An Exhibit and Film featuring Place-Based Education in Vermont

Photography by Walden alum Sophie Daubner

Thanks to all who visited “Learning with the Land”! You can see photos from the exhibit opening on January 5 at the Willowell Facebook page.

Be sure to visit the Folklife Center in February and March 2012 for “Invisible Odysseys:  Art by Mexican Farmworkers in Vermont,” an exhibit coordinated by Willowell friends Ethan Mitchell and Susannah McCandless.

During the month of January 2012, the Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury hosted the exhibit “Learning with the Land,” organized by Willowell and EarthWalk Vermont and sponsored by the Bay and Paul Foundation.

A blackboard, desks, four walls–most people would start here when describing a classroom.  But a growing number of public school students teachers in Vermont are redefining the traditional classroom.  “Place-based” education aims to connect students with their communities, the environment, and themselves through study of their natural surroundings.

“Learning with the Land” features four innovative place-based educational models, including the Walden Project, an alternative outdoor public high school program based in Vergennes and Monkton at Willowell.  The Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, Monkton Central School’s Farm to School program, and EarthWalk Vermont‘s nature-based youth mentoring round out an exemplary roster of place-based programming.  Student artwork and writing tell the story of how Vermont schools are working to build youth self-confidence and environmental stewardship, changing our mental image of the classroom space.

The goal of “Learning with the Land” is to showcase how localized and intimate progressive education grounded in nature can inform, catalyze and improve the efficacy of a student’s education, their relationship and integrative capacity with learning and the sustainability of innovative educational practices.

This project is made possible through generous support from the Bay and Paul Foundation, in-kind supervision and support from the staff of the Vermont Folklife Center and the staffs of EarthWalk Vermont and the Willowell Foundation, with additional support from VYCC and Monkton Central School.