Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities

by David Sobel, Steven David Johnson (Illustrator)

Through academic research, practical examples, and step-by-step strategies drawn from classrooms throughout the United States, Sobel celebrates teachers who emphasize the connection of school, community, and environment. Place-Based Education uses the local community and environment as the starting place for curriculum learning, strengthening community bonds, appreciation for the natural world, and a commitment to citizen engagement.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Nature, Parenting, Teaching, Environment

147 pages, Paperback

First published January 9, 2004

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. If I were to start a school, it would be based mostly on the principles in this book. I would add more arts and foreign language though. Art for its own sake, but Edward Tufte (and even historical figures like William James maybe--the guy whose first day in a Harvard lab he had to spend drawing a fish...? I don't remember who that story was about...) makes the case for the need for visual arts in communicating scientific ideas. Back to this book...I also love the combination of connecting kids to the nature and the people of their community. So many times environmental activism seems in conflict with economic needs of people who live in the environment, but I think educating with both in mind would make it easier to create short-term win-win situations (after all those are the only ones that will allow long-term survival, because people are part of nature). So we need this kind of book and this kind of education now!

[Jason Bies · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book. It provides a nice overview of what place-based education is and how it works to better the lives of children and enrich the community and local environment. I strongly recommend the first half to anybody interested in fostering ecological literacy and community engagement in children. The second half gets much more into the nuts and bolts of successfully implementing place based programming. Therefore, it reads a bit slower and is not geared towards everyone. There are some nice points, though, like how programs needed to move away from the label "environmental education" because it raised the hackles of people in the community.

[Viki Bridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiring

[Marshall Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short and easy read, but it does a great job connecting how place can/should be woven more deeply into education. Great read!

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to be clear, first of all, that I agree with the idea behind this book. All too often do we teach students to perform their tasks in a bubble, ignoring the rich communities, natural and built, that surround us. Place-based education is something that is sorely lacking in today's environment of standardized testing and mandated curriculum, and is exactly the kind of thing that students need in order to feel connected to what they are learning.

That said, I hated this book. Sobel discusses research conducted on place-based and environmental education in a way that is at best incomplete, and, at least to this research-minded reader, feels somewhat misleading. If Sobel wanted to make claims about the success of these new educational programs, and provide statistics related to those claims, he needed to at least need to give the reader enough information about the studies to show the fidelity of the data. The book's organization is haphazard and desperately lacking the firm hand of an editor. Some of the language sounds more like propganda than the serious discussion of a schooling philosophy (on page 5: "Schools hover like alien spacecraft, luring chilren away from their home communities." Sure, that's not inflammatory at all). Sobel had a beautiful opportunity here to share the philosophy of place-based education, and unfortunately, between the poor discussion of the research and the dramatic language, I fear that this book will cause the philosophy to lose credibility with some readers.

[Rae · Rating 2 out of 5]

my boss handed me this book and said "this is homework" and then walked away. about a month later, she checked in on me and i hadn't read a damn thing, so i thought i would get over not doing things that people tell me to do and try it. i really liked the first five pages and the rest was pretty boring. it starts with a history of the phrase "environmental education" that made me think that maybe i do, in face, teach that subject. then sobel relates a theory of education to connect students to their immediate place--starting very close and slowly moving away from their location. for example, he says that teaching the solar system in first grade is ridiculous because children don't even know what is down the block at that age sometimes. teach them that, then what is across town, and eventually you'll get to the solar system. anyway, this would be a good book to read if you teach environmental education or do something like that. but i recommend stopping after the first ten pages or so because then it's just sobel trying to convince you with case studies that are only a paragraph long that place-based eudcation is good, which is obvious.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't a book that you sit down and read, exactly, it's more of a manual for people who are in a position to connect classrooms and communities and nature, and want some tips and case studies that might help them to accomplish this. I really just scanned it for ideas that might relate to my job this summer, connecting a historic house museum and cultural landscape with the local community and (hopefully) some local schools. There are some good examples of making these sorts of connections work, some warnings of pitfalls, etc. Useful resource.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a full time teacher who needed a quick introduction into the world of place based education, this little book gave me the best introduction I could have asked for. It provided theory and showed the theory in practice. I looked up many of the resources Sobel mentioned, which gave me further and deeper reading. I also googled the schools and programs he mentioned to see more place based education in action. Great little read, but only if you are already interested in the topic and have space for this type of education in your learning space.

[Terry Michaels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sobel gives example after example of schools using place-based projects and approaches that go beyond standards achievement in their benefits to the students. There are quotes throughout the book for environmental and place-based education. It is a short read and I am completely sold out to this type of education as the means to "save the world". It makes sense to learn from your immediate environment. We all do, except when we are in a traditional school setting! Ironic, isn't it?

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sobel does a good job of outlining the basic concepts and theories of place-based education, offering numerous examples both anecdotal and quantitative. I found his casual style of writing to be a bit grating at times, and would like to see some research on this topic done more formally. If such philosophies of education are to be taken seriously by the broader world of education reform (and I truly believe they should be!), more in-depth, scholarly research must be produced.

[Matthew Jeffries · Rating 4 out of 5]

[this is the most recent edition, 2013].

I enjoyed this introductory to place-based education. Sobel uses a multitude of examples to explore how different schools can incorporate place-based projects. This book pushes thought onto how can K-12 students be a resource to the community instead of a information bank.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I agree with the principles of place-based education, I found reading one case study after another a bit tedious, perhaps because I’m already very convinced that this is a good direction for educators.

[Cathie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another place based education MUST. It's a simple volume but he really explains the concept quite well.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent, concise description of what EE and place-based education can and should be.

[Whole Terrain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the Whole Terrain interview of David Sobel about this book.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Get it? Got it. Good.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The bible on place-based education: short and accessible to everyone. More of a vision statement than a how-to, but lots of great ideas.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good essay on place-based education.