Blending Community and Content Through Place-Based Science

Place-based education connects the learner to the local environment through diverse strategies that increase awareness and connectedness to the community, and ultimately to the world (Sobel, 2004). Constructivist principles of learning – the belief that individuals “construct their own knowledge by engaging in the learning process, interacting and collaborating with teachers and other students, reflecting on the content, and meaningfully integrating the new information with prior knowledge” (Sowan & Jenkins, 2013, p. 316) – run deep within place-based education as the learner constructs meaning through personal interactions with the local environment. In other words, the “landscape shapes [one’s] mindscape” (Haas & Nachtigal, 1998, p. 4). This report follows the impact of a three-year grant funded program with a focus upon building community partnerships through a place-based, environmental education lens. Depth of impact is understood through the viewpoints and perspective of the project’s stakeholders: K-12 teachers, university professors, and community partners. This examination of place-based curriculum connected through the sciences provides a model for creating intentional partnerships as a means to blend community and content.