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This book describes and documents one schools experiences in achieving their environmental
literacy goals through the development of a place-based learning environment. Through
this iniative, a longitudinal, descriptive case study began at the Bowen Island Community
School to both support and advocate for ecological literacy, while helping the school realize
its broad environmental learning goals. Conceptualised as an intensive case study of a
learning environment (with an environmental education focus), the program was part of
a larger ecological literacy project conducted in association with preservice and graduate
education programs at a nearby university and research centre. Following both (empirical)
learning environments and participatory (ethnographic) research methods, the project is
described from a variety of perspectives: students, teachers, teacher educators, researchers
and administrators. The volume describes a variety of forms of place-based education that
teachers devised and implemented at the school while giving evidence of the development
of a supportive and positive place-based learning environment. The programs and initiatives
described in this volume provide the reader with insights for the development of place-based
programming more generally . The final chapter outlines participatory methods and action
research efforts used to evaluate the success of the project and recounts the development
and validation of a learning environment instrument to assist with this process. The new
instrument coupled with qualitative descriptions of the learning environment experienced
by many at the school give unique insights into the various ways the study of learning
environments (as a methodology) may be explored.
SensePublishers
ALER 4
ISBN 978-94-6209-219-8
Spine
7.163 mm
The Ecology of
School
David Zandvliet (Ed.)
Jeffrey P. Dorman
Australian Catholic University
Editorial Board
Perry den Brok, Eindoven University of Technology, the Netherlands
Shwu-yong Huang, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Bruce Johnson, University of Arizona, USA
Celia Johnson, Bradley University, USA
Rosalyn Anstine Templeton, Marshall University, USA
Bruce Waldrip, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
Scope
The historical beginnings of the field of learning environments go back approximately
40 years. A milestone in the development of this field was the establishment in
1984 of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Special Interest
Group (SIG) on Learning Environments, which continues to thrive today as one of
AERAs most international and successful SIGs. A second milestone in the learning
environments field was the birth in 1998 of Learning Environments Research: An
International Journal (LER), which fills an important and unique niche.
The next logical step in the evolution of the field of learning environments is
the initiation of this book series, Advances in Learning Environments Research, to
complement the work of the AERA SIG and LER. This book series provides a forum
for the publication of book-length manuscripts that enable topics to be covered at a
depth and breadth not permitted within the scope of either a conference paper or a
journal article.
The Advances in Learning Environments Research series is intended to be broad,
covering either authored books or edited volumes, and either original research reports
or reviews of bodies of past research. A diversity of theoretical frameworks and
research methods, including use of multimethods, is encouraged. In addition to school
and university learning environments, the scope of this book series encompasses
lifelong learning environments, information technology learning environments, and
various out-of-school informal learning environments (museums, environmental
centres, etc.)
00-FM.indd ii
4/24/2013 2:16:35 PM
Edited by
David Zandvliet
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada
A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
vii
1. Environmental Learning
David B. Zandvliet
19
29
43
5. Local Wonders
Laura Piersol
63
73
85
105
Epilogue
Marlene Nelson
121
PREFACE
The theme for this edited volume: The Ecology of School, highlights the efforts of
a group of educators and academics enquiring into the practices of environmental
learning as it has been enacted in the school curriculum. In particular, it describes a a
case study of the place-based implementation of this curriculum from the perspective
of the unique island community of Bowen Island. Environmental Learning and
Experience, a framework published by the British Columbia Ministry of Education
(2007) aims to assist British Columbia teachers of all subjects and grades to integrate
environmental concepts into teaching and learning. An important part of the
development work for this framework involved a dedicated team of environmental
educators working at the Bowen Island Community School.
This framework: designed to guide teachers in their educational planning,
supports the implementation of provincially-mandated curriculum for environmental
learning in diverse subjects including science, social studies, and language arts. The
development and implementation of the framework also guided a community of
Bowen Island teachers in their interdisciplinary practice: using environment as an
organizing theme for teaching and learning. Environmental Learning, then, is the
conceptual backbone for the developments and reflections shared in this book. In
this sense, our work references various perspectives that learners and educators take
on their interaction with the natural, social and built environments of Bowen Island.
Our collaborative work also describes and extends visionary Rudolf Moos original
conception of a learning environment to include a consideration of psychosocial,
physical and organizational factors as they all may contribute to learning. For many,
this book may serve as an introduction to the study of learning environments. Studies
conducted by educators on classroom learning environments (otherwise known
as classroom climate or classroom ecology) have built on earlier work related to
organizational climate and its application to educational settings. Research on
learning environments can be described as both descriptive of classroom contexts and
predictive of student learning. Today, the study of learning environments has a valuable
role to play: in pre-service teacher training; professional development, evaluation of
new curricula or innovation and generally as an important field of inquiry in its own
right: the description of a valuable psychological and social component of educational
experience. This book describes this conception from various perspectives: a synthesis
of research that examines innovations in environmental learning and employs a
learning environments approach to its development and evaluation. What follows is a
brief road map for the reader as they navigate through the ecology of school:
Chapter one outlines a conception for Environmental Learning summarizing the
concepts imbedded in its conceptual framework and defining it as a pedagogy that is
centered on interdisciplinary and experiential forms of learning.
vii
PREFACE
Chapter two further contextualizes this discussion within the practices of Placebased Education and then describes why this particular conception of curriculum
and instruction is important for a place like Bowen Island.
Chapter three describes the schools investigation into how ecological literacy
became a core educational standard at the Bowen school describing place-based
programs, events, and activities that contributed to its unique learning environment.
Chapter four captures the stories of three teachers who stood out as leaders in our
project and, through their innovation, passion, and commitment, provided valuable
insight into the power of place-based education on Bowen Island.
Chapter five borrows from a philosophical tradition: prescribing a master plan of
how place based education should function. The author focuses on Bowen Island as
one place filled with many stories of how it can function.
Chapter six describes the perspectives of three principals of the Bowen Island
Community School. The author examines their beliefs on the moral purposes of
schooling and their role in sustaining the learning environment at the school.
Chapter seven explores how school design mediates students relationships with the
natural world, with a view to understand from students perspectives how school
architecture influences their ideas about the natural world and their learning.
Chapter eight relates the development of action research with teachers using a
specifically adapted survey that aided teachers in gauging and improving the learning
environment in their classrooms and throughout the school.
The efforts of educators, graduate students and pre-service teachers working on
Bowen Island also involved a critical analysis of various educational frameworks
and resources. Focus groups with Bowen teachers helped to inform a collaborative
process that involved educators, community members and academics. The resulting
volume of research offers both a conceptual view for introducing environmental
learning in all settings, while also providing principles of teaching and learning that
work to guide teachers in designing integrated activities for a variety of learning
contexts. The research also recounts the development and inception of a variety of
unique learning environments and richly describes the dynamic interactions between
people, places and curriculum. This book outlines this set of rich interactions, which
we collectively describe as: the Ecology of School.
viii
DAVID B. ZANDVLIET
1. ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING
INTRODUCTION
D. B. ZANDVLIET
are integrated into curricular topics (usually in Science or Social Studies programs),
and third, an intensive experience approach in which students participate in short,
outdoor immersive trips and experiences. In the supplemental approach, curricular
materials are self-contained and require limited knowledge or preparation on the part
of the teacher. In the infusionist approach, the environment becomes the organizer
for an interdisciplinary curriculum, the premise that potentially all education is
environmental education (Orr, 1994). In this work on Bowen Island, the environment
is used as an organizing theme in the infusionist sense. This stems from the belief that
sustainability education is not subject matter to be treated separately in curriculum
but is interconnected with everything we do as humans (BC Ministry of Education,
2007).
It is hoped that in adopting an interdisciplinary approach to teaching about the
environment, we will support students in understanding how their actions impact
the environment at both local and global levels. Working to integrate environmental
learning within all subject areas promotes this change in attitude by providing
students with opportunities to experience and investigate the relationships linking
individuals, societies, and natural surroundings. Education about, in and for the
environment can provide students with opportunities to learn about the functioning
of natural systems, to identify their beliefs and opinions, consider a range of views,
and ultimately to make informed and responsible choices for themselves, their
families and communities.
EDUCATION, ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY
ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING
respect for human rights and a commitment to social and economic justice;
respect for the rights of future generations and for inter-generational responsibility;
respect and care for the greater community of life in all its diversity; and
respect for cultural diversity and a commitment to tolerance, non- violence and
peace.
D. B. ZANDVLIET
draw their own conclusions about important environmental and societal issues that
effect their immediate community.
As I stated earlier, environmental education in BC and in Canada aims to integrate
concepts and principles of the sciences and social sciences, such as ecology,
biogeography, sociology, environmental chemistry, environmental psychology,
politics, and economics under a single interdisciplinary framework. It aims to help
students learn about how they are connected to the natural environment through
their traditional subjects and through direct experience in both natural and human
designed systems like their school buildings. In the ecological view, students may
come to know and understand that all human environments, societies and cultures
are deeply embedded and dependent on natural systems, both for their development
and their continued survival. These ecological notions of environmental learning
are also congruent with the developing discourse around place-based education.
Learning in the Context of Place-bound Communities
The notion of a place-based education has been described by Sobel (1993; 1999) and
related ideas have been expanded on by others including critical pedagogy and rural
education (Gruenewald, 2003), community contexts (Hutchinson, 2004), eco-literacy
(Orr, 1992; 1994), ecological identity (Thomashow, 1996); and experiential learning
(Woodhouse & Knapp, 2000). The idea of place-based learning connects theories of
experiential learning, contextual learning, problem-based learning, constructivism,
outdoor education, indigenous education and environmental education. As BC is a
large, diverse province our ideas about environmental learning would have to take
seriously the notion of communities and their importance for both the consultative
process, and for deep knowledge about local ecologies, teaching and learning
(Knapp, 2005).
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
For the work on Bowen Island, it is also recognized that teaching can be a messy
and organic experience and so, ideas about teaching could be described as both
art and science. Environmental learning considers at once, multiple models for
teaching and learning, as well as teachers own pedagogical content knowledge to
form a unique blend of interdisciplinary knowledge about specific learning contexts
(Palmer, 1999). While guiding principles are helpful, they were only a starting point
in our methodology. In this collaborative effort, we attempted to honour the diverse
voices and methods that inform environmental learning on Bowen Island (and other
B.C. communities), while also tapping into the international and national academic
discourses. The model we decided most appropriate for our research purposes here
was a type of community-based inquiry that has been termed participatory action
research (Carasco, Clair & Kanyike, 2001; Gaventa, 1988; Kemmis & McTaggart,
1994; Selener, 1997).
4
ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING
D. B. ZANDVLIET
The structure of these meetings were congruent with the PAR approach in that
they were co-lead and co-organized by community members and participants
with researchers acting as resources (alongside senior teachers, administrators and
bureaucrats) for the working part of the meetings. Follow-up work and submissions
were also encouraged with further input and feedback solicited by email and
other forms of communication. These forms of submission continued for a further
10 months after each consultation as island teachers and community members
continued on work started in the face-to face consultations.
Working Meetings and Focus Groups
For each working meeting (or consultation), participants were provided with the
original government document: Environmental Concepts in the Classroom (British
Columbia Ministry of Education, 1995) as well as a variety of readings and
frameworks published in other jurisdictions. Participants were then organized into
small working groups each tasked with re-visioning or repurposing certain aspects
of the original document (acting as quasi-editors for example), while after each
working session these groups reported back on their work to the whole community
to have their ideas further scrutinized or enhanced. University researchers and
graduate students acted as resource persons and record keepers throughout what
turned out to be a very engaging communitybased process of data collection. As a
further enhancement to the process, community members made further presentations
to the community about their localized practices in environmental learning and were
also encouraged to comment on how our joint project should be communicated to
the wider teacher audience and as to what format the final work should take. These
communications continued for 6 months after the original face-to-face consultation
with educators on Bowen Island.
Political Context
As an important corollary to this process: our curriculum re-visioning process was not
funded or lead by the Ministry of Education but instead was a grassroots effort lead
by provincial educator and teacher groups in partnership with local university and
teacher-training institutions. As such the joint knowledge-creation process generated
in this project had aspects of a research development initiative and a curriculum
re-visioning process. This unique political aspect of our meetings probably
contributed greatly to the success of our participatory action research approach and
results.
RESULTS OF THE CONSULTATION
The consultative process described in the previous section had the outcome of
producing a revised framework for environmental learning that has been adopted
6
ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING
by the BC Ministry of Education and has been guiding curriculum and resource
development in the interim period. In short, the revisions to the original framework
re-energized practices around environmental learning in the province and these ideas
have are accessible to all teachers through a Ministry of Education website (www.
bced.gov.bc.ca/greenschools). This section gives a brief overview of the results of
our knowledge re-visioning process.
Environmental Learning on Bowen Island
In the framework, the following principles came together to integrate environmental
learning by attempting to connect diverse subject areas for students from kindergarten
to post-secondary levels. These principles were intended to assist all teachers both
in the design of instructional strategies, and in the critical use of learning resources.
At the Bowen Island Community School (BICS), facilitating environmental topics
in the learning of all subjects, rather than isolating it, models for students how
the environment is connected to their daily lives and relationships within their
communities.
As a direct result of our consultative efforts, the principles of environmental
learning (in the broader provincial framework) were re-organized into two
related areas: first, a more richly described principle of: experiential teaching and
learning through direct experience, critical reflection and negotiation; and second,
a restatement, description and summary of four organizing principles for learning
environmental concepts. This organization demonstrates the interdisciplinary nature
of environmental learning, while also showing a progression for the development of
ideas that can lead students towards a deeper engagement with environmental topics.
Teaching and Learning Principles
Educators from Bowen Island and across the province acknowledged that direct
experience with a concept or problem, followed by opportunities for observation,
reflection and negotiation leading to further inquiry, presents the richest form of
learning. Direct experience or experiential learning in the environment (see for
example Kolb, 1984; Luckman, 1996) individually, or in a group experience,
is an important and vital way to learn. These opportunities help provide students
with a deeper understanding of natural systems and the impact humans have on
those systems. Direct experience also allows students to challenge other cultural
perspectives regarding environmental problems and examine them critically.
A broad range of communities also acknowledged that for direct experience
to be relevant to students, the development of critical and reflective capacities is
important. When students are given adequate time to reflect on their learning, they
evaluate their own experiences against the experiences of others. Central in this
process is allowing students to negotiate among multiple perspectives or ideas about
environmental problems. Negotiation involves actively seeking out differences in
7
D. B. ZANDVLIET
opinions and looking for common ideas or themes around specific issues. A view
of teaching and learning that incorporates the direct experience, critical reflection
and negotiation as a foundation for learning processes is summarized in a model
described as the experiential learning cycle.
Direct experience
Critical
reflection
Negotiation
Conceptualization
ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING
of what constitutes responsible action toward the environment and help students
to act responsibly it in their personal lives. Finally, participants understood that
these actions can be influenced by belief systems and personal limitations (both
physical and cultural) so ultimately, student actions can take many forms. Teachers
in principle should encourage students to make decisions based on an understanding
of the issues, as well as personal values, and with the sometimes conflicting values
of other community members.
Working groups eventually synthesized these ideas into four discrete themes. The
principles for organizing and conceptualizing environmental education as published
in the Ministry of Education framework now include:
D. B. ZANDVLIET
literature (see for example Capra, 1996; Delgrade Diaz, 2002; Gonzalez-Gaudiano,
2001). Participants in the consultations agreed that environmental learning should
address the study of complex systems in two ways. First, it examines the complexity
and interrelatedness of natural systems, and how humans interact with and affect
those systems. Second, it looks at human-created systems, both those that are built
and those that are part of our social fabric. For example, when students investigate
the water cycle, a food web, or photosynthesis, they are studying a natural system.
When they investigate government and politics, economics and the evolution of
societies, or highway and sewage systems, they are studying human-created systems.
These investigations help students understand the complexity of systems and the
links between them.
Participants in the consultations on Bowen (and elsewhere) concurred that
knowledge from a broad range of scientific disciplines contributes to a well-rounded
understanding of environmental issues. However, they also stressed that there must
be awareness that knowledge is not static and that theories can change. Knowledge
from the sciences, economics, politics, law, and sociology were also viewed as
vital to the study of complex systems and human interactions. Through studying
cultural systems and global issues, students may begin to see the relationships
between the environment and human rights, justice, race and gender equity. Other
cultures in the world present diverse perspectives on ways of valuing and relating to
natural and human-created environments. In developing a thorough understanding
of systems, students can examine the origins and impact of their present
worldview and analyze the implications of new information and changing societal
values.
Focus groups and working groups at the consultations then brainstormed ideas
that would capture and describe the thematic notion of complexity. A partial
list of these concepts for student consideration and discussion are included
here:
an ecosystem, or a social system, is caused by the collective interactions of
individual parts that require holistic investigation;
individual components serve unique functions in all complex systems. The loss
or degradation of any single component may cause a decline in the viability of
the system;
the planets resources are finite. Humans are dependent on materials and energy
supplied by the global ecosystem;
different cultures observe natural systems through various philosophical,
technological, and social points of view. Throughout time, cultures have interacted
with the environment in different ways;
the pace of technological change and the distribution of scarce resources can have
a profound impact on society and the environment; and
the organization of societies in the past and present, and the laws that govern them,
have implications for environmentally and socially sustainable development.
10
ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING
D. B. ZANDVLIET
lifestyles, arts, and religions can be indicators of their perception of, and
relationship with, their environment; and
respect for the land and all living things can encourage the maintenance of a
healthy environment, providing benefits for everyone.
Principle Three: Responsibility
(Human Decisions and Actions have Environmental Consequences)
The notion of responsibility is discussed extensively in environmental education
literature (see for example Lewis, Mansfield & Baudains, 2008; Palmberg & Kuru,
2000; Short, 2010). However, the principle of responsibility as an organizing theme
for environmental learning was somewhat contested during our consultations as
groups explored the relationship between two related principles explored in the
original framework: the consequences of action; and second, what constitutes
responsible action. A consensus eventually emerged in our work that determined
that the two concepts were closely related conceptually, but differed mainly in the
temporal dimension. As such the two concepts were eventually combined into the
larger principle of responsibility.
Participants on Bowen related that studies about environmental responsibility
provided opportunities for students to explore the environmental consequences of
actions or decisions made at personal, community, societal, and global levels. Studies
in geography, history, technology, and other arts and sciences can help students
develop awareness of diverse cultural perceptions and interpretations. Further,
participants concurred that through the study of human impacts on the environment,
students can explore and develop positive approaches to long-range environmental
concerns. Exploring and addressing global issues, such as militarism and war, the
inequitable distribution of wealth and resources, food production, and transportation
are essential to establishing a sustainable society. Also, a focus on decisions or
actions in other cultures was seen as contributing to questions about how to live
more sustainably in the Bowen Island or wider BC context. In the more immediate
temporal sense, responsible action was seen by participants as being integral to, and
a consequence of, environmental learning. Participants clarified that in light of what
we know about past decisions around environmental issues, it is vital for students to
decide what now constitutes responsible action, and then begin to practice it.
Focus groups at the consultations brainstormed ideas that would capture and
describe the thematic notion of responsibility. The concepts for consideration and
discussion include:
the preservation of viable ecosystems is a basic value for every society;
First Nations practice of Traditional Ecological Knowledge can illustrate
alternative views on how humans have interacted with their environments;
A consideration of all species for future generations is essential to preserve the
integrity of the ecosphere;
12
ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING
D. B. ZANDVLIET
In this first chapter, I have attempted to honor the diverse voices and methods that
inform environmental learning across BC communities while also highlighting
the views of Bowen Island educators who were themselves a key part of a much
broader consultative process. Known as participatory action research (or PAR),
this inquiry enabled a study that placed research capabilities into the hands of our
educator-subjects and provided educators with research tools with which they
could generate knowledge for themselves. The focus and working groups conducted
on Bowen Island and throughout the province included broad representation from
various stakeholder groups including the British Columbia Ministry of Education,
schools, informal education organizations, university students and academics. The
knowledge we created in this way was empowering for the educators involved and
has influenced much of the other work that will be described in other chapters in
this book. The study results can, and are being transformed by these participants
into actions that directly benefit their communities and the practices of teaching and
learning in and around classrooms throughout BC.
This curriculum document that resulted from our extensive working group
consultations describes how environmental education is a way of understanding
environments, and how humans participate in and influence these environments.
In using the term environmental learning, the research refers to a range of
approaches to environmental issues, including environmental education, ecological
education and education for sustainable development. All of these forms aim to
integrate concepts and principles of the sciences and social sciences under a single
14
ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING
interdisciplinary framework. In the ecological view, students may come to know and
understand more deeply that all human environments, societies, or cultures are all
deeply dependent on natural systems, both for their development and, ultimately,
their survival. In this framework, we present numerous principles for organizing
teaching practices related to environmental concepts.
Further, the results of our study communicate important principles for
environmental learning. These are organized into two areas: first, the widely
supported principles for the teaching and learning of direct experience, critical
reflection and negotiation are related and described in the form of an experiential
learning cycle; second, organizing principles for environmental concepts are
summarized and described. These principles demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature
of environmental concepts, while showing a progression in the development of ideas
that lead towards deeper engagement with learning in all of its forms. Students are
assisted by the organizers of complexity, aesthetics, responsibility and ethics (or
CARE) to guide their developing ideas about the environment as they appear in
mandated government curriculum.
The process described in this chapter produced a revised framework for
environmental learning adopted by the BC Ministry of Education and has guided
curriculum and resource development. This demonstrates clearly how educational
research when it is participatory and action oriented in nature, can usefully inform
educational policy. Our work has further re-energized teacher practices around
environmental learning and these ideas are widely accessible to all educators through
the BC Ministry of Educations website and associated green school initiatives.
Most importantly, environmental learning forms a solid foundation for the work
undertaken at the Bowen Island Community School.
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Song, Y.I.K. (2009) Community participatory ecological wrt and education International Journal of
Art & Design Education, 28(1), 413.
Suave, L. (2005). Currents in environmental education: mapping a complex and evolving pedagogical
field. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 10, 1137.
Thomashow, M. (1996). Ecological identity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Turner, K., & Freedman, B. (2004) Music and environmental studies. Journal of Environmental
Education, 36(1), 4552.
UNESCO. (2003). United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (20052014).
framework for a draft international implementation scheme. Retrieved from unesdoc.unesco.org/
images/0013/001311/131163e.pdf
World Commission on Environment and Development. (1987). Our common future. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
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change. Retrieved from http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php
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United Nations. (2009). UN millennium development goals. Retrieved from http://www.endpoverty2015.
org/goals
Upitis, R. (2007). Four strong schools: Developing a sense of place through school architecture.
International Journal of Education & the Arts, 8(1), 116.
Woodhouse, J., & Knapp, C. (2000). Place-based curriculum and instruction. Charleston, WV: ERIC
Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools.
AFFILIATION
David B. Zandvliet
Simon Fraser University
17
If you dont know where you are, you dont know who you are.
Wendell Berry
INTRODUCTION
The term place-based education appears to have been coined in North America in
the late 1980s, although elements of its practice have been in existence for quite
some time (Smith, 2002; van Eijck, 2010). The basic premise, and one of the most
widely quoted definitions, of this educational approach is:
The process of using 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, 2004, p. 7)
Unlike other pedagogies, place-based education does not have its own theoretical
tradition. Rather it shares practices and purposes to experiential learning,
contextual learning, problem-based learning, constructivism, outdoor education,
indigenous education, environmental and ecological education, bioregional
education, democratic education, multicultural education, community-based
education, critical pedagogy as well as other approaches that are concerned with
context and the value of learning from and nurturing specific places, communities,
or regions (Gruenewald, 2003, p. 3).
While composed of elements belonging to the traditions noted here, place-based
education in practice can be traced to the work done in the late 1980s by communitybased projects led by, The Foxfire Fund, The Rural School and Community Trust,
the Orion Society and the Education for Sustainability movement (Smith 2002;
Powers, 2004). The work by David Sobel and the Orion Society (1990; 1993; 1996;
2004) has done much to develop the concept of place-based education, especially in
North America.
D. Zandvliet (Ed.), The Ecology of School, 1928.
2013 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.
C. G. A. ORMOND
The focus of this chapter is on place-based education, and its apparent consolidation
of a variety of progressive pedagogies, in particular experiential learning, critical
pedagogy and constructivism. I begin by offering an introduction to experiential
learning through the work of John Dewey and David Kolb. I then explore the links
between experiential learning with critical pedagogy and constructivism. Next,
a discussion is had on the concept of sense of place and its argued influence in
human development, in addition to the development of stewardship in a community.
Following that, how place-based education looks like in practice is presented, ending
with an overview of what to expect in the chapters to come and how place-based
education takes form in this place.
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
In his article The Best of Both Worlds: A Critical Pedagogy of Place (2003),
Gruenewald argued that besides basing education in the local, it should also be asking
questions of it... With justice and equality in mind, critical pedagogy aims to transform
society and empower the powerless. While curricula similar to this philosophy have
been seen throughout human history, critical educational theory finds its true roots
in Europe prior to World War II at the Frankfurt School of critical theory (McLaren,
1998). Critical pedagogy is founded on the the idea that teachers need to understand
the role that schools have in addressing the link between knowledge and power, and
how that can give rise to an active and critical citizen. It argues that on an ethical
level, critical reasoning and self and social empowermentshould be a priority in
our schools.
Currently, critical pedagogy aims to confront and challenge what we take for
granted in education as well as in our dominant culture. Our subjective views of
the environment are not solely constructed from within ourselves but affected
by convincing social forces. What this means is that no one individual or group
is completely unaffected by outside social influences, and in order to understand
and uncover their interests we must critically analyze why they hold this position
(Palmer and Birch, 2005). Bowers (2005) strongly suggests that the tool of critical
reflection, that which is so highly regarded in critical pedagogy, has enormous
wealth to environmental learning. Critical reflection can allow us to recognize which
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C. G. A. ORMOND
Much of Sobels (1990; 1993; 1996; 2004) research focused on bringing attention
to the important link between human developmental (eg. middle childhood) and a
connection to the natural world. Sobels work, and that of others (Evernden, 1978;
1992; Chawla, 1986), have referenced Edith Cobb and her book The Ecology of
Imagination in Childhood (1959) as an influential text in understanding childrens
connection to the natural world. While Cobbs (1959) research methods have come
into question, she is recognized for being one of the first to investigate thoroughly
an elusively intangible but perhaps profoundly formative aspect of childhood: our
early sense of the surrounding physical world (Chawla, 1986, p. 34). What Cobb
found was:
the study of the child in nature, culture, and society (evolution of social attitudes
toward childhood into present realization of its importance in everyones life
history) reveals that this is a special period, the little-understood, prepubertal,
halcyon, middle age of childhood, approximately from five or six to eleven or
twelve- between the strivings of animal infancy and the storms of adolescencewhen the natural world is experienced in some highly evocative way, producing
in the child a sense of some profound continuity with natural processes and
presenting overt evidence of a biological basis of intuition (Cobb, 1959,
p. 538)
22
Sobel (1990) credits his roots of place to Gussows (1972) definition: a piece of
the environment that has been claimed by feelings. Gussows (1972) book, A Sense
of Place: The artist and the American land, emphasized and argued his belief in the
importance of the environment and nature to art. An artist by training, Gussow in
the mid 1960s was a pioneer in bringing together art and conservation: establishing
the first ever Artists in Residence Parks Program with the U.S. National Park Service.
A few years before his passing, Gussow (1991) shared these comments on place:
The physical landscape [i.e. place] is not simply a backdrop to human events,
but the stage on which we live. We are not in an audience watching a drama
unfold, we are on the stage as players. The events of life take place somewhere,
and that somewhere, where ever it is, affects the perception of the event. The
visual landscape gives shape to our character, the objects and the forms in the
landscape influence our actions, guide our choices, shape our values, restrict or
enhance our freedom, determine where and with what quality we will mix with
each other. The landscape in a sense molds our dreams. It locates our fantasies.
The landscape in my view is never neutral, it is shaping us even as we shape
it.(Stewart, 2003, p. 20)
Sobels (1990;1993) research on adult memories of childhood spaces goes on
to support this. Sobel (1990, p. 8) has found that special childhood spaces hold
meaning throughout some adults lives[;] special places become places of repose and
sure to return to- in actuality and in the minds eye.
PLACE-ATTACHMENT AND STEWARDSHIP
The human connection to place that Sobel and others speak of, was investigated by
Vaske and Kobrin (2001). Their research argues that environmental education or work
programs that take part in local natural settings promote environmental stewardship
in that said participants community. This comes about through the development of
place attachment. Place attachment is the interplay of place dependence and place
identity. Place identity is an emotional attachment or psychological investment
with a setting that has resulted from numerous visits to that setting; while place
dependence is a functional attachment whereby a particular setting, over time, has
become an important resource for an individual to provide necessary amenities for
specific activities.
PLACE-BASED EDUCATION IN PRACTICE
One of the popular appeals of place-based education is the ability it has to adapt to
unique characteristics in particular places (Smith, 2002, p. 584). This trait of placebased education makes it a strong tool to overcome the disjuncture between school
and childrens lives that is found in many classrooms (Smith, 2002, p. 585). Smith
(2002, p. 586) point out that this disjuncture was also noted in the late nineteenth
23
C. G. A. ORMOND
century by Dewey (1900) in his book The School and Society based upon his work
at the University of Chicago Lab School:
From the standpoint of the child, the great waste in the school comes from his
inability to utilize the experiences he gets outside the school in any complete
and free way with the school itself; while, on the other hand, he is unable
to apply in daily life what he is learning at school. That is the isolation of
the school, its isolation of life. When the child gets into the schoolroom he
has to put out his mind a large part of the ideas, interests, and activities that
predominate in his home and neighbourhood. So the school, being able to
utilize this everyday experience, sets painfully to work, on another tack and by
a variety of means, to arouse in the child an interest in school studies.
Dewey believed the issue lay in the fact that children are not interested in ideas
about phenomena but rather drawn to the actual phenomena. Smith (2002) adds that
valuable knowledge for most children is knowledge that is directly related to their
own social reality, knowledge that will allow them to engage in activities that are of
service to and valued by those they love and respect (p. 585).
Smith (2002), along with Woodhouse and Knapp (2000) have both written on the
diversity found within place-based education. Woodhouse and Knapp (2000, p. 1) claim
that place-based education approaches have the following common characteristics:
1. The curriculum content is multidisciplinary;
2. The curriculum goals are broader than just learn to earn; and
3. The curriculum integrates self, others, and place and includes ecological,
economic, multigenerational, and multicultural dimensions.
Smith (2002, p. 593) grouped the variety of place-based education forms into five
approaches:
1. Surrounding phenomena are the foundation for curriculum development,
2. An emphasis on students becoming the creators of knowledge rather than only
consumers of knowledge created by others,
3. Students questions and concerns play central roles in determining what is studied,
4. Teachers act primarily as co-learners and brokers of community resources and
learning possibilities,
5. The walls between the community and school buildings are crossed frequently, and
6. Student work is assessed based on its contributions to community wellbeing and
sustainability.
Lastly, Smith (2002), while acknowledging place-education does take different
forms in each community, identifies five thematic patterns from his review of the
field:
1. Cultural studies: Where students use local cultural or historical phenomena as the
guiding focus. Collecting community oral histories and written stories are only
24
2.
3.
4.
5.
two examples of this approach. (These activities also have been labelled cultural
journalism, experiential or outdoor education.)
Nature studies: Where students observe wildlife, conduct water-quality tests,
or restore riparian areas. (These activities also have been labelled nature study,
conservation, outdoor, or environmental education.)
Real-world problem solving: Where students and teachers identify community
issues and problems, study them, and propose possible solutions. Sometimes
they even follow up their research by implementing the needed changes. (These
activities also have been called conservation or environmental education).
Internships and entrepreneurial opportunities: Where students explore local
career opportunities and partner with businesses to expand their knowledge of
economics and become more involved in community life. (These activities also
have been labelled service-learning, experiential or outdoor education.)
Induction into community: A more complete immersion into community life
in which students were drawn into several decision-making activities. They
assumed active roles as participants at town meetings, chambers of commerce,
city councils, or environmental protection agencies. They might also conduct
community surveys and make public announcements based on those findings.
(These activities also have been labelled service learning, environmental, or
experiential education.).
(Knapp, 2005, p. 280)
Interestingly, Knapp (2005) makes the comment that all five patterns form a
conceptual umbrella commonly called experiential learning, because they are
situated in the context of community life and involve active student engagement
(p. 280).
PLACE-BASED EDUCATION ON BOWEN ISLAND
The remaining chapters in this book give a variety of different perspectives on the
learning environment at the Bowen Island Community School. They include the
perspectives of academics, graduate students, teachers and administrators. Together,
these complete a more ecological view of the learning environment.
The next chapter in this volume (Chapter three) documents and describes the
schools investigation into how ecological literacy can become a core educational
standard in schools. The authors begin with a brief description of Bowen Islands
history and community then reviews the place-based programs, events, and activities
that contributed to the schools unique learning environment. They include with a
summary of the schools curriculum developments and acknowledge the importance
these have for the development of ecological literacy programming in other places
and schools.
Chapter four captures the stories of three teachers who stood out as leaders
in our place-based, research project and, through their innovation, passion, and
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C. G. A. ORMOND
26
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C. G. A. ORMOND
Vaske, J.J., & Kobrin, K.C. (2001). Place attachment and environmentally responsible behaviour. Journal
of Environmental Education, 32(4), 1621.
Van Eijck, M. (2010). Place-based (science) education: Something is happening here. In D.J. Tippins,
M.P. Mueller, M.V. van Eijck & J.D. Adams (Eds.). Cultural studies and environmentalism: the
confluence of ecojustice, place-based (science) education, and indigenous knowledge systems.
(pp. 187192). Dordrecht: Springer.
AFFILIATION
Carlos G. A. Ormond
Simon Fraser University
28