Overview

This book was named a 2015 Choice magazine Outstanding Academic Title. Place-based education offers a compelling opportunity to engage students in the life of their community. More than just taking a field trip, participants in a place-based project make sustained efforts to make a difference and learn basic skills along the way. Academic concepts come to life as real-world problems are investigated from a local angle. Even global issues can be connected to the community, such as the high school in Missouri that linked local land-use choices to the «dead zone» in the Gulf of Mexico. For teachers, place-based projects offer a chance for professional revitalization as they orchestrate complex and meaningful learning environments that go well beyond scripted curriculum mandates. Both teachers and students benefit from a new level of agency as they take ownership of their work. Drawing on his own experience as a teacher and more than a decade of work supporting teachers in crafting their own projects, the author outlines the many benefits of place-based education and describes the challenges that must be overcome if we are to realize its potential.

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9781433124723

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Place-based education offers teachers and kids a chance to really engage with, and learn from, their local community. Experience has shown, though, that good projects only happen when the teacher is able to go beyond the scripted curriculum. In this book, Bob Coulter shows how these teachers see their jobs - and childhood - differently, and the significant impact this point of view has on their students. Educators looking for a compelling alternative to standards-based classrooms will find inspired guidance here. (David Sobel, Senior Faculty, Antioch University New England) Some teachers are loved, some barely endured; some kids explore the limits, others seek the routine, the minimum, an escape. No More Robots is a sensible, research-based plea for more engagement, in both learners and educators, by taking advantage of our familiarity with our unique place. To those who yearn for unshackled students and teachers, this is a powerful pitch for a shift in direction, style, and vision. (Charlie Fitzpatrick, School Programs Manager, Esri, Inc.)

Author Information

Bob Coulter, Ed.D., is currently the director of the Litzsinger Road Ecology Center, a field site managed by the Missouri Botanical Garden. Previously, he was an award-winning elementary grade teacher.

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