children, we are creating a better future for ourselves. Our world is on the fast track to devastation if  we do not find a balance within the consumer-based system our world works on now. 

Whether its at the beach or in the woods, every students deserves the type of education that is relevant to their lives and futures. Place-based education is the best way to teach students that calculus can be used outside of the classroom. It is also the best way to teach students to be environmentally aware, securing a better future for themselves as well as us, the people who educate them. 

Tending My Flowers!

This week in EDU 100 we have been learning and discussing various Educational Philosophies. The man of the hour today is Mr. John Dewey himself! This video gives a nice overview of Dewey's life for those of you who would rather listen than read!

John Dewey- "When customs are flexible and the youth is educated as youth and not as premature adulthood, no nation grows old." 

Born in 1859 John Dewey, was an American philosopher who was a "leading proponent of the American school of thought known as pragmatism." Pragmatism is "a philosophical movement that includes those who claim that an ideology or proposition is true if it works satisfactorily, that the meaning of a proposition is to be found in the practical consequences of accepting it, and that unpractical ideas are to be rejected." In a more education context, Pragmatism is the belief that the universe is dynamic and evolving and that the purpose of thought is action and truth is relative. It focused on learning through experience. The goal was to teach students to be problem solvers so that when they are faced with an obstacle, they have to tools to overcome that obstacle. Students would make decisions based on the consequences of their actions. It is a contemporary view on education. Dewey believed that students learned by experiencing things. When we teach them as youths instead of prepping them for adult life after school, they are going to get more out of their education. Now, I agree with Pragmatism. I do think students benefit more from experiences.During instruction, teachers even call upon past experiences and background knowledge to help learn new material. This shows that experience is a key component of education. 

After I read about The Banking Concept, I knew right away that  Dewey would not agree with the concept. The Banking Concept is basically about how students are banks in which teachers deposit information. The teachers teach and the students are taught. The teachers discipline and the students are disciplined. (Sounds pretty oppressive, doesn't it?) The Banking Concept holds more of a Realism philosophy, where reality exists independent of the human mind and that physical things are the ultimate reality. In The Banking Concept, Paulo Freire says "The teacher talks about reality as if it were motionless, static compartmentalized, and predictable." The teaching method for realism is that you teach for mastery of facts and basic skills. The Banking Concept is more of a traditional and conservative philosophy, which is on the other end of the spectrum, far from Dewey's ideology. This concept was designed before we realized that every student is different and learns differently. Not every student is receptive to learning that way. The Banking Concept may have worked in the past, but in today's education The Banking Concept is one that has proven to be ineffective. 

As a teacher, we are able to develop our own philosophies and our own learning theories. However if they aren't geared for the student, then our instruction isn't going to be effective. 

Sources:

http://www.iep.utm.edu/dewey/

http://www.iep.utm.edu/pragmati/

http://deweycenter.siu.edu/about_bio.html

My Philosophical Garden

This week in our Education class we discussed philosophies. Things such as existentialism, essentialism, cognitivism and reconstructivism. Through an educational philosophy assessment and scoring guide, I found that I resonated most with progressivim with a splash of existentialism. Progressivism, as stated above, is concerned with the individual student. In this video by Ken Robinson, we see that schools came about in the 19th century. They were geared for a specific type of student and you were either academic/smart or you were non-academic/smart. The educational systems treated students as objects and institutions were factories in which intellectual human beings were created. Teachers were the source of information and the students were the information processors. In today's society, we can see that there are so many different types of learners. One type of learner Robinson mentioned were those with ADHD. He referred to this as an "epidemic", and instead of teachers modifying instruction to fit the needs of these students, they wanted them to be medicated in order for them to focus on subject matter that was boring to them. He calls for a transformation of education in which the students have more control over their education.

Existentialism is the idea that students should be given the choice on how and what they learn. One school that uses this philosophy is the Summerhill Boarding School in the UK. The students are able to decided when and which classes they want to attend. They are able to decide how and what they learn which creates a desire in learning. If students have no desire to learn, how are we as educators supposed to expect them to learn anything?

This website on Student Centered Philosophies discusses multiple types of philosophies. These philosophies are focused on the student as an individual. The curriculum supported by these philosophies are designed to fit the needs, interests and abilities of the students. They are expected to be responsible for themselves and they are given the freedom that mandatory education in today's society does not.

Each and every teacher has a different philosophy and way of looking at education. Students themselves also respond to a certain philosophy better than others. Some students could learn better with an essentialism philosophy, meaning that they learn for the sake of learning. They learn best through lectures and assessments. Other students require a more existentialism philosophy meaning that they require the freedom to learn how and what they want to.

I believe the assessment worked well. However, it is not a science and it is not so clear-cut. Philosophies can be a melting pot of different ideas and opinions. Someone could be a little bit of a perrenialist and a little bit of a progressivist. It is up to you as a teacher to decide what your view is and what works best for you. As a teacher, I want to be able to give my students choices on how and what they want to learn. I want to teach them to be responsible for themselves and I want them to have a desire to learn.