by Becs Boyd

Place and Community Based approach can be transformative for students and teachers, schools and communities. Making this approach work means taking a fresh look at the school community, the wider community and the environment, and working out how they can best support each other. Change takes time, and success, naturally, relies on a healthy physical and social learning environment, with good relationships between educators, administrators and students. Many schools will already be connecting students with their local place and helping them discover how to make their own Place in the world a positive one.

Here are some pointers drawn from the experiences of real schools, students and teachers to help plant the seeds of Place in new school communities.

1 – Learning and caring about Place

Connecting and engaging students by using the local environment and culture as the starting point for learning and caring about the wider world

• Develop an inclusive and caring school ethos and culture, encouraging the school community – parents, teachers and students – to feel listened to, cared for, involved, respected and valued.
• Ground the whole school vision in sustainability – starting with the local Place and community and extending to the wider world – sharing ownership for building the school’s identity with staff and students
• Leadership styles that involve shared planning, good communication and the active involvement of the school leader in teaching and school activities can help support a ‘culture of care’.
• Nurture students’ sense of Place by allowing plenty of opportunity for unstructured play or quiet time in a familiar natural ‘Place’.
• Give teachers adequate support, resources, planning time, training and flexibility to develop their own teaching practices around Place.

2 – Responsible citizens

Empowering students to make a difference in the local environment and community, creating caring local and global citizens

• Encourage the development of links between students and local representatives, charities and businesses to help identify manageable projects where students can have a real impact.
• Give students plenty of time and opportunity as part of school to experience and work in the wider community.
•  Encourage students to contribute to the development of community service provision, for example by encouraging markets for local food, helping disadvantaged groups etc.
•  Build links with schools and communities in contrasting localities at home or abroad to raise awareness of diversity and global issues.

3 – Active learners

‘Real-world’ problem-solving, so students create knowledge with teachers as guides and co-learners. Learning is often interdisciplinary.

• Use themes and action-based projects to make connections across subjects and issues, and link classwork into both the school community and into learning in the local environment and community.
•  Collaborative planning of the curriculum framework is needed, particularly at secondary level, to find the most effective synergies and projects and avoid duplication. Allow teachers to help design the curriculum.
•  Encourage ‘whole school’ learning that involves all students across all ages and classes. One way of doing this is to adopt an annual theme, like the forests, rivers and mountains themes at Sunnyside School.
• Encourage students to learn by doing and be ‘creators’ of knowledge, with the teacher as a guide and co-learner who may not have all the ‘answers’.
• Action-based and creative arts projects help with student participation and create more engagement and ‘ownership’, as well as developing skills in strategic and critical thinking and problem-solving.

4 – Effective contributors

Students’ questions and concerns play a central role in determining what is studied and how.

•  Make students’ concerns and questions central to the learning agenda, helping them to identify issues they wish to address.
•  Involve students in supporting the school community, including fundraising, and ensure that their contribution can make a real impact.

5 – School in community

Building two-way partnerships between the school and the wider community, including local organizations and business, and making the most of the ‘outdoor’ or ‘community’ classroom

•  Be ambitious and outward-looking – use the local environment and community as hands-on learning resources and encourage parents, community organisations and businesses to bring their issues to the school.
•  Take students out into local wild places and community venues as well as inviting community members into the school.
•  Make the school a model for a sustainable community that can act as a learning hub and role model for the wider community

6 – Relevant for the real world

Assessing school work not just on its competence, but also on its wider contribution to student growth, to the community and to sustainability

•  Make use of a range of assessment methods. Materials from The Rural School and Community Trust on documenting and assessing Place Based Learning are a helpful source.
•  Encourage community organisations and parents to contribute to assessment – what difference has the school made to them?

Becs Boyd explored place-based education programs throughout the Pacific Northwest through a Churchill fellowship. She resides in Scotland.

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Lessons From The Real World takes on negative perceptions about our schools, such as those featured in the recent documentary Waiting for Superman, and highlights successful practices conducted by Portland area teachers.   This documentary comes at a critical time when the national debate around education reform continues to be about how to raise test scores.   Lessons From The Real World contends that learning to read, do math, and other subjects happens when students care about what they are learning, rather than being drilled with subject matter largely divorced from their real lives.   The documentary provides a first hand look at K-12 schools and classes that weave community and societal problem solving through their curriculum – preparing students for active engagement in democratic society as well as motivating them to learn basic skills as part of a meaningful educational experience.

Schools featured in the film include: Atkinson Elementary, Sunnyside Environmental School, Jefferson high School, Marshall Campus, Roosevelt High School, Trillium Charter School, Sojourner in North Clackamas, Portland  YouthBuilders, and Portland State University.

Lessons From The Real World was produced by award winning California based documentary filmmaker Bob Gliner and is available for purchase from his website: DocMakerOnline.com.

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Exploring Place-based Education Programs in the Pacific Northwest

by Becs Boyd

A visit to Kennedy High School in Cottage Grove, Oregon on 18 November, turns out to be one of the most uplifting days I have spent in a school, perhaps ever.

There are a myriad of small things that contribute to this caring culture. For example, Horn’s approach to students who have been referred to his office, ‘When a student has been sent to me, maybe there are difficulties with the teacher, they know to grab a cup of tea. Then they read the quote on the Yogi tea, and then they grab their journal and then they write. What that does is it diffuses the anger and the distress they are feeling, and then they relate this to their life and we have a conversation. There are no discipline problems around here.’ Classes often begin and end with circle time, first an ‘expectations’ circle, where students and teachers state their hopes and expectations for their role in the class, and finally an ‘appreciations’ circle, where students are able to exchange thanks and appreciations for others’ role.

An important element for Horn has been caring for his staff and giving them the space and time they need to develop their own practices. He is a hands-on leader who at least once a week will combine two classes and substitute for two teachers to free them up to do preparation. On Fridays, when the primary focus is on projects, community service and conservation, he takes over these activities to give his staff half a day for meeting and preparation.

A second step has been to build a strong school ethos based on sustainability and service, which builds not only self esteem but also practical skills and wisdom. School activities are structured around five themes of sustainability – Agriculture, Architecture, Energy, Forests and Water. Horn has sought to develop a range of programmes with community partners that address each of these issues. Within each theme there is a focus on practical problem solving, academic skills, and on creating future employment opportunities . According to Horn, ‘Kennedy represents a new paradigm or a new way of thinking about education. It’s project based, it’s place-based and it allows students to engage in constructive activities that relate specifically to real-world issues, around sustainability and around environmental issues that are affecting us all’.
The wide range of ambitious projects in which students have been involved include:

- growing fresh organic food for themost in need in the community (over 3 tonnes to date), – partnering with the County to implement mitigation measures at a landfill site,

- gathering water monitoring data at industrial outflow sites as part of an annual canoe trip from Eugene to Portland,

- developing a low-cost energy efficient green housing prototype, which it is hoped could ameliorate housing conditions at the trailer parks on which many of the students live,

- learning how to build a straw bale house at the local energy research and education centre, Approvecho

- carrying out invasive species removal work through the school conservation corps, in partnership with the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Coast Fork Watershed Council.

Both teachers and students find this approach stimulating and enjoyable. Kris Olsen again, ‘One of the reasons I really love teaching at Kennedy is the focus on sustainability. Its also really important to be teaching material that’s relevant and I really don’t think there’s anything more relevant than issues around sustainability. The reality is that the future that these kids have is going to be really different from what our lives look like right now. They need to be ready to deal with issues around energy and sustaining our forests and a more sustainable food system.’

A student named Morgan talks to me enthusiastically, ‘I’ve been to all kinds of schools and this is best school I’ve been to. It’s cool because you get to go out and do lots of great things, like growing stuff in the garden, forestry work, environmental work. It changes the way you see things. There’s a lot more respect here too, between us and the teachers.’

This place and project based approach has been essential for breaking down the barriers between school and community. As Horn says, ‘my first thought was that you really need to engage kids in the life of the community, outside of the school. So if it’s that segregation, where they walk in the front door of the school and they don’t go out you really just have this little petri dish where it’s difficult forkids to relate to the real world.’ The standing of the school within the community, and the sense of self-respect disadvantaged communities have for themselves, have also grown dramatically as practical projects have begun to make a difference to local environmental and social issues. Now parents wave as Horn cycles past some of the poorest and most challenged trailer parks in the area. One of his next plans is for a community garden and cafe right in the centre of one of these parks.

There is also a philosophy of helping others to learn. Kennedy students teach in local elementary schools. As Horn says, ‘all of our kids have now taught agriculture, bee-keeping, water-testing, aquaculture with hydroponics. They’re teaching third graders and fourth graders these skills. And what’s happening is they have to prepare and they’re nervous and you see these toughest of tough kids, you know their eyes tear up and their voice shakes when they’re infront of a bunch of third graders. It’s beautiful to see actually. And then they come back and go ‘I’m never misbehaving ever again, that’s really hard, that teaching’.

Currently student performance is measured on the basis of State tests. In order to gain a sense of the broader learning that each student is gaining, Horn already ensures that each builds up a portfolio of written work. But he is also planning a more radical move away from narrow subject assessment to a mode of assessment that fits better with the personal and social development that the school offers, ‘The one thing we’re looking at doing next year is doing away with the grading system, the ABCDF and moving toward a narrative system. So each student will have a description of what they’re good at and what they need to work on’. This can take account of the ‘portfolio of adventurous experiences’, from beekeeping to winter camping to community project work to performing at an ‘open mike’ at the local Axe and Fiddle cafe, which Horn believes can have a transformative impact on a student’s life.

Horn is also working on plans for a ‘walkabout’, which would be a prequisite for graduation. ‘Walkabout’ would be an experiential learning, self-driven, self-developed project that fosters good citizenship and also involves some sort of transformative experience. Horn says, ‘It’s not just ‘go create a project and good luck’. There’s a rubric, a step by step process. It’s been highly successful elsewhere…And kids chronicle their transformation in the process. Where kids are self-driven and it becomes a part of the culture for them to participate in something that is meaningful to them, that has positive experience and has intentional positive effect on the community.’

Finding resources (in addition to the allowance for salaries supplied by the State) to sustain school activities falls largely to Horn, but he is aware that the nature of the school and the kinds of issues it tackles give it a distinct advantage when it comes to finding funds. Partnerships with business and State agencies have proven highly successful. During the 2009-2010 academic year alone, for example, the school brought in approximately $700,000 to support its programmes and provide employment opportunities for its students.

Tom Horn and I spend the last hours of the afternoon at the local Axe and Fiddle, owned by the inspirational Hoedads founder Hal Hartzell, watching students perform at the monthly ‘open mike’. There is no dedicated music teacher at Kennedy, but many of the staff sing or play instruments and have passed on their skills to the students. It is impressive how hard students have worked to rehearse songs and compose their own lyrics, and it clearly takes a lot of courage for some of them to stand up there in front of their peers. Horn himself is persuaded to take a turn on the guitar with a band of other staff.

The last word goes to Tom Horn, ‘As a student teacher, I kept asking these fundamental questions – by raising reading levels are we seeing kids matriculate into college or do great things with their lives? And there wasn’t necessarily a corollary between their academic scores and their potential as human beings…. And seeing five years down the road some of them are incarcerated – these were some risky kids. And at the same time you ask all these questions about the environment, whether its global warming or forest floor ecology and the issues we see in our own back yard here. Those are things I always thought about as an environmentalist. And there was a disconnect between the real world and education. Education was almost a form of segregation…. Now we are in a very interesting time in history educationally in this country. There were 6.9 million drop outs last year. Kids are feeling disaffected by the educational system. But kids [at Kennedy] are accepting responsibility for their role here because they understand that we are significantly different’.

Becs Boyd is exploring place-based education programs throughout the Pacific Northwest through a Churchill fellowship. Her blog can be found at http://pbechurchillfellowship.blogspot.com/

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If you haven’t seen the advertising on this website, or seen reference to this document before, you should check it out… the best articles, activities, and reviews from past issues of Clearing compiled and published together on a CD-ROM. “The Best of Clearing, Volume VI” is a way to get the best of back issues of Clearing at a very low price (even less than the previous cost of a one-year subscription!).

And just so you know, we’ll soon be republishing an earlier B.O.C — Volume V — which gathers even more great articles from the recent past (think Mike Weilbacher, Jim Martin, and others) in one convenient reference volume for your resource library.

If you’re interested in helping to keep Clearing alive, this is one way to do it. Buy a copy of Volume VI in CD-ROM and keep an eye out for Volume V when it comes available. Click on the “Best of Clearing” link on the nav bar above to buy your copy!

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Citizens for a Healthy Bay’s Junior Bay Ranger Program

By Katrina Landau

In 2003, the Washington State Legislature passed ESHB 1466 that established the Natural Science, Wildlife and Environmental Education Partnership Grant program under the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).   In the 2005-2006 inaugural year, Citizens for a Healthy Bay (CHB), a Tacoma based 501c3 organization, was one of the recipients.
This innovative partnership was created to promote “proven and innovative natural science, wildlife and environmental education programs that include instruction about renewable resources, responsible use of resources and conservation.”

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Katrina Landau is the Education and Outreach Director, Citizens for a Healthy Bay, Tacoma WA

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Couple some basic curriculum organizers with focused questioning strategies to make your restoration projects coherent and effective environmental education experiences.

by Jim Martin

Environmental education should be a journey, one which captures our interest and imagination and leaves us with the tools to become effective stewards of the place where we live and work. Does it? Perhaps. Mike Weilbacher’s recent articles on environmental education (Weilbacher, 1996, 1997) express his concerns about the knowledge and skills which he believes environmental education should deliver, but doesn’t. He is concerned that we are aware and solicitous of our environments, but do not understand them. Somehow, environmental education hasn’t provided us with the knowledge and skills to think and plan effectively, at least where the environment is concerned.

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Jim Martin conducts teacher-training workshops out of the Center for Science Education at Portland State University. He is the president-elect of the Environmental Education Association of Oregon and is a CLEARING advisory board member. He can be reached at (503) 725-4243.

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Bees, both managed honey bees and native bees, are the primary pollinators. However, more than 100,000 invertebrate species, including bees, moths, butterflies, beetles, and flies, serve as pollinators — as well as 1,035 species of vertebrates, including birds, mammals, and reptiles. In the United States, the annual benefit of managed honey bees to consumers is estimated at $14.6 billion. The services provided by native pollinators further contribute to the productivity of crops as well as to the survival and reproduction of many native plants.

However, long-term population trends for some North American pollinators are “demonstrably downward,” says a new report from the National Research Council¹.

Observable decreases in wild populations of bees, butterflies, and moths are of great concern to producers of fruits, vegetables, nuts, alfalfa, and flowers. These crops depend on wild and domestic pollinators. Growers in California, Florida, Arizona, Utah, Washington, and Hawaii are especially concerned. More important is the disturbing notion of an imbalance in the natural ecosystem and biodiversity on which all food production depends. Habitat loss for pollinators by human activity poses an immediate and frequently irreversible threat. Other factors responsible for population decreases include invasive plant species, broad-spectrum pesticide use, disease, and weather.

For the most part, the general public is unaware of the decrease in pollinator populations and the implications this has for agricultural production. The Nature’s Partners: Pollinators, Plants, and You curriculum is designed to educate young people about

• pollinators and the important role they play in providing many of the foods we eat and the plant fiber used in our clothing and household goods, and
• ways they can help pollinators survive and flourish by protecting and creating pollinator-friendly habitat.

The Nature’s Partners curriculum is just one step toward increasing the public’s awareness and sense of responsibility that are essential to a successful conservation program for pollinators.

Go to curriculum

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