Learning From Your Place
Place-based learning can be not only a tool for creating more engaging and relevant programs but also a way for a school to deepen meaningful connections with its community and region.

Webinars

Why Place-Based Learning Matters - Adam Hellebuyck and Chris Hemler have spent years developing a unique place-based US History course at University Liggett School. Adam and Chris spoke with One Schoolhouse's Peter Gow and Sarah Hanawald, and talked about how their course departs ​from a traditional course to one that is responsive to the school’s values and mission and takes advantage of the resources in their community to engage students in becoming historians.
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Independent Advanced Curriculum: Place-Based US History at University Liggett School - Instead of this traditional approach, the U.S. history courses at University Liggett School are taught through a fixed, place-based approach: Detroit, Michigan, and the Great Lakes region are the steady lens through which the essential themes of U.S. history are explored. ​

Immersion Learning at the Miami Valley School - For over fifty years The Miami Valley School (OH) has been deeply committed to experiential learning. In this webinar you will learn about The MVS Immersion Method and how students learn from actual experiences rather than from the traditional teacher-centric content delivery.

​Podcasts

Chesapeake Watershed Semester at The Gunston School - Host Peter Gow speaks about PLACE-BASED LEARNING with John Lewis and Emily Beck of The Gunston School in Maryland—how thoughtful and immersive place-based learning can help students build deep understanding and meaningful engagement with their studies, their communities, and their world.

Uniquely PCD: Engaging Students the Providence Country Day School Way​ - Listen to how Providence Country Day School (RI) fulfills its mission to“to inspire lives of engaged citizenship” and creates a culture of engaged learning and living at the school in this podcast hosted by Peter Gow. 

Resources to Read

Blog Posts

Secondary Resources

• Huzzah for Place Based Learning June 28, 2021

​E-Books & Research Papers

• The Watery Realm - A series of essays by Peter Gow about the ways in which bodies of water--lakes, rivers, and seas--inspire and ignite curiosity for those who venture onto, into, or near them. In this case "school" is water and can teach myriad lessons in what it means to be a living being on our planet. Stay tuned for an audiobook of The Watery Realm coming soon!

• Four Lessons for Advancing Racial Equity through Place-Based Initiatives This Urban Institute blog shares how a new set of place-based initiatives is working to change the systems that sustain racial inequities through three avenues: structural changes in policies, practices, and resource flows; relational changes in networks and power; and transforming attitudes
• Place-Based Learning: Exploring and Unpacking the World from Anywhere From National Geographic's Education Blog, teacher and author James Fester tells us how we can foster a sense of wonder, curiosity, and problem solving in young people through place-based learning and inquiry. 
• 18 Books to Inspire Your Development – as a Place-Based Education Teacher From Teton Science, here are 18 books to inspire your development as a place-based education teacher. There are books on getting started with place-based learning, books on creating inclusive classrooms, and books that explore connection to place, nature & culture.