Exploring Place-Based Learning as a Model to Transform Teaching Practice and Foster a Passion for Teaching

Abstract

Educational reform and changes in policy require teachers to re-examine their classroom practices and make changes to their curriculum as they develop new methods for educational accountability and assessement (Porter, McMaken, Hwang, & Yang, 2011). In this three-year study, I examine place-based learning (PBL) as a curricular approach in a 5th grade classroom to explore the influences it had on my professional and personal satisfaction in teaching in the context of the educational climate from 2011-2014. This self-study used two research strategies to examine the changes in my beliefs and teaching practices. Data from students products, field notes, and self-reflective journals were analyzed using Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (Engeström, 2000) and longitudinal analysis to determine recurring themes. This research study produced six key transformations within my teaching as I explored PBL: 1) Self-awareness 2) Social-awareness 3) Environmental-awareness 4) Student-centered teaching 5) Cultivating relationships and 6) Renegotiating the distribution of power in the classroom. I found I was empowered as I continued to conduct place-based lessons over the three years and slowly developed a sense of my own agency as a teacher. PBL provided an avenue for me to reflect, critically examine, and develop my pedagogical practices aligned to my students, their families and community, despite external pressures from mandated curriculum and initiatives. This finding has implications for teachers if these reflective and place-based pedagogical practices more generally empower and build teacher skills and practices.