What is the experience of educators working to adopt place-conscious pedagogy for their students? Our research documents a cohort of 14 teachers and 3 principals engaged in a school-division initiative to support and enhance place-conscious pedagogy at three schools in Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. Place-conscious pedagogy offers hands-on opportunities for students to become active participants in understanding and applying personal and curricular knowledge in local environmental and social contexts. The educational value of place consciousness is well reported in the literature with studies showing this approach to teaching can improve academic performance and develop informed, active, and engaged young citizens. Examples of place-conscious pedagogy draw on local culture and nature and include working to alleviate poverty and homelessness, collaborating with artists and artisans, recording narrative histories, school ground naturalization projects, neighbourhood environmental audits, sustainable and community gardening, and habitat restoration. Continuing in this spirit, our research documents the experiences and practices of 14 teachers and 3 principals – representing a diversity of perspectives in K-12 education – in a rural setting as they develop, implement, and support place-conscious approaches to teaching. Based on our preceding research in place-conscious pedagogy, we anticipate documenting and further developing key themes including greater student and teacher agency, affirmation of student and teacher identity, increasing and strengthening school-community partnerships, innovative teaching and assessment practices, enhanced student-teacher relationships, and improved collegial engagement and collaboration. We also document the constraints and challenges of undertaking place-conscious teaching within the current school system.

Authors:
Sharon Pelech, University of Lethbridge, Canada
Darron Kelly, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Sharon Pelech is an Associate Professor and Interim Assistant Dean of Field Experiences in Education at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta. Her research interests include science education, place-conscious pedagogy and hermeneutic research.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-pelech-b0592032

Additional website of interest
https://uleth.academia.edu/SharonPelech

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