Mobile Civic Participation: Place, Inquiry and Design

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Part 1. Example Case

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Part 2. What is Place-based Education Education?

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Part 3. Up River

Design-Based

Education

Place-Based

Education

DemocraticEducation

Place-Based Design

Place, Inquiry and Design

Participants engaged in iterative cycles

of inquiry and design

Mobile media as a platformfor inquiry and storytelling - i.e, democratic participation

“Budget Repair” Bill - Protests

Political Context

Political Context

Protests - New Media

Student Participation

Student Participation

Student Participation

“People are having conversations on Facebook and I’ll get in on those... If they post on their [Facebook] status something about ‘Scott Walker is the man’ or something like that, I’ll use more specific details and facts to prove my point when they just have their opinion on the other side.”

“I’ve been down there every day it’s going on, except like three when I had to work. I‘ve stayed the night. I’ve watched the news. That’s all I listen to on the radio anymore. I’ll stay up late to watch every news segment to see what’s going on. I’ll look at the articles on-line. I’ll talk to people around me. I’ve really gotten into it.”

Student Participation

Student Participation

“I never really knew much about the bill and I honestly didn’t care much about it because it didn’t affect me personally at all.”

* Seize the moment / Historical significance

* Stay informed / Dialog

* “Real-world” / Relevant

* Personal Connection

* Inquiry / Curiosity

Students voted to study this...

“Everyone is saying this is something that’s going to be in the history books. This is going to be something that is going to be talked about for years.”

“This is something that will be in history books for years to come. Our children and grand-children will be learning about this when they are in school.”

Historical significance

Stay informed / Dialog

“...I prefer staying up-to-date with what’s going on and letting people know... then everyone knows what’s going on and everyone knows what to do in order to protest or not protest.”

“Everybody’s views on this event are different and partaking in it, gives us something to use in class.”

“Real-world” / Relevant

“We can look at the news and stay safe at home reading blogs, but that is only half of the equation. It is things like attending the protests that make things ‘real and relevant’.”

“...we need to be asking question like “why now?” and “how does this affect the future?”

“I feel like I don’t know enough...

“I would like to learn about the true motives behind the bill...”

Inquiry / Curiosity

Verbs - Document

Verbs - Interview

“...talking to complete strangers wasn’t really something I do. I was surprised because going into something that deals with political anything is not my comfort zone.  Being there, it was just the energy of the people. They were so passionate about what they were doing; it made me feel very comfortable.  Having to do interviews... it was good for me.”

Verbs - Observe

“It wasn’t hostile or anything. It really gave us all a chance to really do something together and see it from a bystander’s standpoint, somebody who is not really into either side...”

Content / Concepts - In Situ

“For me personally, I didn’t really follow what was going on, so that kind of opened my eyes as to what was actually going on and how it was actually affecting people... It was all new to me because our family is not really big on politics.”

Entry Points - Access

Entry Points - Stories

“Hearing other people’s stories is a different outlook from where we are. Since we’re not getting affected by it, I don’t understand it as much. When I got the chance to talk with other people, I got a better understanding.”

Perspective / Lenses

“If you go on your own time, you’re going for what you believe in. You’re going to stand up. You’re going to protest. We didn’t go to protest. We went to document. We went to ask questions. We went to see in depth. A lot of people don’t do that. They go to protest. That is the whole point.”

“No matter what side of the argument you are on, being where things are happening changes your perception of events. This is important because seeing things from new angles gives an individual a certain amount of leverage.”

Perspective

“Something I learned was that the bill has to do with a lot of different things then just what people are portraying...

...It definitely changed my views a little bit and made me want to learn more about what’s really going on. I’m still not taking sides on anything though.”

Perspective

Iterative inquiry and design

Whose story?

Hard questions like “should I really have a political bias?” or “What would I do in Walker’s place?” We need to step into the shoes of people we oppose in order to pass accurate and just judgement.

First run at it... started simple

Personal stories New platform

Emergent Design Themes

“Fair and balanced” <--> Persuasive

Generative <--> Static

Playful <--> Serious

Linear <--> Choice / Consequences

Experience DesignIn five years, not a lot of the kids are going to remember what happened or what it was, but we will.  We can put something together that shows those kids what happened. They can walk down around the capital and experience what we experienced. We can be a part of history.

Gained and Lost?

Designing an AR experience anchored the inquiry...

What did we gain from this?

What did we lose or miss as a result?

Location-based and/or

Place-based

What should the content focus on?

(Values about what)

What methods should be used?

What should the actions and interactions look like?

(Values about how)

Why is place important? What are the goals?

(Values about why)

Why “care about” and “care for” the local?

Who gets to answer these questions?

(Values about power)

“If I’m here and you’re here, doesn’t that make it our time?

- Jeff Spicolli, Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Values about what

Values about how

Values about why

Values about who

What is the focus of the content? (Values about what?)

‘‘Place-­‐based’’  education  is  learning  that  is  rooted  in  what  is  local—the  unique  history,  environment,  culture,  economy,  literature,  and  art  of  a  particular  place.  The  community  provides  the  context  for  learning,  student  work  focuses  on  community  needs  and  interests,  and  community  members  serve  as  resources  and  partners  in  teaching  and  learning.  (Rural  School  and  Community  Trust,  2003)

Local Cultural Systems

Local Cultural Systems

Local Cultural Systems

Local Cultural Systems

Continuity and Change

Local Ecological Systems

Systems are interdependent

Systems are interdependent

Systems are interdependent

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Park

Research

Endangered Species

Development

History

Fishing

What are the verbs? What methods are used?

(Values about how)

Involves a fieldwork component

• Inquiry• Data Collection • Design• Community Action

Students engaged in applying their knowledge to solve “real problems” and answer authentic inquiry questions (i.e., action oriented)

Students collaborate with local citizens, organizations, agencies, businesses, and government to help make plans that shape the future of their cultural and ecological systems

Students play an active role in defining and shaping projects (i.e., student voice)

* Multi-disciplinary

* Learning as production of new knowledge vs.consumption of knowledge

* Learning goals and instruction situated within an authentic context

* Emergent skills, concepts, and interactions

Why is place important? What are the goals?

(Values about why)

[Eco-localism] is the perspective embodied in local currency systems, food co-ops, micro-enterprise, farmers’ markets, permaculture, community supported agriculture (CSA) farms, car sharing schemes, barter systems, co-housing and eco-villages, mutual aid, home-based production, community corporations and banks, and localist business alliances Curtis, 2003, p.83

New Localism

Just as new localism can be understood as diverse acts of resistance against the ravages of globalization and rootlessness, place-based education can be understood as a community-based effort to reconnect the process of education, enculturation, and human development to the well-being of community life.

Gruenewald & Smith, 2008, p. xvi

New Localism

Decolonization involves “…learning to recognize disruption and injury and to address their cause.”

Re-inhabitation involves “…learning to live well socially and ecologically in places that have been disrupted and injured.”

Critical Pedagogy of Place

Gruenewald, 2003, p.9  

What needs to be conserved in this place?

What needs to be transformed in this place? What needs to be restored in this place?

What needs to be created in this place?

Critical Pedagogy of Place

Design-Based

Learning

Place-Based

LearningDemocraticParticipation

Place-Based Design

ToursGamesStoriesActionsEvents

Happenings

Citizen EthnographyCitizen JournalismCitizen ScienceData CollectionFolklore Local History

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