October: Developing a Sense of Place

Sense of Place Book List
Barrons Educational Series. 2000. Urban Animal. Barron's Educational Series, Incorporated.
Bosselaar, L.A. 2000. Urban Nature: Poems About Wildlife in the City. Milkweed Editions.
Christiansen, P. and M. Muller. 1999. An Illustrated Guide to Iowa Prairie Plants. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.
Cochrane, J. 1988. Urban Ecology. Scholastic Library Publishing.
Collard, S. 1999. Acting For Nature: What Young People Around the World are Doing to Protect the Environment. Heyday Books.
Edsall, M.S. 1985. Roadside Plants and Flowers. The University of Wisconsin Press.
Franz, B.S. 2006. The Wildlife Habitat Journal-Restoring and Exploring Wildlife Habitat in Your Own Backyard. Lulu.com.
Halpin, M. 2004. It's Your World - If You Don't Like It, Change It: Activism for Teens. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.
Harrison, G. and K. Harrison. 1987. America's Favorite Backyard Wildlife. Fireside.
Iowa Department of Natural Resources. 2000. Iowa: Portrait of the Land. Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Johnson, A. 2005. Iowa Birds. Lone Pine Publishing.
Kavanagh, J. 2001. Iowa Birds. Waterford Press Ltd.
Kurtz, C. 1996. Iowa's Wild Places. Ames: Iowa State University Press.
Ladoux, R. 2002. Iowa. Lerner Publishing Group.
Latimer, J. et al. 1999. Backyard Birds (Peterson Field Guides for Young Naturalists). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
La Tourrette, J. 1997. Watching Wildlife: The National Wildlife Federation Guide to Observing Animals in the Wild. Henry Holt & Company, Incorporated.
Lawlor, E.P. 1993. Discover Nature Close to Home: Things to Know and Things to Do. Stackpole Books.
Lee, F. 2005. Backyard Birding for Kids: A Field Guide and Activities. Gibbs Smith.
Leopold, A. 1989. A Sand County Almanac. Oxford University Press.
Morrice, P. A. and J. Hart. 2007. Iowa. Cavendish, Marshall Corporation.
Prior, J.C. and L.A. Stone. 2000. Iowa - Portrait of the Land. Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Geological Survey.
Runkel, S. and A.F. Bull. 1987. Wildflowers of the Iowa Woodlands. Ames: Iowa State University Press.
Shirley, S. 1994. Restoring the Tallgrass Prairie: An Illustrated Manual for Iowa and the Upper Midwest. University of Iowa Press.
Simon. S. 1973. A Tree on Your Street. Holiday House Inc.
Smith, J. R., and Smith, B. S. 1980. A Prairie Garden : Seventy Native Plants You Can Grow in Town or Country. New York: University of Wisconsin P.
Smith, A.M. 2008. 50 Plus One Tips for Going Green. Gale Cengage Learning.
Tekiela, S. 2001. Birds of Iowa: Field Guide. Adventure Publications.

October: Developing a Sense of Place

Where am I? What is the nature of this place? What sustains this community?
These are simple questions. Or are they? To children today these questions might be anything but simple. As our society moves into cities and suburbs, and away from the natural world, our children’s connection to the natural world has started to disappear. Children today spend more time in front of screens, both television and computer, than they do outside. Most do not know what is outside their own backdoor - let alone what is down the street. Also lost is the connection to the community and what sustains it. Where did their dinner come from? Ask a child and most likely they will tell you the grocery store.

What can we do?
Take the classroom outside into the local natural world and into the community. Start with your schoolyard. Look, really look, at what is there. What lives there? How does it live there? What is growing? How are those connected? Try using Project WILD’s “Learning to Look, Looking to See”. We see things every day that we don’t really LOOK at anymore. Change that. You will be amazed at what you will start to notice.

Once you have learned your schoolyard - go further. The pond down the road. The creek in the woods behind the school. The local park. Go into the community. What is grown in your area? What is it used for? How does that support the community? How does the community support the local natural resources? Learn the history of the local land. Have a guest speaker who has lived in the area for a long time, a member of the local retirement center, a community group member, a local wildlife biologist, someone from your local County Conservation Board, or even a member of a local chapter of Pheasants Forever, or Ducks Unlimited.

Next –what can YOU do? As a class what can you do to help the local community? The local natural resources? Is there a project at the local community park that your school can take on? A prairie planting? Tree planting? Community garden? Get children into the community and involved.

Activity Ideas
“Learning to Look, Looking to See” Project WILD – Students write what they remember seeing in a familiar setting, then apply their experience to an unfamiliar setting.

“Adopt-A-Tree” Project Learning Tree – Students “adopt” a tree - deepening their awareness of an individual tree over time and encouraging a greater understanding and appreciation of their local environment.

“Environmental Exchange Box” Project Learning Tree – Preparing an environmental exchange box will give your students a chance to learn more about their own region as they prepare to share it with students from another region.

“Improve Your Place” Project Learning Tree - Students are encouraged to plan and carry out a service learning project that focuses on making positive environmental changes in their community.

Brochure – As a class create a brochure for your local natural resources, or local community, promoting the area. Students learn about their local area as they “sell” it to others.

October: Developing a Sense of Place

What is a “Sense of Place”?
A “sense of place” refers to a child’s connection with their community and natural environment. A sense of place is developed with a place-based education approach that fosters those connections. Place-based education immerses children in their local community, landscapes, heritage, and experiences. It is using the local natural and human world to learn science, social studies, math, art, music, and language.

Research has shown that children lose their sense of place when they are focused too quickly or exclusively on national or global issues. It follows the idea that before children can tackle the problems of the rainforest in Brazil they need to love the woods down the street. By exploring the local environment children learn a fundamental connection to the natural world and their place in it. Place-based education does not overlook global or national issues but simply strives to give children a sense of their own place and a love of their own place first. Through hands-on, project-based learning children get involved in the real world right outside their door.

Be sure to check back next week for ways to foster a sense of place with your students!

Place-based education resources for educators
Books
Sobel, D. 2004. Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms & Communities. The Orion Society.

Sobel, D. 1998. Mapmaking with Children: Sense of Place Education for the Elementary Years. Heinemann.

Smith, G. A., and D. Sobel. 2010. Place-And Community-Based Education in Schools. Routledge.

Links
Promise of Place: Enriching Lives Through Place-Based Education

The Benefits of Place-Based Education: A report from the place-based education evaluation collaborative