PLACE-BASED EDUCATION: A REVIEW OF HISTORICAL PRECEDENTS IN THEORY & PRACTICE by CHARLES JOSEPH ELFER (Under the Direction of William G. Wraga) ABSTRACT Placed-based education, or PBE, is a contemporary educational term which refers to those forms of pedagogy that seek to connect learning to the local ecological, cultural, and historical contexts in which schooling itself takes place. As a formalized, named pedagogy, place-based education represents a relatively new field of exploration. This study sought to invigorate the historical conversation surrounding place-based educational theory and practice through the identification and exploration of historical precedents that were fundamentally similar in type. Three essential questions guided the research. First, utilizing a three-part filter which evaluated the extent to which curricular reform efforts maintained as core educational considerations the local, the learner, and the community, the study searched through a wealth of primary source materials to identify historical antecedents to modern place-based educational thinking. Secondly, the study also explored the sociopolitical contexts in which curricular reforms that were essentially place-based grew up historically. And thirdly, the study sought to identify the ways in which historical considerations of curricula might inform contemporary practice in the field of place-based education. Major findings include: (1) a clear determination that the core principles of place-based education are indeed quite mature, (2) recognition that historical place-based reform models often enjoyed wide institutional support as critiques of academic formalism, (3) an understanding that historical models addressed multiple disciplines across the curriculum, (4) a realization that local and non-local considerations were not mutually exclusive, and (5) an appreciation for the notion that successful negotiation of mainstream practice and curricular/pedagogical innovation were often essential to the widespread adoption of reforms historically. INDEX WORDS: Place-based education, pedagogy of place, local education, rural education, outdoor education, nature study, community education, curriculum history, curriculum theory, educational history PLACE-BASED EDUCATION: A REVIEW OF HISTORICAL PRECEDENTS IN THEORY & PRACTICE by CHARLES JOSEPH ELFER BA, Honors College, University of Southern Mississippi, 2001 MA, University of Georgia, 2005 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2011 © 2011 Charles J. Elfer All Rights Reserved PLACE-BASED EDUCATION: A REVIEW OF HISTORICAL PRECEDENTS IN THEORY & PRACTICE by CHARLES JOSEPH ELFER Major Professor: William G. Wraga Committee: Todd Dinkelman Cory Buxton Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2011 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to the long line of thoughtful and devoted educators whose life work has been lost, overlooked, or ignored in subsequent efforts geared toward school reform. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Four-hundred and fifty page dissertations are not generally written without the assistance and patience of a great many people and those individuals deserve explicit mention. First and foremost, I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Bill Wraga, my major professor, for his willingness to take me on as a student. His influence on my thinking about all matters surrounding education has been profound and I suspect the project would not have been possible without his guidance. In addition to his direction throughout the creation and completion of the dissertation, Dr. Wraga also took the time to offer insights and recommendations to direct a novice scholar in the negotiation of academic life. The introductions, conversations, and resources have already proven invaluable and are certainly appreciated. I would also like to thank Todd Dinkelman for the multiple roles and duties he has served in my doctoral work at the University of Georgia. Despite my sometimes contrarian views, Dr. Dinkelman has remained a constant source of encouragement in terms of both my development as a teacher educator and my thinking about the social studies. In addition to overseeing my transfer into the program, the thoughtful critiques and praise regarding my supervisory work were very much appreciated as well. And finally, I would like to thank Cory Buxton for agreeing to serve on my committee. How fortuitous it was to find a scholar of place-based education hiding within my own department! Dr. Buxton‟s direct involvement in the field and his perspectives on the purposes and future of place-based pedagogies provided a much needed ingredient. Together, the collective contributions of Drs. Buxton, Dinkelman, and Wraga amounted to what was perhaps the ideal committee for the project. I would also like to thank my family and friends for remaining patient throughout a very long process. In particular, my wife Jennifer deserves special note. Aside from her role as “senior proofreader,” Jennifer has also served as “chief motivator,” offering helpful words of encouragement when deadlines and research challenges seemed most difficult. And lastly, I extend thanks to my mother, Alice, and my late father, John, educators for a cumulative 77 years, for encouraging me to set big goals, to finish what I started, and, above all, to do what I enjoyed. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................v CHAPTER 1 OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY .....................................................................................1 Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 Background of the Problem .....................................................................................2 Significance of the Study .......................................................................................12 Statement of Purpose .............................................................................................19 Research Questions ................................................................................................21 Scope of the Study .................................................................................................21 Methodology ..........................................................................................................22 Assumptions ...........................................................................................................28 Limitations of the Study.........................................................................................28 Organization of the Report.....................................................................................29 2 EARLIEST ROOTS FOR PLACE-BASED EDUCATIONAL THEORY & PRACTICE ..................................................................................................................32 Introduction ............................................................................................................32 Aristotle..................................................................................................................33 John Amos Comenius ............................................................................................36 Jean-Jacques Rousseau ..........................................................................................44 vi Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi ....................................................................................49 Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel ........................................................................59 John Freidrich Herbart ...........................................................................................70 Colonel Francis Wayland Parker ...........................................................................73 John Dewey ............................................................................................................80 Chapter Summary ..................................................................................................91 3 THE NATURE STUDY MOVEMENT ......................................................................95 Introduction ............................................................................................................95 Social & Political Contexts ....................................................................................96 Early Roots in Nature Study ..................................................................................98 Nature Study as Localized Curricula ...................................................................115 Nature Study & the Learner .................................................................................137 Nature Study & the Community ..........................................................................173 Chapter Summary ................................................................................................184 4 THE NEW GEOGRAPHY ........................................................................................187 Introduction ..........................................................................................................187 Social & Political Contexts ..................................................................................188 German Heimatskunde