Researcher(s):
Maya Gotzsche
ENVS course(s): 220 Initiated: September 2015 Completed: Go to project site
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Place-based education is a growing education movement that focuses on social and ecological contexts. Some of the key questions in existing place-based education literature investigate the meaning of place. How do we understand the ways in which place influences identity? How do we use place-based identity to create a geographically and culturally relevant education? Other questions include issues of access to place-based education. Who gets to experience this pedagogy? How can place-based education be incorporated into the public school system?
I will situate my project in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, in Northern Minnesota. The Boundary Waters is a hub for outdoor education. There are many camps, programs, and schools that provide wilderness trips and courses in this area. I will examine how these outdoor education and recreation programs include place-based pedagogies. I will research how these programs incorporate aspects of place-based education not only through outdoor education, but also through the cultural history of the region. How can critical pedagogy and place-based education be combined to create both ecological and rural, and social and urban education within this wilderness area? Finally, I will explore the issue of accessibility to place-based education in this area. Through this research, I hope to create a curriculum for a place-based education course in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.