Well known for his pioneering work on place-based education, Sobel discusses the benefits of engaging adolescents in meaningful learning experiences through outdoor education. His case study focuses on a 'Forest Fridays' nature-based education program developed by Eliza Minnucci, an elementary teacher in Vermont, USA. Sobel's wife, Jennifer…

As research today is often required to validate innovative aspects of education, David Sobel's analysis of the SEER report makes quantitative sense of nature education and its ability to improve learning. Test scores increase, attendance surges, language arts assessments show richer self-expression, speaking skills gain a community cause, math…

Place- and community-based education--an approach to teaching and learning that starts with the local--addresses two critical gaps in the experience of many children now growing up in the United States: contact with the natural world and contact with community. It offers a way to extend young people's attention beyond the classroom to the world as…

Valley Quest is an intertown treasure hunt in which schoolchildren or community groups create maps of their towns' special places to exchange with people in nearby communities. Aiming to strengthen connections to community, it is also a year-long curriculum integrating local history, mapping skills, interviews with community elders, poetry…

When teachers lay the weight of the world's ecological problems on elementary students before they have fostered the kind of connectedness that underlies appropriate environmental education, they create a condition of fear and disempowerment called "ecophobia." The paper suggests that teachers must lead with emotional connectedness…