Chin, Jack. “Connecting Schools and Communities through Place-based Education.” Paper presented at Essex Conference Center, Essex, Massachusetts. April 2001.
An excellent scholarly paper that defines environmental education, explores its history from the 1970s to the 1990s, analyses how effective it is at improving environmental literacy, and explores the benefits that place-based education can have on environmental education.
Dewey, John. The School and Society & The Child and the Curriculum. Dover Publications, 2001.
While the term "Place-Based Education" is relatively new, progressive educators have promoted the idea of education rooted in place for more than 100 years. This collection of John Dewey’s two short books represents one of the earliest calls for education rooted in place and community written by an authoritative education reformer.
Gatto, John Taylor. Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers, 1992.
After 30 years as an outstanding teacher in New York City’s public school system, John Gatto concluded that “compulsory schooling” does little to raise healthy, intelligent children, but rather teaches children the lessons of how to follow orders.
Gruenewald, David. “The Best of Both Worlds: A Critical Pedagogy of Place.” Educational Researcher, Vol. 32, No. 4. May 2003.
In this paper, the author discusses “place-based education” and “critical pedagogy” as two discourses worthy of blending into a “pedagogy of place” that will teach “rehumanization” and decolonization.
Hart, Paul. Teachers’ Thinking in Environmental Education: Consciousness and Responsibility. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc, 2003.
The influence of children’s school experiences and teachers upon their adult values and beliefs is virtually not discussed. This excellent book captures, in their own words, the values of teachers and mentors providing mind-forming experience for youth. The book focuses on teachers who describe the environment as an important component of their practices.
Lieberman, Gerald, and Linda Hoody. Closing the Achievement Gap: Using the Environment as an Integrating Context for Learning. San Diego, CA: State Education and Environmental Roundtable, 1998.
A report on the findings of two members of the State Education and Environmental Roundtable (SEER) who looked into the efficacy of environmental education programs at 40 schools around the country. Available in summary form as well as the complete study, the SEER report is an excellent set of qualitative and quantitative data in support of place-based education.
Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2005.
This book explores the human costs of alienating our children from nature, including health problems, attention disorders, and diminished sensory awareness. The book moves through the startling implications of this connection to hope for a future of connection where our children no longer suffer from “nature-deficit disorder.”
Micou, Ann McKinstry. A Guide to Fiction Set in Vermont. The Vermont Humanities Council, 2005.
An ideal learning tool to connect children with Vermont’s history and culture through a literary lens. Published by the Vermont Humanities Council, this book contains 484 summary descriptions of short stories and novels set in Vermont from the 1830s to today. The book also includes appendices, indexes and an author bibliography that make this guide an excellent tool for learning.
Orr, David. Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1994.
Environmental educator David Orr focuses on the problem of modern education rather than the problems in modern education: an educational approach that alienates students from nature and has led to our current environmental crisis. The book contains an analysis of the problem and Orr’s ideas about solutions.
Sobel, David. Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities. Great Barrington, MA: The Orion Society, 2005.
Part of the Orion Society’s Nature Literacy Series, this book is by far the most comprehensive view of place-based education available to date. Using research, examples, and step-by-step strategies from classrooms around the country, Sobel makes a case for an educational pedagogy rooted in place.
Sterling, Stephen. Sustainable Education: Re-visioning Learning and Change (Schumacher Briefing No. 6). Bristol, UK: Green Books for The Schumacher Society, 2001.
In this briefing, Sterling discusses the disparity between the reality that progress toward sustainability depends on change, and yet most education and learning does not bring a sustainability focus to its discourse. Sterling outlines a transformed educational paradigm that that can lead to a large-scale change in cultural values and practices.
Watson-Blagden, Emily. “The Willowell Land Parcel: Designing Education with Permaculture.” Hampshire College Division 3 examination, May 2005.
Ecological landscape design apprentice, earth living skills mentor, former AmeriCorps VISTA member, gardener, and long-time friend of the Willowell Foundation, Emily Watson-Blagden’s undergraduate thesis paper focuses on the positive impact that Permaculture and place-based education can have on the environmental education. The Walden Project is featured as a case study in this work.
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About Place-Based Education
Place-Based Education Bibliography
The following is an annotated collection of books and articles that have influenced our educational philosophy and shaped our programming here at the Willowell Foundation. If you have any difficulty in finding these publications, please contact us and we would be happy to assist you.
