Place-based Education

India

Bhoomi College is located just outside Bangalore, a city known as the high-tech capital of India; yet Bhoomi represents something very different. On its lush campus, Bhoomi has brought together an impressive array of thinkers and practitioners in fields like local food and farming, holistic and place-based education, green energy, trade policy, sustainable water systems, and more. They offer year-long graduate degree programs in Sustainable Living and Holistic Education, as well as a large number of shorter courses. They also offer internships, host a farmers market and repair cafe, and maintain a full calendar of events, lectures, and conferences — from talks about carbon alternatives to tree plantings and monsoon celebrations. They also issue the Bhoomi Award for Localisation, “Established to celebrate the spirit and honour the work of individuals, organisations and communities in India that have made outstanding contributions towards economic localisation and/or community based local ecological projects.” To learn more, visit http://bhoomicollege.org.

Photo by Bhoomi College (CC BY-NC 2.0)

http://bhoomicollege.org

Canada

This unique school, located beside a lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada, was founded to reverse the process of disconnection from lands, families, languages, spiritual traditions, and history imposed on the young people of Canada’s Indigenous First Nations. To learn more about Dechinta, visit: http://dechinta.ca.

Photo by Dave Bezaire (CC BY-SA 2.0)/ Drying Salmon

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http://dechinta.ca

UK

Edventure Frome empowers cooperative community enterprises by hosting free 10-week courses that teach groups of young adults to design and create a place-based start-up venture together. An early student team created the Welsh Mill Hub, a community center with co-working offices, a commercial kitchen, and event spaces available for hourly rental. Later cohorts used the Mill Hub space to create more enterprises….

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https://edventurefrome.org/about/us-in-2-minutes/

USA

A few years ago, the staff of the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture realized that while school gardens were gaining in popularity in elementary schools, there was still a systemic lack of food education programs for high schoolers. They created Food Ed, a semester-long course that explores the intersection of food, nutrition, agriculture, history, and the environment.

https://www.stonebarnscenter.org/engage/food-education-for-change/

USA

In 1966, at Rabun County High School in rural Appalachia, an English teacher and his students decided to drop their standard curriculum and instead create a magazine to share local folklore and practical knowledge of living close to the land. Since then, students have spent classroom time interviewing elders in their communities, writing articles about the living traditions and heritage of Appalachia, and publishing a biennial magazine. Learn more on the Foxfire website.

https://www.foxfire.org/about-foxfire/

Israel

The Heschel Center set up the Green School Network in Israel in 1998. Now, children in more than 600 schools participate in action-oriented environmental education such as setting up composting systems and school gardens, and planning environmental awareness campaigns. As a further response to the digital saturation and consumerism that children today face, the center created a Community Place-Based Education program that grounds children in a sense of place through activities like conducting local histories, helping with restoration projects, and volunteering with community organizations. The program has been adopted by school districts in five towns so far. Visit the center’s website for more information on these and other community sustainability programs.

https://www.heschel.org.il/heschelen-media

USA

The Homeless Garden Project explains, “In the soil of our urban farm and garden, people find the tools they need to build a home in the world.” The project works toward creating a thriving inclusive community, workforce, and local food system by providing job training, transitional employment, and support services to people who are homeless in Santa Cruz, California. They also run a local food and flower shop and CSA, which offers scholarships for community members unable to afford shares. To learn more, visit: http://www.homelessgardenproject.org/index.php.

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http://www.homelessgardenproject.org/index.php

USA

At Iowa BIG, students learn by working with more than 100 local organizations on identifying ways to improve their communities and executing interdisciplinary projects. Students follow a normal school curriculum for half the day and spend the other half working solo or in teams on projects such as a coffee shop that employs the homeless, a composting system for a nearby college, and a community seed library. Assessment is provided not through test scores, but through regular meetings where students, community partners, and teachers evaluate the students’ progress and dedication to their goals. Learn more about the program model and current projects on the Iowa BIG website and in this TED Ideas article about the program.

https://iowabig.org/about/model/

Marshall Islands

Jo-Jikum, which means “your home” in Marshallese, is an educational organization that aims to help young Marshall Islanders respond to climate change by organizing island-wide cleanups, climate change workshops, community movie nights and other activities. The group has also established a Climate Disaster Relief Fund to help families on the islands recover from damage caused by climate change. To learn more, read this article about the poet and activist who founded Jo-Jikum and this piece from the Marshall Islands Journal.

http://jojikum.org

UK

Land in Curiosity facilitates year-long walks through the UK and Sweden, where the world becomes a “nomadic nature classroom”. Walking seven miles a day, with breaks for reflection, participants learn to recognize patterns in nature, find and walk to their own rhythms, connect deeply with others on the journey, and immerse themselves fully in the places they encounter. Visit their website to learn more about their philosophy, and find opportunities to join a walk.

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http://www.landincuriosity.co.uk/