EDUC 614 - Innovative and Engaging Teaching

Benefits of Place-Based Education [Chart]. (n.d.). In What is Place-Based Education and Why Does it Matter? ("Learning & The Power of Place", p. 5). Getting Smart.

Discussion: Remind students that not everyone has easy access to clean water, and it is special that they live in Chapel Hill. Brainstorm ways they may be able to help conserve water in the Chapel Hill community, or how to make a difference in keeping our water clean. 

You can make your own water cycle with very few materials! This is a hands-on project that can supplement the day you start teaching the water cycle, after exposing students to local water resources!

Some of the differences between place-based pedagogy and traditional pedagogy can be seen here. For example, PCBE is student-centered and personalized, whereas traditional pedagogy placed the teacher at the front and center, in charge of everything in the classroom. Furthermore, PCBE encourages agency and autonomy in students, certainly not something that happens in traditional pedagogy, which was designed at a time when students needed to be able to become part of a capitalistic job market when they left school.

As unfortunate as the multiple water crises we have had in Chapel Hill the past couple years, teaching students about how they happened works into PCBE! It connects them to current events while learning about their local water sources and supply centers and how they work! This is beneficial because younger students do not normally have the opportunity to learn everything about current events; adults tend to shelter them. Being allowed to learn the details makes students feel closer to their local community, and being able to learn about jobs that they might not necessarily learn about in school otherwise might even invite some curiosity about various jobs! Place and community based educators use this pedagogy to foster a greater sense of appreciation in their students of where they are from (Smith and Sobel, 2010). Once students are educated about something, they are more passionate about it because they understand how it works. Knowing how the water main broke and the implications would create a classroom of students who care about the Chapel Hill water systems and therefore care about sustaining the normal water usage, conservation, etc. 

Another great water cycle video!! Even simpler and it encourages movement while learning! The repetition really helps students learn the song and the content in the lyrics!

Songs are a great way to help students memorize scientific processes! This could be a daily video during a teacher’s water cycle unit! 

In Sobel’s definition of Place- and Community-Based Education, he states that the use of local community and environment resources is a good starting point to teaching content (Smith and Sobel, 2010). After using the resources provided in earlier posts to learn about Chapel Hill’s water in particular, this interactive water cycle is a perfect expansion to the lesson. As mentioned in a previous post, building background is a key element to heightened engagement in students; it is much better to introduce a lesson about the water cycle with something like how people in your community get their water instead of starting right away with a presentation on the cycle itself. 

Sobel and Smith argue that schools should integrate local culture and history into children’s learning experience because of their accessibility and familiarity (Sobel and Smith, 2010). Children will be more engaged in what they are learning if they are already familiar with some part of the lesson. For example, background building is a popular method with ESL teachers because their students do not become overwhelmed with a brand new, challenging topic. Instead, they are presented with information they already recognize, and the lesson builds from there. This is a good strategy for PCBE as well; using local sources that children are familiar with makes them more comfortable learning the new content. Futhermore, Smith and Sobel state that using local history and culture encourages students to see the value in their homes and communities (Smith and Sobel, 2010). One of the key tenets of PCBE is creating a community of students that care for and want to preserve the place that they live in because of the education they received in school.

This is the Cane Creek Reservoir, one of the main water supplies for the Chapel Hill area. When beginning a unit on the water cycle, a teacher could start by showing pictures and videos of local creeks and other water sources so the students feel connected to what they are learning about! Engaging students by connecting them to their community is what PCBE is all about! 

Our local water sources and treatment plant are listed in these various links. Using PCBE pedagogy means getting students out of the school and into the community! Either scheduling someone from OWASA to come talk to the class about how Chapel Hill gets, uses, cleans, and conserves its water supply or scheduling a field trip for the whole class is a great way to give the students a local example of what they are learning about in class!