Week 3: Place-Based Curriculum Summary

I decided to analyze the idea of the place-based curriculum for my critical summary assignment. I am currently working at a daycare that strongly advocates for educators to pursue a place-based curriculum for the students within all their classrooms which is why I wanted to learn/explore more about this concept. The main article that I will be using for my paper is called “This Is More Like Home. Knowing Nature through Community Mapping” by Susan Jagger.

The main point that Jagger makes throughout the paper is that “place-based environmental education is a pedagogy that infuses environmental education across disciplines in a way that is relevant and meaningful to students” (Jagger, 2013, p.173).  That place-based environmental education involves the relationship between “spatial, physical, personal, and cultural elements of place” (Jagger, 2013, p.173). Finally that educators need to utilize the outdoor environment within their education curriculum practices. Taking children outside during their art classes, digging up soil samples to experiment with during their science classes, and going on nature walks during their physical education are all great examples of incorporating place-based concepts within your normal curriculum.

Now, this place-based curriculum focuses on students’ interactions within the outdoor environment. However, from the perspective of somebody of Indigenous descent, their interaction with the environment can look much different from the others. So the second article that I will be using is called “Impact of a Place-Based Education Curriculum on Indigenous Teachers and Students”. Some concepts of this article agree with what Jagger mentions above but somethings that are mentioned contradict Jagger’s beliefs on a Place-Based curriculum for students.

Jagger. S (2013). This is more like home. Knowing nature through community mapping. ERIC. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1061838.pdf