Resources for Science and a Sense of Place

LIST OF RESOURCES

Science and a Sense of Place: Locating Ourselves in the World (July 23-August 3, 2007)

From the Earth to the Moon (Four Disc Collector's Edition) (1998)

Tools and Lessons for Place-Based Education (largely web-based)

• Archie, Michele L. Advancing Education through Environmental Literacy. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2003. Online @ ASCD, The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
• Bryson, Bruce. A Question of Scale: Quarks to Quasars (2005).
• Cohen, Jeff. Resources for "A History of Location."
  
  
• Committee on Support for Thinking Spatially. "The Double Helix: A Classic Example of Spatial Thinking."Learning to Think Spatially: GIS as a Support System in the K-12 Curriculum. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2006.
• Davidson, Michael and The Florida State University. Secret Worlds: The Universe Within --Interactive Java Tutorial (2006).
• Friedman, Kaitlin. Watershed Education Resources.
• geodata.gov: Geospatial One-Stop, a geographic information system (GIS) portal.
• Google Earth--A 3D Interface to the Planet (2006).
• Morrison, Phillip and Phyllis. Powers of Ten: A Book About the Relative Size of Things in the Universe and the Effect of Adding Another Zero. Rev. ed. New York: W.H. Freeman, 1994.
• "Sense of Place: Habitat Enhancement Program." Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, 2002. Video: 11 minutes.

Institutional Resources for Place-Based Education

• Philadelphia Green (an initiative of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society)
• Radnor Middle School Watershed Program
• Environment: An Initiative of the Center for Science in Society at Bryn Mawr College
• Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN)
• North American Association for Environmental Education
• River of Words Project

Pedagogy and Theory on Place-Based Education

• Christensen, Linda. "Where I'm From: Inviting Students' Lives Into the Classroom." Reading, Writing and Rising Up: Teaching About Social Justice and the Power of the Written Word. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools, 2000.
• Cornell, Josephy Bharat. Sharing Nature with Children. A Parents' and Teachers' Nature-Awareness Guidebook. Nevada City, CA: Dawn, 1979.
• Donahue, Timothy P., Lisa Bryce Lewis, Lawrence F. Price, and David C. Schmidt. "Bringing Science to Life Through Community-Based Watershed Education." Journal of Science Education and Technology. 7, 1 (1998).
• Gilbert, Melissa and Masucci, Michele. "Moving Beyond 'Gender and GIS' to a Feminist Perspective on Information Technologies: The Impact of Welfare Reform on Women's IT Needs." A Companion to Feminist Geography. J. Seager and L. Nelson, eds. New York: Blackwell, 2004. 305-321.
• Goldring, Ellen, Lora Cohen-Vogel, Claire Smrekar and Cynthia Taylor. "Schooling Closer to Home: Desegregation Policy and Neighborhood Contexts."American Journal of Education. 112 (2006): 335Ü362.
• Gruenewald, David. "The Best of Both Worlds: A Critical Pedagogy of Place."Educational Researcher. 32, 4 (May 2003). 3-12.
• Jennings, Nancy, Steve Swidler, and Christopher Koliba. "Place-Based Education in the Standards-Based Reform Era: Conflict or Complement?" American Journal of Education. 112 (2005): 44-65.
• Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonguin Books, 2005.
• McLafferty, Sara. "Geographic Information and Women's Empowerment: A Breast cancer Example." A Companion to Feminist Geography. J. Seager and L. Nelson, eds. New York: Blackwell, 2004. 486-495.
• Newcombe, Nora. "A Plea for Spatial Literacy."The Chronicle Review.(March 3, 2006.)
• The Orion Society's Nature Literacy Series 1. Sobel, David. Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education. 1996.
  2. Stories in the Land: A Place-Based Environmental Education Anthology.
  3. Leslie, Claire Walker, John Tallmadge, and Tom Wessels. Into the Field: A Guide to Locally Focused Learning.
  4. Sobel, David. Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms & Communities.
• Pergams, Oliver R.W. and Patricia Zaradic. "Is love of nature in the US becoming love of electronic media? 16-year downtrend in national park visits explained by watching movies, playing video games, internet use, and oil prices." Journal of Environmental Management (August 2006).
• Smith, Gregory. "Place-Based Education: Learning To Be Where We Are." Phi Delta Kappan. 93, 8 (April 2002): 584-594.
• Stone, Michael K. and Zenobia Barlow, Eds. Ecological Literacy: Educating our Children for a Sustainable World. San Francisco: Sierra Club, 2003.

Literature on a Sense of Place

• Brand, Stewart. How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built. New York: Viking, 1994.
• Briggs, Peter. English/Comparative Literature 319: A Sense of Place: Classical, European, American. Bryn Mawr College. Spring 2006.
• Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.
• A Civil Action. (Videorecording) Dir. Steven Zaillian. Burbank, CA: Touchstone Pictures, 1999. (115 min.)
• Harr, Jonathan. A Civil Action. New York : Random House, 1995.
• Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. 1854; rpt. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1988.
• Vaupel, Robin. My Contract with Henry. New York: Holiday House, 2003.
• Other authors who justify place-based education from deep ecology/environmental stewardship perspectives: Wendell Berry, Frijof Capra, David Hutchison, Aldo Leopold, Gary Paul Nabhan, Daniel Quinn, and Gary Snyder.

"Emergence" resources:

• Emergence and Exploration: Institute on Bridging Cultures in K-12 Curricula (Summer 2003)
• Emergent Pedagogy: Learning to Enjoy the Uncontrollable and Make it Productive: A Conversation in (and on) Process Among Anne Dalke (English), Kim Cassidy (Pyschology), Paul Grobstein (Biology), Doug Blank (Computer Science, Bryn Mawr College) and K-12 Teachers in the Philadelphia Public School System (forthcoming in the Journal of Educational Change)
  
  
• Emergent Systems: A Discussion (Fall 2002-present)
• Emergence: Biology 361=Computer Science 361 (Bryn Mawr College Course, Spring 2006)
• Emergence, by Steven Johnson (Fall 2002 discussion)

Resources on "The Place that is the Self"

 

http://www.glsen.org GLSEN, or the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for ALL students. http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/library/record/1927.html - School
Climate Survey
"75.4% of students heard derogatory remarks such as "faggot" or "dyke"
frequently or often at school, and nearly nine out of ten (89.2%) reported
hearing "that's so gay" or "you're so gay" - meaning stupid or worthless-
frequently or often."
http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/library/record/1859.html - School
Bullying
"One-third (33%) of teens report that students are frequently harassed
because they are or are perceived to be lesbian, gay or bisexual. The
survey finds that LGBT students are three times as likely as non-LGBT
students to say that they do not feel safe at school (22% vs. 7%) and 90%
of LGBT students (vs. 62% of non-LGBT teens) have been harassed or
assaulted during the past year."
http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/library/record/399.html - Suicide
"The study also found that about 10 percent of Massachusetts high school
students attempted suicide, according to a survey of about 4,000 students
in 1997. Broken down by sexual orientation, about 40 percent of gay and
bisexual students attempted suicide, compared to about 10 percent of their
heterosexual peers."

 

Useful keywords for searching this topic: topophilia, ecological/environmental literacy, place-based education, bioregion(alism)