Navigating Place-Based Learning: Mapping for a Better World - Hardcover

by Elizabeth Langran (Author), Janine DeWitt (Author)

This book explores how educators can realize the potential of critical place-based pedagogy. The authors' model leverages the power of technology through strategies such as mobile mapping so that students can read the world and share spatial narratives. The same complexity that makes spaces outside the classroom ideal for authentic, purposeful learning creates challenges for educators who must minimize students taking wrong turns or reaching dead ends. Instructional design process is key and the authors offer exemplars of this from multiple disciplines. Whether students are exploring a local community or a natural environment, place-based inquires must include recognition of privilege and the social dynamics that reinforce inequalities. Concluding with a discussion of the changing social context, the authors highlight how contemporary events add a sense of urgency to the call for a critical place-based pedagogy--one that is more inclusive for all students.

Back Jacket

This book explores how educators can realize the potential of critical place-based pedagogy. The authors' model leverages the power of technology through strategies such as mobile mapping so that students can read the world and share spatial narratives. The same complexity that makes spaces outside the classroom ideal for authentic, purposeful learning creates challenges for educators who must minimize students taking wrong turns or reaching dead ends. Instructional design process is key and the authors offer exemplars of this from multiple disciplines. Whether students are exploring a local community or a natural environment, place-based inquires must include recognition of privilege and the social dynamics that reinforce inequalities. Concluding with a discussion of the changing social context, the authors highlight how contemporary events add a sense of urgency to the call for a critical place-based pedagogy--one that is more inclusive for all students.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Langran is Professor of Education at Marymount University, USA, and President of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE). She has taught secondary and post-secondary students in the US, Morocco, and Switzerland and holds a doctorate in Instructional Technology from the University of Virginia.

Janine DeWitt is Professor of Sociology at Marymount University, USA. She teaches sociology courses that include place-based and experiential learning, and she co-developed a globally-networked course where she became intrigued by the process of intercultural team-teaching.