It has been quite difficult to find good research articles that have to do specifically with my research topic which is the how building a better classroom community can better benefit the self-esteem and comfort of students in school which, in extension, will result in better academic grades. Because I wasn’t finding anything that I necessarily agreed with I decided to broaden my search. In doing so, I found an article that spoke about “place-based learning”. This text was called Place Based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities by David Sobel. This author has written many books and articles about place-based learning so I was able to gain a lot of information from him.
I discovered that place-based learning was very similar to the teaching strategy that I had mapped out in my head. It draws on the location of the school such as country, region, suburban or urban and the socioeconomic status of the surrounding communities and by doing so creates a more community oriented classroom. The students have a more hands-on approach to learning and much of the lessons learned are applied to different events or situations that students can see locally in their community. This idea originated from the concern that students didn’t feel that what they learned in the classroom had anything to do with the “outside world”. The fact that students had separated school from the rest of their life was dangerous because then the motivation for education was declining. Place-based learning was created to show students that they can make a positive difference in their community and that they can apply what they learn to their every day lives.
At the moment, I am continuing to do more research in this teaching strategy while also trying to focus a little more on the cultural awareness aspect of the place-based education strategy. I, personally, have a hypothesis that including local culture will greatly benefit kids in school. My target research group is Hawaii, however, I have found very little on any articles about education in general, so I will continue to broaden my search.