The purpose of this study is to explore curricular and young people's orientations to, and representations of, the areas in which they live contrasted against curricular representations of place in Wales. This is accomplished through a mixed methods approach incorporating statistical and content analysis. Responses were coded with a positive,…

Using two case studies of children's knowledge, this paper sheds light on the value, diversity, and necessity of Indigenous and place-based knowledge to science and engineering curricula in rural areas. Rural contexts are rich environments for cultivating contextual knowledge, hence framing a critical pedagogy of teaching and learning. Indigenous…

A simulated physical model of volcanic processes using a glass art studio greatly enhanced enthusiasm and learning among urban, middle- to high-school aged, largely underrepresented minority students in Newark, New Jersey. The collaboration of a geoscience department with a glass art studio to create a science, technology, engineering, arts, and…

Research suggests that trust can be a foundational element for the success and sustainability of multi-organizational partnerships focused on advancing education equity in a particular neighborhood or region. As these place-based strategies gain popularity in the U.S., collaborators are increasingly required to navigate relationships where racial…

Theories of writing process have informed the teaching of writing for the past forty years, providing writing mentors with a language of prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing that broadens ways to invite young writers to approach composition. In the past forty years, new technologies for composition have impacted the products,…

If part of the job of history educators is to prepare students to be informed, literate, active, and analytical citizens of their communities, then what better place to start than with encouraging them to really learn and contextualize the history of their own communities? This article explores student responses to a semester-long local history…

We build upon the conceptualizations of agency in teacher education presented in the three previous articles in this issue to address the question of "where" agency occurs in the context of globalization. We rely on theories of place and place-based education to illuminate the paradoxical dimensions of the global commons, raising…

A complex and contested concept, sustainability presents a great challenge to teachers and learners. Field study is a potentially promising venue to unpack the problematics of sustainability in practice. This paper reflects on the Cascadia Sustainability Field School, offered through the University of Victoria, Canada, providing an overview of the…

Positive claims about place pedagogy in education are problematized through this small-scale interpretive study of internationally mobile students' experiences of outdoor environmental education. Of specific interest in this empirical study of learners' pedagogically constructed experiences of place are the fluid subjectivities, cultural…

Urban environmental education helps students to recognize ecological features and practices of cities. To understand the value and practice of developing such ecological place meaning, we conducted narrative research with educators and students in urban environmental education programs in the Bronx, New York City. Narratives showed that educators…

Children's background experiences not only make them unique individuals, but also impact their interactions with texts because of their varied schema. Teachers who work with children should keep in mind Gregory Smith's (2002) five thematic patterns (cultural studies, nature studies, real world problem solving, internship and entrepreneurial…

In this article, the authors suggest a project that social studies teachers can do with students, using the location of the school as a starting point to address the inquiry question: "Whose place is this space?" They provide resources, such as a sample case study and worksheets, to conduct a field-based exercise so that students can…

This paper discusses the purposes that outdoor education does, could and should serve in Singapore. Gert Biesta's conceptualisation of three functions of education is adapted to frame deliberations on the purposes of outdoor education in Singapore's socio-political and educational milieu. The author suggests that outdoor education in Singapore…

This report has been developed as part of the MDBfutures Collaborative Research Network project "Towards Place Based Education in the Murray-Darling Basin." The project explores the ways in which sustainability is understood in Murray Darling Basin (MDB) communities of Australia (including Indigenous, rural, small towns and regional…

There are both achievement and opportunity gaps for low-income students when compared to their economically advantaged peers; and, for rural students, these gaps may be even more pronounced. In this manuscript we draw from our ongoing work in a five-year federally-funded, Jacob K. Javits grant focusing on promoting gifted education in rural…