No More Robots

Building Kids Character, Competence, and Sense of Place

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• Publisher: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781453913055
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Adult Education

This book was named a 2015 Choice magazine Outstanding Academic Title. Place-based education offers a compelling opportunity to engage students in the life of their community. More than just taking a field trip, participants in a place-based project make sustained efforts to make a difference and learn basic skills along the way. Academic concepts come to life as real-world problems are investigated from a local angle. Even global issues can be connected to the community, such as the high school in Missouri that linked local land-use choices to the «dead zone» in the Gulf of Mexico. For teachers, place-based projects offer a chance for professional revitalization as they orchestrate complex and meaningful learning environments that go well beyond scripted curriculum mandates. Both teachers and students benefit from a new level of agency as they take ownership of their work. Drawing on his own experience as a teacher and more than a decade of work supporting teachers in crafting their own projects, the author outlines the many benefits of place-based education and describes the challenges that must be overcome if we are to realize its potential.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Preface. Restoring the Craft of Teaching and Learning
• Chapter 1. Place-Based Education—Building on a Progressive Legacy
• Chapter 2. Fledging Students to Be Active Agents in the World
• Chapter 3. Place-Based Education—Teaching Beyond the Script
• Chapter 4. Planning for Place-Based Learning
• Chapter 5. Reframing Childhood, Reframing Teaching Practice
• References