Hakala, A. J. A Study of How Heritage Projects Connect Students to Learning Through Their Communities (2009) This capstone study looks at how Heritage Projects, a type of Community-Based Education, help re-connect students’ interest in their education and in their communities. The study focuses on the stories of three High School classrooms in Montana and Arizona where students are actively engaged in Heritage Projects with their teachers. Heritage Projects offer an interdisciplinary teaching approach, which uses the community as a focal point of study and creates meaningful connections for students through learning that is connected to the “real” world they live in. These projects teach students not only skills and content, but that they are important and contributing members of their community and can have a positive influence on what happens in the place where they live.
Transcript
Hakala, A. J. A Study of How Heritage Projects Connect Students to Learning Through Their Communities (2009) This capstone study looks at how Heritage Projects, a type of Community-Based Education, help re-connect students’ interest in their education and in their communities. The study focuses on the stories of three High School classrooms in Montana and Arizona where students are actively engaged in Heritage Projects with their teachers. Heritage Projects offer an interdisciplinary teaching approach, which uses the community as a focal point of study and creates meaningful connections for students through learning that is connected to the “real” world they live in. These projects teach students not only skills and content, but that they are important and contributing members of their community and can have a positive influence on what happens in the place where they live.
A STUDY OF HOW HERITAGE PROJECTS
CONNECT STUDENTS TO LEARNING THROUGH THEIR
COMMUNITIES
by
Amanda J. Hakala
A Capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Education: Natural Science and Environmental Education
Hamline University
St. Paul, Minnesota
June 2009
Primary Advisor: Mike H. Link Secondary Advisor: Kate Crowley Peer Reviewer: Joyce Hakala
Text and Photos Copyright by AMANDA J. HAKALA
2009 All Rights Reserved
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This research is dedicated to my father, Walter Hakala Sr., who taught me so much about life in general, the place I come from, a love of nature and a love for the world and the importance of connections to people and places and of family; to my mother, Joyce, for the passion for learning more about the world that she gave to me, for all of her support and dedication as I struggled to finish and for the love she has for her family and for teaching me about giving and the importance of friendship and understanding. Without either of them this capstone would not be possible. And to my family you all mean so much to me, thank you for always being there for me. And to Sheena, Sigurd, and Rosa and all my babies for unconditional love as I typed and learned more about the world.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to Dorothea Susag, Pam Taylor and Darlene Beck for sharing your stories;
without you this study would not be possible. Thank you to Mike Link and Kate
Crowley for all of your friendship, encouragement and support and critical reading that
has helped me through to the end, love you both. Thank you Mom for taking on the task
to be my peer reader, I love you. And thank you to Renee Wonser for getting me started
and helping me believe that I could finish. Thank you to Gene Bakko for encouraging
and inspiring my love of the natural world in college. Thank you to Clarissa Ellis-
Prudhomme for believing in me, your friendship and for your love of Natural and
Cultural History that you have shared with me. Thank you to my co-workers at that
Audubon Center of the North Woods who have taught me about passion in sharing the
natural world with students and for your friendship. Thank you to everyone at Hamline
who has made this possible through discussion and my journey of learning there. And
thank you to all my friends and family for your support and understanding as I worked to
finish my research. And thank you to God who makes all things possible.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One: Introduction – Learning and Sense of Place…………...……………….....1 Why Environmental Education is Important………...……………………………………1 My Journey: Understanding, Education, Sense of Place and the Natural World……...….3 Heritage Projects…………………………..……………………………………………..10 Chapter Two: Review of Literature Place-based and Community-based Education and Heritage Projects in Action …………………………………………………..……..13 The Need for Education Connected to Place……………………..……………………...13 Place-Based and Community-Based Education……………………..…………………..16 Place-Based Benefits to Academic Achievement…………………………………...….20 Place-Based Education Programs in the United States…………………..………...……25 Place-Based and Community-Based Education Service Projects……..……………...…31 Place-Based Education Partnerships with Local, National and International Organizations………………………...………………………………….....38
Community-Based Education Heritage Projects……………………………………….43 Heritage Projects in action…………..………………………………………….………..48 Conclusion……………………………………………………………..…………….…..62
Chapter Three: Methodology…………..………………………………………………65 Purpose……………………………………………………………………………..…….65 Language of the Study……………………….…………………………………………..67 Finding Contacts……………………….………………………………………………...69
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Interview and Survey Questions…………….…………………………………………...70 Chapter 4: Heritage Project Study Description and Outcome………..……………..…73 Heritage Project Teacher Interview and Survey Analysis……..………………………..75 Interview/Survey Response Summary…………..………………………………………76 Interview/Survey Analysis……………………………………………………………...86 Chapter 5: Conclusion…………………………………………………………………86 Reflection………………………………………………………………………..……….86 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..…...92 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………..…94 Appendix…..………………………………………………………………...…………..99 Appendix A: Teacher Interview & Survey Transcripts………………………………99 Appendix B: Contact Letter……………..……………………………………………110 Appendix C: Heritage Resources…………………………………………..………….113 Appendix D: Sense of Place…………………….….………………………….………114 Appendix E: General Grading Guidelines………………………………………..…....120
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LIST OF FIGURES
Photographs throughout the text unless otherwise specified are copyright by the photographer Amanda J. Hakala. Figure 1 – Impaired ditch #1……………………………………………………………13 Figure 2 – The Ecological Model of Place…………………………………………......15 Figure 3 –Comparative Chart of Place Based and Community Based Education……..57 Figure 4 – Time Teaching with Heritage Projects…………………………………......75 Figure 5 –Chart of Heritage Project Methods, Resources and Equipment……………77
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CHAPTER ONE
Introduction: Learning, Sense of Place and Heritage Projects
“We do not understand the earth in terms either of what it offers us or of what it requires of us...(p. 74) “To cherish what remains of the Earth & to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival.” –Wendell Berry (2003)
Why should we care about the health of the environment? I suggest that we
should care about the environment, not only because it has an intrinsic right to exist, but
also because without it we cannot exist as a species. It is a very basic and selfish
motivation - respect or perish.
The health of the environment affects everything on earth. It not only affects our
ability to survive but also the social and political challenges we face driven by the
conditions we live in. This sediment is represented by Wendell Berry’s quote which
shows what the lack of healthy resources for basic needs means in social and political
terms.
“…beauty and utility are alike dependent upon the health of the world …war and oppression and pollution are not separate issues, but are aspects of the same issue” [the health of the earth].(p.81) –Wendell Berry (2003)
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Compared to Third World Countries, most Americans have pretty good lives. We
have enough food to fill our bellies and then some, the benefit of luxuries, social services
and free public education as children. We do not have to worry about how we will
survive each day and night because we do not have food or medicine, but have the
comfort of worrying about other things. This is not the case in most of the rest of the
non-western world where each day is a constant struggle just to fulfill basic needs of
food, water, shelter and warmth. Many of the problems the rest of the world faces
connects with environmental problems such as, a lack of clean water, enough food and
opportunities we all take for granted as Americans.
Even though we may not directly feel the effects of pollution, of a few using a
vast amount of resources and the amount of waste produced by it; many all over the
world live with the firsthand consequences. But even though we may not see the
consequences in terms of waste dumped in our backyard that does not mean we are not
also affected for the very water, air and food we consume is also influenced through these
global systems.
I believe that we have the power as individuals and as a group to make a
difference in the decisions we make every day. Little things can make a big difference in
the overall health of the environment and our impact on the health of all people. Caring
about the environment is a basic respect for the lives of other people and for all the
organisms that call Earth home. Showing care for the environment represents a valuation
of life because the good health of the environment allows life to exist in all its present
forms.
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Wendell Berry states the need for care and understanding of the environment in
this way:
“The principles of ecology, if we will take them to heart, should keep us aware that our lives depend on other lives and upon processes and energies in an interlocking system that though we can destroy it, we can neither fully understand nor fully control. And our great dangerousness is that, locked in our selfish and myopic economy, we have been willing to change or destroy far beyond our power to understand.” –Wendell Berry (2003, p.81)
My Journey: understanding, education, sense of place and the natural world
The Kettle Lake Road: An Important Road in the Shaping of my Love of the Natural
A big question for environmental educators is how to get students interested in
learning about and protecting the environment, the place we all depend on at the very
least for basic survival. What are the experiences that will stick with students and shape
how they interact with the world? For an answer I have looked at what has made
learning rewarding and interesting in my own life. And at what has promoted my love
for the planet and all those who share it with me. When thinking about what has been the
most important in shaping my values, knowledge, ideas and actions, I always reflect upon
the place I grew up and the hands on experiences in my community through school
projects, field trips and excursions with my parents.
I grew up during the time of the standards in education, which began in the 1980s
with concerns that American Schools were falling behind other nations. This led to many
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school reforms and a greater focus on testing for each grade level (Ebersole & Worster
2007). What stuck out for me in school were not the lessons geared toward tests, but the
rare school projects that connected what I was learning to the real world and the
community I was a part of. It was at these times that school became exciting and
engaging on a level that made learning relevant to my life. Some of these projects
included: a Grandparent interview for Grandparents Day; searching for animal signs in
science class; Earth Day in the school woods; learning about the 1918 fire in Carlton
County from someone who experienced it in our community; and applying physics at an
amusement park. Through these experiences I not only learned about a subject but it
became clear how what I was learning mattered in everyday life.
These experiences throughout my time in elementary, middle and high school also
connected me more to the place I came from and gave me a new and deeper
understanding of the world around me and those I shared it with. School became more
meaningful and important because I could see that what I was learning about connected
and could affect real life.
An understanding of where I come from has always played a big role in my life.
This understanding of my community is a sense of place that travels with me everywhere
I go and intertwines with those new experiences into a richer mingled whole. It has
guided my journey through learning and teaching. It has also guided my concern for the
health of the environment because it has nurtured a deep love for the place I live and for
the places I have visited knowing that those places are also somebody’s home.
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Sense of place is complex and refers to all that a geographical space is and means
to those who live there. Ebersole and Worster (2007) in Sense of Place in Teacher
Preparation Courses: Place-Based and Standards-Based Education, describe it as
“having ecological and social knowledge necessary for the development of one’s
ecological and social identity associated with a place” (p. 19).
For everyone a sense of place is a little different depending on your experiences in
the community where you live. It is an emotional connection, the feeling that this is
home and I care about it. It is also a spiritual connection. A finding of wonder in what
your area is made up of and for me is connected to the emotional element of a sense of
place.
“Place is far more than a matter of geographical landscape, it is an emotional complex of associations…; it is the human communities that inhabit landscapes—their attitudes and values, their particular ways of arranging and expressing themselves and relating both to each other and ‘the outside,’ [culture] . Place too has something to do with history itself…with ancestry, and the dynamics created by the confluence of the personal and the collective; with spirituality, in all its formal and informal guises; and always, with inevitable change, both inner and outer.” -Mark Vinz & Thom Tammaro Writing from the Midwest (Northfield Heritage Committee, p.3) Sense of place is also about finding your balance in relation to the things around
you and the respect that is exchanged between people and the land and between people in
that place. It is an understanding of the place: its history, its culture, the people who have
lived there and live their now, the ecosystems and species that share that place and its
history with you. This understanding of place involves a conception of the way it
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functions, its inner interactions, its interconnections with other places and how it has
changed over time (Gruenewald & Smith, eds., 2008).
My sense of place began to develop as a child through explorations of the place
where I grew up. I was always curious about the world around me wanting to explore
and learn as much as I could. This curiosity is something I believe all children have as
they discover the world they live in and can serve as a catalyst for learning.
I grew up on a small dairy farm in northeastern Minnesota and as the youngest of
nine children I had a lot of space and time to explore. Much of my learning occurred in
this rural landscape exploring the forests, fields and wetlands on our farm. My parents
were also avid travelers to our Country’s national and state parks. With my mother and
father as my guides into human and natural history they also became a love of mine.
Visiting these places, seeing wildlife in their natural ecosystems and learning about our
nation’s heritage fueled my interest and expanded my understanding of my community’s
place in my country. It also brought home the interconnectedness of ecosystems and
people throughout out our nation. This idea of interconnectedness for me expanded to
the globe as I learned and explored new subjects throughout high school and into college.
I furthered my study of sense of place and the idea of education connected to
place in college. In this backdrop through studies in Environmental Science and History
I learned more about discovering the stories of places and the importance of these stories
in our lives. Studying both natural history and human history and ways we have
transformed each other gives a clear view of how stories can teach about living in the
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world and how our actions affect not only our lives but the places that we live and the
health of the earth.
In college I also discovered more about how I learn as a student. Learning about
things through direct interaction and study such as field study –going out to study plants
and animals where they live – has enriched and fed my thirst for understanding and my
connection to the knowledge I am gaining.
I found that being in nature was important to me, but also that connecting to
others was important too. Realizing this I have looked for more and more ways to make
projects hands on experiences, and to connect what I learned about nature and history.
In my senior capstone at St. Olaf College the theme was Sense of Place. This opened up
a way of learning in depth about all the things that make a place what it is; the
interactions between people, the environment and other places. It gave me a name for my
own connection to the place I grew up in. My understanding of the natural world and how
people relate and connect to it have been further enhanced through my time in graduate
school at Hamline University, where I got the chance to gain a deeper understanding of
not only the science, but the emotional, spiritual and physiological importance of the
natural world in my life and that of others.
Most of my life I have cared about the environment but I had never truly
understood how big the problems could be or how much they could affect people until I
entered college and through my graduate studies. Our planet is a delicate balance of
interconnected ecosystems and earth systems that allow life to flourish and diversify.
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Humans are a part of that balance. Because of this protection of the environment is not
only for the intrinsic right of all species to exist but is also inevitably for humans also.
Without concern over how our actions affect the environment there would not be
clean air, fresh water, or food to support our basic needs but we would also lose the
beauty, wonder, and connections we have with other species if we were to lose the
diversity of ecosystems on Earth (Callicott and Nelson, 1998). The ways we think about
and interact with the environment not only affect the environment but also other human
beings. Passing on knowledge to others and creating actions of care for the environment
and other people is something that I feel is very important for a healthy world.
“That man is, in fact, only a member of a biotic community is shown by an ecological interpretation of history. Many historical events, hitherto explained solely in terms of human enterprise, were actually biotic interactions between people and the land. The characteristics of the land determined the facts quite as potently as the characteristics of the men who lived on it.” -Aldo Leopold, (1989, p.205) This quote by Leopold summarizes the fact that we as humans are not separate
from the natural world. We are connected, affect and are affected by all that happens to
the interconnected systems that make up earth. These systems include but are not limited
to the mixture of air in the atmosphere, sun, water, soil, rocks, and all the species of
plants and animals in ecosystems that make all the life we have on earth possible.
Education plays an important role in how we interact with the rest of life found on Earth,
influencing the affect we have in the health of our planet.
As a Naturalist at Audubon Center of the North Woods I have also come to see
how hands on experiences in combination with sense of place knowledge enhanced what
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I could provide students in terms of understanding their connection to the natural world
and encouraging actions to care for the health of earth. Naturalists are outdoor educators
who teach K-12 students and adults about the natural world through a variety of subjects.
As a Naturalist I teach about things I care about: the plants, animals, and ecosystems of
Earth, and relationships people have had and do have with the earth and each other. At
the Audubon Center I have also had the pleasure of caring for and educating students
about our educational animals including reptiles, amphibians, insects and non-releasable
rehabilitated birds of prey – that live in captivity as ambassadors for their species.
I know some of my own first moments of connection to the natural world
included moments meeting wildlife for the first time and being in awe of the experience.
As an educator I have found that students have things to teach educators as well through
their own experiences and stories. This sharing of ideas and knowledge is what makes
learning so exciting. It is also exciting when you see students find something they want
to learn about, and when they connect it to other things they know, to their own lives.
What I really love about teaching as a Naturalist is being outside with students where
they can explore the subject first hand and develop their own connection with what they
are learning about. I want to provide those moments for connection to the natural world
and to each other and hope that this makes them want to seek out other such moments in
their lives, in school, at home, in their community and in their travels.
Though I hope to have an influence on students learning most of their education
will happen from within a classroom setting. I have found learning that is most
meaningful is often directed by my own interest or when it connects to my own life in
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some way. The realization that everyone learns differently has also lead me to search for
teaching techniques that allow students to learn in the ways they do best guided by their
interest but also exposing them to different ways of learning.
Heritage Projects
My research question is how can I help enhance the classroom experience to
make learning as fun as possible for students, for learning to be something they want to
do and to connect students to the places where they live creating actions that show care
for both the natural world and people.
One answer for me has come in the discovery of a teaching technique that uses
community based education called Heritage Projects. I first came in contact with the idea
through a class on Place-Based Education during my graduate studies. For one of our
assignments we had the option of reading an article of our choice for the discussion and
my interest was caught by one on Heritage Projects. In this research I will explore the
concept of Heritage Projects and how they have affected the learning experiences of the
students and teachers who have participated in them and the challenges involved.
Community-Based Education returns to an earlier educational model where learning is
more connected to the real world and the community where students live (Diamond,
1997; Louv, 2005). It has developed as part of the place based education model. Place
based education as described by David Sobel (2004) in his book Place Based Education
"…the process of using the local community and the environment as a starting point to teach concepts in language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and other subjects across the curriculum. Emphasizing hands-on, real world learning experiences, this approach to education
is defined as:
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increases academic achievement, helps students develop stronger ties to their community, enhances students’ appreciation for the natural world and creates a heightened commitment to serving as active, contributing citizens." (p. 7)
What better way to make a subject interesting to learn than to make it relevant to
students' lives, to where they live, their community? In my research I have found that
Heritage Projects in the communities where they are taking place have the power to do
this for students.
The idea of Heritage Projects comes out of a state wide project carried out in both
Montana and Arizona by students and teachers. Heritage Projects actively engage
students with their community in the exploration of its heritage through a wide variety of
interdisciplinary subjects. This often takes the form of research on historical, scientific,
and genealogical resources, interviews with community members and local experts, visits
to local community buildings and local businesses, exploration of the natural
environment through people in their community and the active involvement of
(http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/index.html). The story of ecosystems that need our
attention is not a new one, but one that needs to be heard and solutions found. In a world
where environmental crisis in many situations have come to pass in the form of pollution,
extinctions and habitat losses that have negatively begun to change the ecosystems that
we all rely on and where global warming has become a recognized threat; finding new
ways to live that are environmentally friendly and still provide what we need are very
important. Investing in our communities through education connected to place is one
way to reach toward that goal (Orr, 2004).
Community-based education has two big benefits: it fits many different learning
styles enhancing academic performance and it gives learning a deeper meaning and
purpose for students connecting ideas and actions to the world they live in. In terms of
environmental education it means a deeper understanding of and interaction with the
immediate environment that students live in and the health of that environment both
natural and man-made. This connection is needed for the development of care for the
environment and actions that are environmentally friendly in everyday life (Louv, 2005).
As Stephen Trimble (1994) explores in the book he coauthored with Nabhan, The
Geography of Childhood, for children learning that is connected to where they live and
to time spent outside is important both for developing a connection to the Earth and a
sense of belonging in the world they inhabit (Trimble and Nabhan 1994).
Trimble states, “For ourselves, and for our planet, we must be strong and strongly connected—with each other and with the earth. As children, we need time to wander, to be outside, to nibble on icicles and to lie back and contemplate clouds and chickadees. These simple acts forge the connections that define a land of one’s own…” (p.75).
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Sobel (2004) in his book Place-based Education, takes this idea further to
education that encompasses both the human and natural world creating learning that
studies the whole place where students live building academic achievement, creating
social capital and environmental quality as a holistic way of learning and living in the
world. He calls this type of learning, the “three legged stool” where education is built
through a connection of these values that strengthen students and their communities
(p.36). Providing students not only the skills needed to succeed in school but in the
“real” world.
This type of learning can be wholly conceptualized through the ecological model
of place represented below. This model places learning within the context of place
encompassing cultural, social, political, local, national, global and ecological perspectives
that affects students’ lives in the “real” world (Hutchison, 2004).
Place-Based Education has many benefits to offer both students and teachers.
One of those benefits is the ability to excel academically. Place-Based Education is
especially effective in this area because as the studies below will illustrate, they ignite
enthusiasm and make learning hands on, where students actively use the skills they are
learning to study concepts in-depth with a core built on the study the local community
that gives them a meaningful starting place to understand these concepts in the larger
context of the global world.
Throughout the nation schools look for ways to help their teachers and students
meet standards. Some schools have turned to Place-Based Education as an answer.
James Lewicki in his article, 100 Days of Learning in Place: How a Small School
Utilized “Place-Based” Learning To Master State Academic Standards, describes how a
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school in Wisconsin developed and used Place-Based curriculum for a school year with
twenty five ninth graders. Lewicki (2000) states about Place-Based Education: “Place
Based learning activates our passions, draws emotions up alongside our intellect and
forces action consistent with our beliefs” (p. 3).
During his year-long experiment with Place-Based Education Lewicki studied the
difference in test scores before and after the use of Place-Based curriculum with students,
in September and June. To do this the students were given the Iowa Test of Educational
Development. Lewicki found that students after their year with place based curriculum
improved on their September scores across the board in science, social studies, reading,
math, writing, sources of information, literary skills and composite grade equivalent.
Their composite grade equivalent or overall knowledge level went from “9.6 (equal to an
average level at the middle of the 9th grade) to 12.5 (equal to an average level at the end
of 12th grade)” (Lewicki, 2000, p.7).
Smith in his study on place based education in his article Place-Based Education:
Learning To Be Where We Are, also found that many schools had a notable improvement
in academic performance among students (Smith, 2002). In Fairbanks, Alaska an
elementary school whose students had previously been struggling found a marked
improvement in students’ performance with the implementation of a science and math
curriculum that used the natural world as a base for study. The new curriculum made
possible through a grant got the students outside the traditional classroom into their local
ecosystems and helped them recognize their potential as they went from underperforming
academically to students recognized for their skills in science and problem solving
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(Smith, 2002). This is a similar story being heard in schools across the nation as they try
this “new” approach to learning.
Louv also describes how place based education has been shown to improve
achievement in schools. In his book, Last Child In the Woods, he describes the findings
of the State Education and Environmental Roundtable in their report “Closing the
Achievement Gap”. In 2002 they reported on what they had found in a study covering ten
years with 150 schools in 16 states in their performance on standardized tests. In these
schools, since using Place-Based models students were not only succeeding but also
making gains on standardized tests and in grade point averages in the areas of math,
science, language arts and social studies along with developing problem solving skills,
critical thinking and decision making (Louv, 2005).
David Sobel in another independent review of Place-Based Education had similar
findings. Especially in reading skills students routinely outperformed their peers learning
in traditional classrooms. Studying this further Louv found that in Hotchkiss Elementary
School in Dallas, Texas fourth grade students were outperforming their peers statewide.
Other schools throughout the state had only seen an increase on one percent in academic
achievement whereas Hotchkiss saw a thirteen percent increase with their Place-Based
program (Louv, 2005).
Schools in Alaskan districts working with AKRSI and Place-Based Education
have also seen an improvement in academic success and keeping students in school. The
Russian Mission School, went from a school with some of the lowest test scores and one
third of students between 12 and 16 years of age not attending school to a school where
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all school age children attend and test scores improved. In the state their third graders
attained the highest scores statewide and they had an increase in the number of
graduating seniors (Loveland, 2003).
Similar improvements in student performance have been found in places like
Portland, Oregon. Here the Environmental Middle School has an impressive 96 percent
of its eighth grade students meeting or exceeding State standards compared to peers
schools that have had only a 65 percent improvement (Louv, 2005). Their program
involves not only study of their local rivers, mountains and forests but also service
projects planting native species and improving the health of their local environment. In
North Carolina fourth grade students in Asheville saw a 31 percent increase in the area of
math with their Place-Based program and an increase in standard requirements statewide
while similar fourth grade classes in other schools only had a 15 percent increase of
students performing at the “proficient level” (Louv, 2005).
For Lewicki the test scores helped face some of the concerns he has heard from
teachers in relation to Place-Based curriculum, which requires out of class learning in the
community. This concern is that the non-classroom environment would not measure up
to the rigor of a regular classroom setting and that in such a setting it would be hard to
meet testing standards and goals. He states “learning in the community works and
moreover, it works
During the school year at Kickapoo River Institute in Wisconsin, curriculum was
focused around three themes: Nature and Technology; Energy, Ecosystems and
well enough for students to master complex state standards” (Lewicki,
2000, p. 3).
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Economics; and The Kickapoo Valley: A BioRegional Map. Through these themes they
studied subjects like local civil war veterans, a local wetland, geologic history, and the
Kickapoo River and participated in service projects (Lewicki, 2000). The success of their
year with Place-Based Education was not only reflected in test scores but in the pride and
understanding students took away with them about their community and their work.
Lewicki (2000) included quotes from some student on their experience that illustrate the
value of this type of learning not only for education but for personal growth:
“Dear Kickapoo Valley, For the time I have spent in your valleys, among your wooded forests and on your river I would like to thank you…so many wonderful things comes from you. My friends, my education and a full year of beauty of being introduced to the existence of your range are just a few. I value your vastness in variety, from the tops of your ridges to the bottom of your streams; your diversity in life is amazing. I respect the communities that live along you for their courage and determination. …They must feel a special connection towards you, like me. Peacefulness on your hills, joy & refreshment hiking throughout your forests will always be something that makes me what I am. For all of this, thank-you…” “An island in time. Perhaps that is what the Kickapoo Valley is, a home to a diverse number of plants, animals, and people. Its rolling hills give a comfort to the different species of the valley. It has been, and will continue to be the place I think of as home…” (p.9) Place-Based Education in their school provided what students needed to meet
testing standards, but also gave them the chance to learn more about their community and
give back in that knowledge. Lewicki sees Place-Based Education as a model of
possibilities in many formats and over different amounts of time that offer community
learning opportunities and issues to develop learning on a new level that meets and
exceeds standards. There is a growing recognition of the benefits to students involved in
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these types of programs and an increase in the number of educational institutions
beginning to implement them into their curriculum. One of these benefits is that it opens
up learning in a way that students who have struggled in the traditional classroom setting
get a chance to learn from firsthand experience rather than what they have previously
only read in books. The examples studied in this section illustrated the difference it can
make in student motivation and engagement as students become immersed in the study of
the place where they live.
Place-Based Education Programs in the United States
“All places, are deserving of our attention respect, and care” (Gruenewald & Smith, 2008 p.xix). Another benefit of Place-Based Education is that it can be tailored to any
community across the nation and world. Louv’s study on education and nature included
an observation from the director of the State Education and Environmental Roundtable,
Gerald Lieberman. His statement highlights the diversity of subjects and research
students can add to the fabric of knowledge. He states, “Since the ecosystems
surrounding schools and their communities vary as dramatically as the nation’s
26
landscape, the term ‘environment’ may mean different things at every school; it may be a
river, a city park, or a garden carved out of an asphalt playground” (Louv, 2005). This
richness of experiences in learning is reflected in different Place-Based Education
projects around the nation as students explore their communities.
Smith (2002) found in a recent study on forty of the schools that use the cultural,
social and natural features of their communities in their education process that:
“ students act more independently and responsibly, display pride in and ownership of their accomplishments, exhibit improved discipline and self-control and academically outperform their traditionally instructed peers…and earned higher grade point averages, demonstrated better behavior, and scored higher on standardized tests in language arts, math, and social studies” (P. 33).
Placed-Based Education not only offers these academic achievements but can help teach
students more about themselves. Many students who may not thrive as much in the
traditional classroom are given an opportunity to find new areas of achievement in the
community as a classroom setting (Smith, 2002).
Smith explores Place-Based Education in his article, Going Local, looking at
schools in Oregon, Maine and Massachusetts. As he states, “By locating learning in the
lives and concerns of students and their communities, place based education takes
advantage of students’ natural interest in the world and their desire to be valued by
others” (Smith, 2002, p. 30). It also gives students the opportunity to generate knowledge
rather than just consume it with their questions and interests as the core of the curriculum
they are learning. Schools participating in place based education often pair with state or
national projects such as the Coalition for Community Schools, the Center for Eco-
27
literacy in CA, the Rural School and Community Trust and the Orion Society’s watershed
projects (Smith 2002).
Some students at Open Meadows School in Portland, Oregon reported to Smith
about some of the discoveries they made about themselves after completing their
projects. In one project one student found that making a difference for little kids in
reading and working with younger kids is something she might want to do in the future as
a career. Another student through the mapping of a wetland found they could use
computers and that it could be interesting and fun. Another student told Smith that in
doing their activity that they were not only learning new skills but also how to be part of
their community (Smith, 2002). These are the stories of Place-Based Education from one
school and they echo what is happening in other places with students and teachers.
In Portland, Oregon 6th-8th grade students engage in a number of Place-Based
Education projects at the Environmental Middle School. Their studies focus around
rivers, mountains and forests in their curriculum on social studies, math, language arts
and science. Their learning is hands-on including taking field trips to local ecosystems
and then going onto learn about similar places in other parts of the world (Smith 2002).
They not only study but generate information and take an active role in addressing issues
in their community.
Students have visited the local wetlands surveying wildlife and plants and testing
water quality, visited the local waste water facility, watched a play in Spanish at a local
theater and worked on a native plant garden in the school yard. Water samples collected
and studied by students are also part of a report to the Portland’s Bureau of
28
Environmental Services connecting them to their state government through their research
(Smith, 2002).
They are also involved in projects to remove invasive species, promoting the use
of native plants in landscaping and to help preserve salmon habitat, the planting of
community gardens, and a community recycling program. Students also engage in
community service projects working as reading tutors to younger students, helping serve
meals to homeless and low-income families, leading nature walks for elementary students
and helping keep the local food shelf stocked (Smith, 2002).
In Louv’s study of this school’s program he found that as students study the local
rivers, mountains and forests they also often exceed in meeting standards compared to
students in similar middle schools that used traditional classrooms instead of the Place-
Based model. Ninety six percent of students at the Environmental Middle School meet or
exceed state standards compared to the sixty five percent that these other middle schools
achieve with their students (Louv, 2005).
Place-Based Education programs connect students to their community and also
offer their neighbors the chance learn and grow with them through their projects. In
Henderson, Nebraska at Heartland Community School fourth grade students produced a
play depicting events their ancestors lived through in the 1800s. It not only taught
students about their heritage but also educated the 400 community members who watched
it about some of their ancestors and history as well (Smith, 2002).
In similar program in a native Alaskan community at Akula School in the Yup’ik
village of Kasigluk, students study their community through a variety of subjects,
29
learning more about their heritage and developing the skills to build a website to share
their findings with others. On the site they include information on local elders, Yup’ik
values, subsistence practices, science, and basket ball in both English and Yup’ik;
teaching others as they learn (Smith, 2002).
Students through Place-Based Education projects can also contribute to the
understanding other community members have of the place where they live and engage
them in the education process. At Fremont High School in Oakland, California the
Media Academy engages students in learning projects that incorporate community
members and provide service to the community as they complete their 11th and 12th grade
required writing and English courses developing the skills they need to succeed
academically and help prepare them for a career in media (Smith, 2002). The students
are responsible for publishing a number of newspapers, public service documents and the
yearbook. Their learning is self-directed. And the program also gets them in contact
with media professionals working in their community who help teach portions of class
and who help provide internships for students (Smith, 2002).
For Native communities Place-Based Education can revitalize native culture and
demonstrate to students that they are an important part of that culture. In Kamai, Alaska
students published articles on their Native Alaskan culture and on Kodiak Island a similar
project called Elwani took place around the same time in the 1980s. Today Alaskan
Native schools are working on integrating Native knowledge into the public school
system curriculum (Smith, 2002).
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Place-Based Education is having a positive impact on learning in many schools
who have integrated it into their school’s curriculum. Loveland in her article Achieving
Academic Goals Through Place-Based Learning: Students in Five States Show How to
Do It explores place based education in Alaska, Oregon, Colorado, Nebraska and
California. In Alaska the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative (AKRSI) collaborates with 20
of 48 rural school districts on initiating and documenting their place based education
programs. In these schools Place-Based Education provides the backdrop for the
combination of indigenous knowledge and Western knowledge systems while helping
students meet school state standards. AKRSI helps develop curriculum and provides
assessment tools for each school (Loveland, 2003).
Students in these school districts participate in a number of different Place-Based
projects. They include: subsistence camps learning about traditional Native subsistence
traditions, creation of multimedia presentations on CD and the Internet on interviews
with Elders and indigenous knowledge systems, develop cultural atlas and participate in
Native science fairs (Loveland, 2003).
The Principle of one school reports that there has been a positive change in the
attitude students have toward school along with an improvement in academic
achievement. At their school, curriculum was developed between teachers and
community members resulting in Place-Based projects like seasonal two week
subsistence camps learning about hunting, medicinal plants, fishing and animal habitats.
The curriculum in the classroom then is built around this experience where they research
31
local history, write papers, share photos and educate others about traditional Native
traditions through websites they create (Loveland, 2003).
In San Bernardino, California elementary students use their local pond, vegetable
garden and local greenhouse and arboretum to study microscopic organisms, aquatic
insects and plant. High School students and teachers in Florida explore language,
economics, art, math, biology and chemistry using their local Econfina River. Middle
School students in Pennsylvania learn about statistics, fractions, percentages and
interpreting graphs and charts through data they collect from their local stream. They not
only learn these skills but go beyond them to the health and issues connected to the
stream and their community (Louv, 2005). Studying their community connects the skills
and concepts to something real that they can actively engage with, in the man-made and
natural environment. Through this process, learning becomes more than learning to pass
tests to something that enriches the lives of both the students and their communities.
Place-Based and Community-Based Education Service Projects:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” –Margret Mead (1901-1978)
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Place -Based Education projects not only improve academics and connect
students to the place where they live but also help teach students that their actions and
activities are important and can create positive change in their communities. On a greater
scale it helps them realize they have value and can make a difference. Often in schools
with Place-Based learning this takes the form of service projects that help the community
in different ways (Smith, 2002).
At Environmental Middle School in Oregon this has taken the form of student
involvement in a number of service projects such as building raised garden beds at a tent
village for homeless people, visiting local children in a cerebral palsy center, collecting
canned food for the food bank, and the creation of a park (Smith, 2002).
In Maine, Smith found that the state encourages teachers in the Place-Based
Education model to involve students in local data gathering and decision making. A
group of 5th grade students were involved in helping gather information for a report on
the needs of county parks that they presented to the county parks commission for
improvements in local parks (Smith, 2002). Service projects like this help students use
the skills they are learning in real life situations to help their communities while engaging
in learning.
Another class monitors their local mudflats posting their findings on the city
website on things like red tides and contamination warnings. Students in Massachusetts
at Greater Eggleston Community School also contributed to local data collection. Based
on the data they helped collect, they worked on monitoring and improving air quality in
their state by lobbying (Smith, 2002).
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Similar things are happening in Oregon where Tillamook Junior High School is
located. The school focuses on service learning and leadership through their Place-based
education projects. Students helped the Oregon Department of Forestry in a four year
survey of the number of snags left by loggers. This helped the Forestry Department
measure the health of logged areas for animal habitat and taught the students about the
importance of what they were learning in everyday situations (Loveland, 2003).
Eighth graders from the same school also working with the Oregon Forestry
Department created an interpretive walkway of animal tracks for the department’s office
building (Loveland, 2003). This project was part of the classes’ math class. They were
required to work in research teams studying different animal tracks, using plotting and
graphing to accurately represent animal pacing and draw them to scale on paper before
they would be transferred to life size on another paper and applied to the cement
walkway. They also had to calculate the volume of cement needed and the cost of the
cement for their animal tracks in the walkway (Loveland, 2003). In this way learning is
connected to meaningful contribution to the community they live in. It makes class
something that touches the real world and teaches students not only the content they need
but that they can also have an impact on the world.
Loveland found that the teacher was really happy with the project and the way it
helped demonstrate to students how math skills are used in real life. The teacher also
found that this project motivated some of the students that were falling behind and
missing class to show up on time and she noticed an improvement in grades. One student
in the article stated that to get the tracks made before the cement dried “timing was
34
everything –we had to work together to get the job done” (Loveland, 2003 p.8). The
educational specialist from the Department of Forestry was very happy with the work the
students did and said “not only did they benefit from learning, but it will continue to
teach the visiting public” (Loveland, 2003, p.8). Students not only learned about applying
math to everyday life but also about working together in their community.
In Colorado the K-8 grade students at Guffey Community Charter School learn
about collecting scientific data while working with the Denver Museum of Nature and
Science on a program called “All Sky” (Loveland, 2003). Through this program
students learn about meteorite movement across their state and in their local community
and are actively involved in the collection of scientific data that the museum uses to learn
more about meteorite patterns in the solar system and to teach the local community.
Loveland found that nearly half of the student body participates in this open program.
Students not only learn about the scientific inquiry process but get to see how the data
they collects goes toward answering scientific questions in their local community
(Loveland, 2003).
Similar programs are having positive impacts on learning in Albion, Nebraska.
Albion Boone Central High School has enhanced business classes providing real world
skills by giving students firsthand experience in running a business of their own. This
was made possible by a student initiative to save a theatre that had been in their
community since 1911. Raising funds to purchase and run the theatre students and
community volunteers keep this part of their community’s history active and living while
35
learning valuable business skills as entrepreneurs (Loveland, 2003). Similar finding are
occurring all over the nation.
In Seaside, Oregon students helped the local Fire Department evaluate how
effective their public service announcements about changing batteries in smoke detectors
were. The students conducted questionnaires with local residents. Their finding showed
that the Fire Department would need a different strategy to get residents to keep their
smoke detectors in working order. The experience gave students of taste of research and
analysis of results while helping the Fire Department evaluate their program (Smith,
2002).
At Seaside the high school calculus class was also involved in a project
concerning the city’s emergency planning. Seaside has experienced tidal waves in the
past and preparing for what could happen in the event of one is important to the safety all
of the residents in the community. Emergency planning agencies were working on
constructing a model that would demonstrate how far different strength waves might
reach and the amount of damage that could occur. To do this they took measurement of
structures of the city closest to the beach. The high school students assisted in the
collection of these measurements, allowing them to use math to assist their community
prepare for a potential emergency (Smith, 2002).
In his article Place-Based Education Learning To Be Where We Are, Smith
explores further the theory and practice of Place-Based Education in action. Through his
study he spent time reviewing the ideas behind Place-Based Education and benefits he
sees for the students and for their communities as their studies contribute to improvement
36
and problem solving in their community. In Astoria, Oregon he spent time with high
schools students involved in an upward bound program at Clatsop Community College
(Smith, 2002). Through this program students spent time out in the local Neawanna
Estuary collecting data on features that made good habitat for salmon, birds and other
wildlife in the area. The data they collected would be made into maps that would help
with the development, management and conservation of a nature center and park. For
students it was important to know that what they were doing applied to real life and was
useful. It also got them out exploring more of the natural world and enjoying being out in
the water as they learned concepts and skills used in science and needed for school
(Smith, 2002).
Other programs collecting data in studying their local community also use what
they learn to help their community in a number of different ways. High School students
in Glenwood Springs, Colorado were involved in a number of projects benefiting their
community. They planned and supervised the development of a small local city park and
working with city planners helped with the creation of park and pedestrian mall along the
Colorado River for local citizens (Louv, 2005).
Students at Greater Egleston Community High School in Boston, Massachusetts
are actively involved in air pollution issues in their community. They collect data,
analyze and share the knowledge they gain through their studies on the issues with local
residents and politicians. Through this process they have become actively involved in
looking for monitoring and solutions to this problem in their community. Students
assisted in getting air-quality monitoring equipment installed and are actively lobbying to
37
get legislation instated to give those negatively affected by air pollution protection
comparable to that of the endangered species act (Smith 2002).
In North Portland, Oregon 5th graders came together with community members to
make a local playground and park an inviting and safe place. Through this project they
developed a plan to redesign the playground and clean up the area, which had been
subjected to graffiti and vandalism and organized a day for the whole community to work
on making this change. The project allowed them to put math, artwork, engineering and
science to work to restore this green space for their community (Smith 2002).
In another school Smith found that a similar project helped students understand
some of the complexities of the issues that they worked at solving. In their area runoff
water was negatively affecting trees at their school. To solve this problem they worked
together to create a wetland and a plan to redirect the water runoff to their new wetland.
In working on this project they learned that there were other factors outside of their
school grounds affecting the amount of runoff they were dealing with and that to solve
the problem they needed to work others in the community outside the school grounds
(Smith, 2002)
Another group of students worked on restoring a green space in their community
through the planting of trees and working to reduce the amount of litter in the area.
Smith found that during the projects students felt able to stand up for their work and to
encourage their peers not to litter or damage the new trees. Some students even began
working to reduce the amount of litter in another nearby park (Smith, 2002).
38
Service projects provide a way for students to actively help their community as
they learn, empowering them with knowledge that the skills, ideas and actions they are
applying through their education are making a difference in the place where they live.
Smith found that other projects students were engaged in included things like the
implementation of water conservation, investigation of homeless and hunger in their
community, composting, native plant restoration, planting gardens and books on what to
do during an earthquake (Smith, 2002).
Students through these programs not only learned about the content they needed
for their education but learned in a way that connected to their community and allowed
them to make a difference there. Many of these projects were possible only through
funding from organization and foundations recognizing the importance of the work
students were engaged in through their school and their study of the place where they
live.
Place-Based Education Partnerships with Local, National and International Organizations
Heritage Projects have developed out of partnerships between communities,
organizations, teachers and students, with organizations providing opportunities for
education to become connected to the places of everyday life for students. The first, the
Montana Heritage Project started through a partnership with the Library of Congress
American Folklife Center, financial support of the Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg
foundations, a conglomerate of Montana organizations and Montana Schools and
Communities (www.montanaheritageproject.org). Partnerships were also vital to the
creation of the Arizona Heritage Project. The Library of Congress American Folklife
Center, the Sharlot Hall Museum, the Arizona Republic, SRP and Wells Fargo partnered
with the state of Arizona to make Heritage Projects possible for teachers and students in
communities across the state (http://azheritageproject.org). Currently the states of
Wyoming, New Hampshire, Washington, Louisiana, and Oregon are developing Heritage
Projects to engage their students and teachers in Community-Based Education (Umphrey,
2002).
Umphrey (1997) states the importance of Heritage Projects for students and their
communities is,
“…by making their home communities the focus of study, teachers find that many students become motivated. Furthermore, local studies projects generate enthusiasm and collaboration from adults that is rare for academic work. ..Community recognition lets students know that what they are doing matters, and they begin to feel a stronger sense of belonging and responsibility” (p. 3) Heritage Projects require students to go out and actively engage with others in
their community. Students investigate different areas of the community while developing
academic skills they need for school. Projects can include students interviewing
“Students conduct research at public community gatherings and in such places as people’s homes, lumber mills and fire stations, and in libraries and archives. Students learn to critically analyze and interpret texts of all kinds and turn raw data into interpretive exhibits and scholarly products and preserving their research findings for use by the local community and by the next generation of scholars.” –American FolkLife Center (http://www.loc.gov/folklife/edresources/ed-heritage.html )
Mission To connect student learning to the place where they live by focusing study on the resources (people, the natural world, businesses, organizations, government, etc.) available in that place
To connect student learning to the community in which they live through study of the community both human and non-human, connecting students to both . Projects are driven by student interests.
How the Mission is accomplished
Students’ learning is brought out of the classroom and into the place where students live engaging them in learning that has “real” world meaning.
The idea of learning in the place where students live is also the focus of study, but as students go out into the community they learn about their place through interaction with other community members and the end result is something they can give back the community where they live from their research.
Hands-on learning, real world applications, academic achievement, creating connections between students lives and what they are learning, creating connection to the place where they live, demonstrating that students can contribute to their community
Hands-on learning, real world applications, academic achievement, creating connections between students lives and what they are learning, demonstrating that students can contribute to their community, connecting students to their communities, engaging students in learning through connection to their interests and passions to drive learning
Challenges Funding, time consuming planning, flexibility, management outside the classroom
Funding, time consuming planning, flexibility, management outside the classroom, complexity of working with community members
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In Chester, Montana students were in engaged in a Heritage Project that also
connected their learning directly to elders in their community. Working with the Liberty
Country Genealogical Society, the English class interviewed elders at the local senior
citizen center. Community volunteers transported students to and from their interviews,
making this project a fully integrated community learning event. The students did
research on the history of the local historical buildings in town and interviewed elders
about them and their importance to the town and the people here and then worked on
writing autobiographies centered on their elder’s relationship to the town and its history
(Umphrey, 1997).
Students at Casa Grande High School in the American Indian Club are involved
in research on culture and history of the local Akimel O’odham and Tohono O’odham
people and the natural world in their community. Their investigation had taken them
into the examination of historical documents, library research and interviews with elders
to form a native plants garden and art exhibit using native knowledge from their
community (Shankar, 2004).
In Tempe, Arizona social studies students at Corona del Sol High School are
conducting a study on the changes that have transformed their community and
surrounding communities since the 1930s. They are investigating the social, economic,
ethnic and educational factors of the migrant workers who built their community and how
the community has developed and grown to the present. Their work resulted in a
traveling exhibit and website to share their findings with community members (Shankar,
2004).
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The service class at Flagstaff Arts and Leadership academy is completing a
Heritage Project on the local Hopi people of their community. Their study explores in-
depth the culinary traditions and food cultivation that shaped Hopi culture. They learned
from elders through interviews and instructions on the construction of special ovens used
in making Hopi bread. Part of their project involved creation of a traditional oven for the
Northern Arizona Museum in Flagstaff and the creation of a training manual for the
museum (Shankar, 2004).
Senior High School students from Harlowton, Montana created a collaborative
book on the history of their community focusing on the Bair family sheep ranch, a center
in their community and the biggest operation in the Nation (Umphrey, 2002). Each
students collected research through study of museum and bank archives, current writings
on ranch culture and through interviews with the family and other community members.
In their community they presented their finding with a multimedia presentation with more
than one hundred people from the community during a Heritage Night. The students also
presented their book to Governor Judy Martz at the state capitol and it will be added to
the collection at the Montana State Historical Society for future and present generations
to enjoy and learn from. Umphrey (2002) quoted one of the students involved in the
project who stated about the Montana Heritage Project, “…it is not just a class—it’s an
adventure!” (p. 1).
Heritage Projects open up wide areas of study through the place students call
home and each study is uniquely shaped by the community being studied. In Roundup,
Montana advanced photography students studied their community through a series of
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photographs, which students took of historic barns in their community. Through their
photographs they explored farming on the Great Plains in the economical, technological
and human perspective with interviews of farmer and other community members and
library research (Umphrey, 2002).
Another group of students in Roundup created a museum in their school.
Drawing on the experiences of their grandparents and other community elders who they
interviewed, they studied their family histories and those of the community. Using their
research and interviews they created interpretive displays with labels, and donated family
heirlooms and act as docents to younger students and community members touring the
museum (Umphrey, 2002).
In Townsend, Montana one English class did a Heritage Project over the school
year on their school’s 85 year history. Students used a variety of resources for their study
conducting research through courthouse records, school yearbooks that began in 1916,
the local newspaper archives and the archives at the Broadwater Museum and Historical
Society. Then they went out into the community and interviewed a broad range of people
involved in the school’s history from students to teachers, principles, school board
members and clerks. Together they created a book to be placed in the local library and
museum and a slide show of their finding for the parent conference that year (Umphrey,
2002).
Dillon, Montana history students also focused on schools in their community for
their project. Students did a comparison study from 1863 to the present on the
Beaverhead County’s rural one and two room schools and present day schools. Through
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this study they developed a number of community resources on education in their area.
Students research the geography of school throughout the county creating a detailed map
of schools past and present. They also developed a timeline of education and schools in
the country and a video of interviews that they conducted with student and teachers both
past and present for the local Beaverhead County Museum learning about how the school
they are a part of has changed and become what it is today (Umphrey, 2002).
In St. Ignatius, Montana a senior English class focused on their town’s history for
their final project. To begin the project their teacher had them walk through town and
think about things they knew had happened there. This got students thinking about not
only the town’s history but their history in that place. At the end of the project students
produced a ten page research paper that included text and interview citations and a file of
maps, historical documents and photographs on the aspect of the town’s history they
focused on (Umphrey, 1997).
As a culmination of the project students gave formal presentations on what they
discovered. On a stormy day community members came out in mass, giving students the
knowledge “that the work they were doing was real and that it mattered” (Umphrey,
1997, p.3). One of the students told Umphrey that one community member told her,
“These projects evoked the memories that have been set aside and forgotten” (Umphrey,
p.3-4). The work that students do on Heritage Projects not only adds meaning for them
but for the community they conduct them in, as it begins to recognize what students can
contribute to the place where they live through education and students connected to place.
“We cannot win this battle to save species & environment without forging an emotional bond between ourselves & nature as well—for we will not fight to save what do not love”. –S.J. Gould (1941-2002)
Connection is something that many school reformers have started to realize is
missing from today’s educational system, something that makes learning meaningful
beyond the earning of grades and test scores (Umphrey, 1997). Umphrey (2007) states,
“They need direct encounters with nature, with historic sites and with people who do and
have done real work. They need to collect analyze, and interpret information, and they
need to learn how to speak with honesty and intelligence. They need to develop their
personal voices, backed by research and made bold by attentive audiences”, (p.xxii).
Umphrey (2002) found through the history of the Montana Heritage Project that
some key values have emerged for students:
• Community itself is an important value
• Attentiveness to the worth of each person, especially the elderly
• Valuing of differences as a way of getting along with one another
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• Awareness that the experiences of “ordinary” individuals and the
understanding they have brought to those experiences are important
sources of learning
• Knowledge of the past is a means to understanding the human experience
• The individual responsibility in helping to preserve and perpetuate those
things that contribute to the well-being of the whole community (p. 5).
Place-Based and Community-Based Education can fulfill a vital role in providing
connections for students to the places where they live; making learning something that is
part of the “real” world they live in. Community-Based Heritage Projects require
students to go beyond the school walls and to become actively involved in their
community as they develop the understanding and the academic skills needed for
academic achievement.
The benefits however go beyond achievement in school, to the creation of
enthusiasm and motivation in learning to something that has meaning in their everyday
lives and to education of not only the mind but the heart as students build connections to
the people, and landscapes of their community, both man-made and natural (Umphrey,
1997). This type of learning creates lifelong learners and strong members of their
communities and places.
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CHAPTER THREE: Methodology
Forming connections with place through the natural world
This study focuses on answering the question: do Heritage Projects effectively
engage students in learning that connects to their “real” lives and interests and that
connects them to the places where they live making school personally meaningful?
Through interview and survey questions administered both through email and phone
conversations I was able to get a picture of Heritage Projects in three different
classrooms. The teachers interviewed had a varied amount of experience in doing
Heritage Projects with their students and were also varied in how they went about using
this teaching technique in their classroom. Each of the teachers focused their semester
long classes around heritage projects working with their High School students
incorporating their areas of study or providing an interdisciplinary class for students to
explore their community.
The questions are designed to both answer the research question, but also to
provide background and an understanding of how this teaching technique works in the
field. Specifically I was looking for responses that through these teachers’ eyes express
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the values they find for their students in using this teaching technique. Overall I wanted
to get a picture of whether or not the benefits to students outweighed the challenges for
teachers in learning focused on studying their community outside the traditional
classroom. I also wanted to see if my findings matched what others have found and what
intuitively seems logical to me in terms of making learning meaningful for students, the
creation of connections to their lives and the places where they live. This is especially
important because connections are the foundation on which students place value and how
what they care about is determined. Those values will influence their decisions and
actions. If Heritage Projects can create connections for students to their education, their
community and the natural world they provide benefits not only for students but for the
places where they live and the world. From teacher’s interview questions I looked for
evidence of:
• The value of education connected to place and community
• Positive changes in attitude toward learning and the place students live
• Why the teachers place value on this teaching technique
• The types of connections that are forged for students in this type of
learning
• Any increase in student engagement in learning and in the community
• Improvements in academic performance
I am also interested in the challenges involved for students and teachers to compare
against the evidence gathered on the benefits for teachers and students. So the questions
also addressed:
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• Challenges and issues associated with Heritage projects for both teachers
and students
• Barriers to conducting Heritage Projects with students
Heritage Project Teacher Interview and Survey Analysis
The first set of questions, 1-6, are posed to gain an idea of teacher background
and experience with Heritage Projects and a description of the Heritage Project process
they use with students. The second set of questions, 7-13, focus on the details of benefits,
barriers and challenges in the teaching technique for teachers and students. The three
teachers are varied in the amount of time in which they have taught using heritage
projects with their students (see figure 4). Even though their years of experience with
Heritage Project teaching vary there were many similarities to their answers from how
projects were conducted to the benefits and barriers in using this teaching technique for
their students and themselves as teachers.
All three teachers work in rural high school settings teaching grades 11th-
12th. Both Dorothea and Darlene are
English teachers while Pam taught an
Interdisiplinary elective using Heritage
Projects. They are all part of state
wide Heritage Projects in their states.
Pam is part of the Arizona Heritage
Project and Darlene and Dorothea
are both part of the Montana Heritage
0
5
10
15
Years Teaching Heritage Projects
Pam Dorothea Darlene
Figure 4
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Project.
Interview/Survey Response Summary:
Below I summarize key findings that came out of the teachers’ answers that were
used in analysis of the effectiveness of Heritage Projects in connecting students to their
education and to their community.
Q 1. How did you become interested in Heritage Projects?
All three teachers got started in Heritage Project teaching with the encouragement
of their principle or head master at their school or the director of the Heritage Project in
their state who introduced the idea to them. It was also intersting to note that two of the
teachers (Dorothea and Pam) also mentioned applying for grants in aswering this
question as the beginning of their journey with heritage projects. Darlene also went to
summer insistutes for training in heritage project teaching. For her this developed a
personal connection as she researched and wrote about her community, just as her
students would do in their Heritage Projects.
Q 2. How did you start doing Heritage Projects with students? What is involved in
carrying out projects with students (training, tools, equipment, community contacts, etc.)?
Getting started, Heritage Projects were a new type of teaching technique for all
three of the teachers and each of them learned how to adapt it to their students and their
community. Dorothea began by looking at what other teachers were doing in their
Heritage Projects. Darlene as she mentioned in the first question went to summer
institutes for training. The following chart summarizes the methods, resources and
equipment that each of the teachers used in doing Heritage Projects with their students.
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Figure 5: Heritage Project Methods, Resources and Equipment
Heritage Projects
Dorothea Pam Darlene
Methods Taking in account the different heritages in their community together the class decides on a subject to study. Then they form questions looking at trends and what has changed and stayed the same. They do primary document research, oral interviews, tape record and transcribe. Then look critically at the information they have and present it to the community. They also focus on honoring community members who helped the students with their research.
The class was an elective that interested students signed up for after hearing the description of what it would involve. The students were introduced to the subject of the study through expert speakers and went on outings throughout the year to do their research. They went to museums, heritage sites, hiked to find ruins and rock art and locations suggested by speakers. Used English, Science, math and Social Studies in the study.
The projects begin with the examination of a book connected the subject they will study. Then students
create an essential question to research.
Students look at primary research,
archives, information from local the local
court house, museum, historical society and professional speakers.
Students meet community contacts
who they can interview through community events
they host. Once their research is complete
they create a final project presentation.
Resources Local Historical Society, Community Members
Expert Speakers, Community Members
Local literature, Community Members, Local Historical Society, Local Museum, American Legion, Local Library, Court House, Newspaper, State Agencies, Radio and Television, Forest Service
Equipment tape recorders, computers
computers, film editing software, video recorders, ipop, cameras
audio, video and photographic equipment, computers, video editing software, power point
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Q 3. Are Heritage Projects integrated throughout your curriculum or something that is
done once a year or more with students? How long do the projects last?
The amount of time Heritage Project took place with students varied by the length
of the class; for all three teachers they tended to last the whole class length from a
semester or quarter to the whole school year.
Q 4. Please describe the Heritage Projects your students have participated in.
The projects varied between the three different communities they occurred in by its
unique history and properties. Similarities in topics studied included Native Americans,
local ranches, veterans and the year 1910 but each project was unique to the community it
occurred in and guided by student interests.
Q 5. How did they decide what to study? What did students use to do their projects
(what resources did they use)?
In all three classrooms the research projects were guided by teachers giving
students a subject to focus on. From there teachers utilized local historical societies,
museums, libraries, archives and other local resources to help students develop the
questions they wanted to research.
Q 6. How long have you taught with Heritage Projects?
See figure 1.
Q 7. What benefits have you noticed compared to traditional classroom teaching
methods for your students?
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Both Dorothea and Pam noted the ways these projects brought relevance to
students connecting their learning to their everyday lives in the “real” world. Dorothea
also noted the positive connections created between students and the community
members they interacted with in their research. Darlene noticed that her students began
to respect and value their community, which previously they were only looking forward
to leaving. This connection is also occurring in reverse where the community has gained
more respect for students and the schools, valuing the work students are doing.
Dorothea also saw a change in attitude as students after working with elders
became more respectful and interested in the academic studies they were doing. Pam
found an improvement in academics for her English-speaking students as they completed
their project. Darlene stated that because the study is driven by student interests they
were motivated to work hard on their projects. Overall the benefits these teachers found
included increased positive attitude toward learning, respect for their community, and an
increase in drive, interest, motivation and academic performance as students completed
Heritage Projects.
One of the major barriers both Pam and Darlene encountered was funding for the
equipment, resources and required community trips projects involved. Another barrier
that all three teachers dealt with was the amount of time Heritage Projects require of
teachers. Darlene notes it is much easier to prepare for “an essay or workbook page”
then to set up community contacts, find community resources for student to research and
to teach students good communication and research skills. Heritage Projects in general
Q 8. What are the barriers to teaching Heritage Projects?
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are time consuming. Dorothea also explained that it requires teachers to be imaginative,
flexible and able to work with the community and to teach students to be respectful as
they work with the community.
Q 9. How have Heritage Projects affected student learning abilities and attitudes?
All three teachers found that Heritage Projects created pride in students for the
academic work they were doing. The connection to what students were interested in that
made each project individual engaged students in the learning they were doing and
created as Pam notes a sense of “ownership” of their work and allowed them to use real
life skills. It made students care about what they were learning and the community they
were studying.
Q 10. Has this teaching technique from observations with your students positively
affected student grades, test scores, or in general student achievement? Do you have data
or evidence that you could share with me for my project?
All three teachers found that their students had good academic achievement
during their Heritage Projects. Dorothea states that she never had to worry about meeting
standards and test scores because throughout the time she taught Heritage Projects her
students performed well on both. Darlene found that because students knew their work
would be published and read by others in their community it held them to higher writing
standards and encouraged students to put more effort and dedication into their projects.
The best evidence for teachers of the benefits academically came not only from
test scores but also from feedback from the students and their college professors who
hold their work up as examples of standards for other students to follow.
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The quality of the academic work students do is also evident in the things they
produce for their community out of the project. Pam sent the DVD her students made
and it demonstrates this high quality of academic work, which she describes as
outstanding.
Q 11. In your experience what are the negatives or issues you had to deal with in
teaching Heritage Projects?
Two teachers brought up issues with getting support from their school
administrations and other teachers. Pam also mentioned funding again. Darlene and
Dorothea emphasized the complexities of working with the community, making sure that
students are respectful and making sure they take good care of anything a community
member shares with them be it knowledge or artifacts for their research.
Q 12. As a teacher what are the biggest rewards of doing heritage projects with students?
One of the biggest rewards for teachers was to see how the projects engaged
students’ interests and the excitement in exploring and giving back to their communities
through their presentations. Dorothea states “ I would give anything if my grandchildren
asked me the questions my students asked community members, to have those types of
conversations.” Pam noted that some of her students were so motivated that they even
worked over their holiday breaks on their projects and Darlene was very proud of the way
her students would take charge planning heritage nights to share with the community the
work they had done on their projects.
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Q 13. In your opinion have students developed a stronger connection and understanding
of their community? If so, how? Or what changes have you observed? Please give
examples if possible.
All three teachers found that through the projects students became more
connected to the community. The projects gave students an understanding of what all
the individuals they interviewed had contributed to the community and learned more
about individual people they might not have met otherwise along with the events that
shaped the place where they live. Through the projects students not only learned more
about their communities, but developed friendships and appreciation for the place where
they live and community members they share it with.
Interview/Survey Analysis:
The experiences of these three teachers echo the findings of others that Heritage
Projects do engage students in learning through connection to their interests, their
everyday lives and their communities. Although all three teachers have taught Heritage
Projects for different lengths of time from one to ten years, they all provided similar
findings on the benefits projects provide students. The barriers and challenge while
important to examine were overcome by these dedicated teachers and did not seem to dim
their enthusiasm and pride in what this teaching technique provided their students. The
barriers and challenges however are something to keep in mind for any educators
interested in using this teaching method with students. The very fact that one of the
teachers has used Heritage Projects with her students for ten years is also evidence for the
benefits it provides for students.
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Many of the teachers provided personal stories on how Heritage Projects have
affected their students lives in positive ways (see teacher answer transcripts in the
Appendix) making learning meaningful while connecting them to their community.
Many of the benefits emphasized by their stories go beyond what the teachers have seen
in the positive measurement of student academic achievement to the way students feel
about themselves and their communities.
Benefits for students and their communities emphasized by this study include:
• Learning that has relevance to students lives
• Learning driven by student interests increasing motivation
• Creating pride in and dedication to learning
• Use of real life skills
• Respect for academic study and for the community
• Appreciation and connection to the community
• Original and creative research
• Public speaking skills
• Teamwork skills
• Creating interest in the health of their community and respect for all the people
and organisms they share it with
• Problem solving
• Contribution to their community
• Learning to ask questions and think critically
• Ability to locate local resources
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• The value of local voices
• The acknowledgment that elders and their wisdom still have a role to play in the
education of young people
• Ownership of their education
• A deeper understanding of the place where they live
• Increased confidence in the importance of the work that they do and its value to
their community
• Evidence that working together they can make positive differences in their
communities
The ability of Heritage Projects to build connections for students is something that is
growing rarer in K-12 schools today. Connection as is shown by these three classrooms
holds the power to rejuvenate student engagement and interest in learning. It gives
personal meaning to learning for students and makes it something they want to do rather
than something they are required to do. It also has the power to reconnect students to the
places where they live, encouraging them not only to learn about those places but to also
give back to them.
A big focus of the Heritage Projects was to produce something to share with their
community from the studies students conducted. The very sharing of what they found in
all of the classrooms held students to a higher standard in their work. It also forges a
connection for the community to students and school, making their work something that
is valued and appreciated just as students learn to value and appreciate their community.
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These connections motivate students’ interest in learning and the building of skills they
need to succeed in both academic study and in real life. Education then goes beyond
meeting standards to the nurturing of students as valuable members of their community
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part
limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical
delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affections for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” –Albert Einstein
(1879-1955)
Reflection
Making learning meaningful is something that all educators strive for. We all look
for that special spark that ignites the passions and imagination of students in learning. I
have come to realize from my own experiences with learning and teaching and the stories
of others that meaning comes through connections we develop throughout our lives but
especially in the formative years we spend in primary and secondary education.
Instinctively we seek connections to make sense of the world. It is a need for the
connection of our individual world to those of others and to place. The need for place is
part of also a need to belong and understand the world we are a part of (Hutchison, 2004).
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We are all a part of a larger community that shares this geographical space with us
including both the human and biotic community of organisms that make up our place.
Development of connections to place provides deeper meaning in our understanding of
those places and of ourselves.
In my own teaching those moments of connection for students have caused a light
bulb to go off, as students’ interest and enthusiasm engage. I have found that the
knowledge that I can bring to students through my own sense of place enhances what I
can give to students as we explore cultural history, natural history and science at the
Nature Center where I work.
Engaging interest in learning I think all educators would agree makes learning fun
and can provide the foundations for lifelong learning. In the journey of this study I am
convinced that education connected to students’ lives, to the everyday world and the
places where they live can provide those connections that ignite interest and motivation
to learn. They hold out hope for a world of people who are becoming more and more
disconnected. The hope of reconnection, engagement and care for the health of the world
we live in and share with not just present but future generations.
What happens in schools is so important because that is where the foundations of
ethics, values and actions for most people begin. Throughout my research education
connected to community and place show the way to build foundations that create strong
connections and value of the people and organisms that share our world with us. In a
world that values individualism it shows how we can combine all of our special traits
with others to accomplish positive changes and support a healthy world. Throughout my
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readings for this project I have found that where Place-Based and Community-Based
Education have emerged and integrated into schools similar stories, of positive
improvement in engagement and interest in learning and in the ways they can positively
impact their communities, occur.
I was surprised by how many teachers use Place-Based and Community-Based
Education mainly because I had not heard a lot about it before I started my journey into
my research. It was encouraging that something I have found intuitively working in an
informal education position with my own students was something that was also playing
out in the school lives of students in other places. Learning that is hands-on, that forms
connections for students between learning and the real world and their lives makes
learning engaging and fun promoting excitement and dedication to it. The very fact that
so many educators have started to use its principles to teach their students speaks to its
success. Its strength lies in the ability to directly engage students in learning connected to
the world they live in, their community and their lives. It gives concepts and skills real
life applications and has the ability to show students that they can make a difference in
issues affecting their lives and the lives of those they share their community with.
For an informal environmental educator like myself the last part is very important,
because I want to influence students to make decisions and take actions the help confront
problems and work to solve them. For me because of the interconnectedness of all things
strong students and communities speak well for people who can also help make sure the
environment we all rely on is also strong. This is also true because of the connections
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and thus meaning it creates for students toward the whole place they live and the care for
its health and well-being.
Over the last couple of years the need for education that is meaningful has become
even more apparent to me through conversations and interactions with teachers, students
and people I have met at home and traveling. Humans need connections to make things
meaningful, to create care and action. If students are going to grow up to be adults who
care about others and the natural world, we need to engage them in learning that connects
their lives to their local and global neighbors and the natural world we all share. Care for
humans goes hand in hand with care for the environment on the most basic level of
survival.
Especially as an Environmental Educator, I have become aware of how
disconnected some many people are becoming and at how so many problems that we
need to work on are directly connected to that disconnection. This is something that
Louv fully explores in his book Last Child in the Woods (Louv, 2005). We have
forgotten the very nature of the world we inhabit; that it is full of interconnections, the
threads that connect everything on earth through a system of actions and consequences.
In many ways today’s school systems add to some of that disconnection, as they
remove students from their community putting them in a separate place to learn and
grown into adults. For many communities both big and small this can have negative
effects. In small communities it often means that students are more likely to leave rather
than trying to invest in their community and those communities are threatened with dying
out. In larger communities where students also leave it feeds the feeling of separation
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and the development of violence as there is a lack of joining together, of knowing and
caring about your neighbor and the health of the place where you live. For students it can
often mean the missing connections of roots that develop into to care for others and the
environment. It also in education often equals a lack of interest and motivation in
learning (Umphrey, 2007).
“We have such a brief opportunity to pass on to our children our love for this
Earth, and to tell our stories. These are the moments when the world is made whole”
(Louv, 2005, p. 310). Heritage Projects are about students hearing the stories of the
places where they live and exploring firsthand the events, the land and the people who
have shaped and continue to shape the place where they live, the community they are a
part of. The involvement of students and their learning in the community is an ancient
idea as children both learned and worked in the community along with their neighbors
and family throughout ancient cultures to survive. This type of learning relied on
children forming connections with elders in their community who then taught them
through their stories about the place where they live, forming connections of their own to
that community. Community-based education touches on these ancient ideas and brings
them into today’s world.
Community based education’s value lies not only in its ability to advance students
academic achievement but in its ability to nurture them as whole human beings and not
just as brains to be filled with knowledge. Learning goes beyond knowledge, to a
connection to the emotions and morals that guide our decisions and actions and the
impact that each of us has on the place we live. It gives learning relevance and meaning
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that connects to their lives and motivates them to care about both what they are learning
and the place where they are learning it.
Heritage Projects provide students the opportunity to pursue their academic
interests through hands-on and real world relevant learning. The projects fulfill the need
for connection in learning and that connection makes learning something important and
worthwhile to students. Throughout this research project this has been re-enforced both
by other authors and the stories of the teachers interviewed.
Heritage projects do effectively engage students in learning that connects to their
“real” lives and interests and that connects them to the places where they live making
school personally meaningful. The ability of Heritage Projects to do this was evident in
the three teachers’ classrooms and in the experiences of other teachers throughout the
literature reviewed.
How do they do this?
They do it by giving students:
• Learning that has relevance to their lives
• Learning driven by student interests increasing motivation
• Creating pride in and dedication to learning
• Use of real life skills
• Respect for academic study and for the community
• Appreciation and connection to the community
• Original and creative research
• Public speaking skills
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• Problem solving
• Contribution to their community
• Learning to ask questions and think critically
• Ability to locate local resources
• Acknowledgment that their community has important things to teach them and is
worthy of study
• Recognition that the research they do is appreciated and valued
• The value of local voices
• Ownership of their education
• A deeper understanding of the place where they live
• And connection to the natural world through connections to community members
and the study of their community’s heritage
In answering my research question I found in the stories of teachers involved in
Heritage Projects a hope for an even brighter future where schools and communities work
together to prepare students with the academic and life skills they need to excel in life.
The very essence of what the education students embark on is meant to do for them. It
offers even more than that it offers the possibility of a future of students who care and are
willing to take action to solve problems and improve the lives of people and members of
the natural world they share their place with.
Conclusion
This small study of Heritage Projects and education connected to community and
place offers a glimmer of what this educational model has to offer for students, teachers
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and their communities. My hope is that it will be an addition and motivation for further
in depth study of how this teaching technique can be integrated into classrooms and
communities and how it can improve education for students all over the world. For me it
offers hope for addressing the problems of disconnection that many feel toward the
places where they live and the world. It is about building connections, meaning and care
for each other and the earth we all share. Something that is needed if we are ever going
to address many of the problems we all face in this world.
Without care there can be no positive changes for the health of the world, my goal
as an educator and a fellow member of this world is to help people build connections and
from them care for all the living things that call the Earth home. Hope for a better future
for all rests in our ability to find meaning, understanding and care for ourselves and
others. Community-Based education gives students, the makers of the future, the
opportunity to build those connections that are the foundations of people who will value
the health of the world and who will work to make positive differences in it.
Appendix A: Teacher Interview and Survey Transcripts:
• the Sun River Valley up until mid-1920s looking at social economic groups;
Dorothea’s Interview Responses:
Q 1. How did you become interested in Heritage Projects? I became involved because Michael Umphrey nagged me for 2-3 years in a row to
apply for a grant. At the time I was teaching American literature and I liked what I was teaching. It wasn’t that I wasn’t interested, but because I liked what I was doing. I didn’t want to give up what I was already doing. I have now taught heritage projects for 9 years. I taught for 8 years in Simms using them, retired and then did it again for another year. I did projects in coordination with the history teacher in our school. Q 2. How did you start doing Heritage Projects with students? What is involved in carrying out projects with students (training, tools, equipment, community contacts, etc.)? To start I had seen what other people had done (need to see what others have done), there was no book on how to do this. Everyone’s school operated differently. We investigated the history of our community. I was very concerned that students know the history didn’t start when the white people got here. I wanted the native voices heard too. What is critical is that you take into account the different heritages in an area. Once we decided what subject we were going to study (and students need guidance in this), the first thing we did getting started was decide what questions we are going to ask. What has changed and what has stayed the same, looking at trends. After they begin their research they have to find truth to support and not support what they found. They looked at what was the popular belief about an issue at the time. In heritage research, we did document research, primary document research is time consuming then students reflect on what they have learned and give back to the community what they have learned. They look critically at the information and themselves and their world. The local historical society helped providing resources of oral history and primary resources. Our primary focus is to honor the individuals we had interviewed not only for what they could tell us, but by really learning who they are. My students had to construct questions, do an oral interview that was tape recorded and transcribe and then give it back to the community. Q 3. Are Heritage Projects integrated throughout your curriculum or something that is done once a year or more with students? How long do the projects last? The projects were done in my literature class. They were quarter long projects and took almost a whole semester. Q 4. Please describe the Heritage Projects your students have participated in. My students were involved in many heritage projects. We studied:
• the Blackfeet Tribe • Ranchers
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• Homesteaders • Irrigation • The history of our school talking to graduates from many different years • Studied transportation looking at the development of roads, the powerful impact
that paving roads had on the community making it easier to get from place to place, then the community didn’t need local businesses as much, railroad shut down, went to bigger city where it costs less, etc.
• Studied a sense of loss • 150 oral histories on Simms • The lives of people in the nursing home in Big Fork, creating their biographies • Research on the local cemetery and the stories of those buried there • Looked at an Indian boarding school • The history of the local river where Louis and Clark had traveled • The year 1910 through photographs, diaries, Grayfalls archives and the state of
Montana archives • Railroads • Montana quilters club – patterns and history • Interview parents • 1930s – learned dancing from that era • All kinds of possibilities
Q 5. How did they decide what to study? What did students use to do their projects (what resources did they use)? Sometimes the historical society helped. Teachers directed topics. Need to be very passionate about it. Our first was the Veteran’s project out of Washington, D.C. with the resources they sent; we interviewed Veterans from every major war of the 20th c, in groups for each war. My students always worked in groups, collaborating, sharing research and sources. I also involved community people, who could come twice a week to meet with the kids 1 to 5 adult with the students. It inspired the kids and worked like a mentor program. You have to know the community to do that, the parents, farmers, pastors. Q 6. How long have you taught with Heritage Projects? 9 years Q 7. What benefits have you noticed compared to traditional classroom teaching methods for your students? The best part is to see real learning taking place. It brings life back to my teaching. I could see the relevance everyday and see their lives being changed; to witness the connection between students and adults in the community.
One student told me “This is the only class I ever took in high school where I learned about living”.
A kid, a junior, who didn’t seem to care about anything, who would rather be anywhere but English class during a project had the first question where he really wondered about something in class. He had to interview an elder. He learned how to hallow out a huge cotton wood tree to make a bow boat and how to tan a buffalo hide. It
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made a big difference for him to be out there learning hands on to make him interested in class.
Elders and adults changed the discipline; they gave it to the classes they visited. When a 90 year old woman from the community visited, it changed the kids disposition. A kid who was never known to respectful had to work with her to collect names of graduates of the 1940s. This 90 year old woman stooping with osteoporosis had this kid saying thank you and scooting closer to hear what she had to say to complete the assignment. He knew in her presence he had to be polite and respectful.
It is very academic but connected to the real world which is what is so great about it. Q 8. What are the barriers to teaching Heritage Projects? A downside is 18 hours a day for 16 weeks; it takes long hours doing these projects. You have to be imaginative and fly by the seat of your pants. You have to be flexible because not everything goes to plan, things happen. Have to change your deadlines sometimes. It is very complex when dealing with the community, you have to be respectable and you students need to be respectful also. Q 9. How have Heritage Projects affected student learning abilities and attitudes? One great thing is that each project is so individual for the students, based on what they want to know. One kid when we learned about native people in our community, who wasn’t interested in anything when interviewing elders and going out on the trail with some elders started to ask questions and try things. He got passionate about it and became respectful of the elders he talked to. He cared.
I had a girl who was going to drop out. After the project she made it to graduation and had a new idea about what learning meant. Q 10. Has this teaching technique from observations with your students positively affected student grades, test scores, or in general student achievement? Do you have data or evidence that you could share with me for my project? There were high writing standards to be met. Students did oral history transcriptions, presentations in class with a life map, they read adult non fictions books like Killing Custer, they had to research document it with citations, write 5-12 page essays based on their research, and powerpoint presentations. All the standards were met and I never had any worries about test score. Their test scores were good. You need a low/teacher student ratio for the projects and that helps with how students do. Q 11. In your experience what are the negatives or issues you had to deal with in teaching Heritage Projects? Had to have strict guideline for how students act to make sure no misunderstanding or disrespect given. I had students give a gift to the person they interviewed and had to have a thank you written to them by the next day. Made sure the community members also go credit for what they gave students in the research. You need a cooperative administration and other teachers who can help support it. Some teachers complained when students wanted to work on the heritage project when they were finished with things in their class early. Q 12. As a teacher what are the biggest rewards of doing Heritage Projects with students?
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I am proud of students and the work they did. The ways they became more respectful and interested and how they gave back to the community in their presentations. I would give anything if my grandchildren asked me the questions my students ask community members, to have those types of conversations. Q 13. In your opinion have students developed a stronger connection and understanding of their community? If so, how? Or what changes have you observed? Please give examples if possible. They will become more active community members as adults. The connections are there. Community members who had been involved in the projects kept in contact with students and attended their graduations. We had a heritage fair every year. The kids did presentations to the community, they had booths and gave a powerpoint or video presentation to groups. It is also great to get students involved in community events that already take place. Simms has had trouble getting the levee for school funding passed. The first year we had the heritage project, the levee passed by a large majority because the people in the community for the first time believed that the school cares about who they are, that they care about the community because of the work the students did. Pam’s Survey Responses:
Q 1. How did you become interested in Heritage Projects? The head master of my school asked to apply for an AHP (Arizona Heritage Project) grant. Q 2. How did you start doing Heritage Projects with students? What is involved in carrying out projects with students (training, tools, equipment, community contacts, etc.)? I explained the project to the students and had people interested sign up for an elective course. There was a great deal involved – I had to get/buy equipment to do a digital story – this was 4 computers with film editing software. I contacted expert speakers to come to the school. I scheduled outing throughout the year. Q 3. Are Heritage Projects integrated throughout your curriculum or something that is done once a year or more with students? How long do the projects last?
The project was a scheduled elective. Students met 2-3 times a week in class and attended outing to museums, heritage sites, and locations suggested by speakers. We also incorporated p.e. –because we had to hike different trails looking for ruins and rock art. It was a interdisciplinary course – English, Science, Math, and Social Studies. Q 4. Please describe the Heritage Projects your students have participated in.
We produced a DVD about the ancient Native Americans in this region. Q 5. How did they decide what to study? What did students use to do their projects (what resources did they use)?
I guided their study with well constructed lesson plans. They had to be proficient in library skills, internet research, ability to used ipop for recording, cameras, AUD film software to edit the film. Q 6. How long have you taught with heritage projects? I taught AHP 1 year.
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Q 7. What benefits have you noticed compared to traditional classroom teaching methods for your students? Experiential education is always more relevant than didactic teaching. I found the English learners had an incredible improvement – they were expected to write scripts and narrate them. They were outstanding. Q 8. What are the barriers to teaching Heritage Projects? Funding is the barriers. Critical funding has been withdrawn from the Montana and Arizona projects. Also, the schools need to help more with their part of the funding. Q 9. How have Heritage Projects affected student learning abilities and attitudes? The students became engaged in the project –they “owned” and were proud. They had to use real life skills not made-up academic exercises. Q 10. Has this teaching technique from observations with your students positively affected student grades, test scores, or in general student achievement? Do you have data or evidence that you could share with me for my project? I could share students reports they did. One English language learner did a research project on archeo-astronomy. I could share the DVD the students produced. Q 11. In your experience what are the negatives or issues you had to deal with in teaching Heritage Projects? My initial difficulty was convincing the school to make this a curriculum item, rather than an extra curricular item. Funding is also a big problem. Q 12. As a teacher what are the biggest rewards of doing Heritage Projects with students? It is very rewarding to see how engaged the students became. Some students even worked very hard on their holiday breaks to complete the project. They learned content and real life skills. Q 13. In your opinion have students developed a stronger connection and understanding of their community? If so, how? Or what changes have you observed? Please give examples if possible. The students learned that they could go to people in the community as resources on questions they had. Not all research was looking something up. They learned to identify a problem, articulate it, identify the person/expert who could help them, and formulate interview questions. This is invaluable for on-going learning.
I continued to attend summer institutes for a total of nine years to learn how to enhance my teaching and gather ideas for new and original projects. The institutes
Darlene’s Survey Responses:
Q 1. How did you become interested in Heritage Projects? My superintendent was involved with the Montana Heritage Project at his previous high school. He sent me to a one week summer institute that the MHP project provided for its teachers. While I was there I learned the importance of gathering oral histories and I learned the value of writing essays of place within our own community. Without the training, I would have been teaching English in the traditional manner.
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provided teachers with speakers, professional editors, journalists, archivists, historians, authors and professional movie makers so that we might learn the craft of preserving our community’s history. For three summers, the project teachers participated in a field school so that we might learn research techniques from a variety of communities. Q 2. How did you start doing Heritage Projects with students? What is involved in carrying out projects with students (training, tools, equipment, community contacts, etc.)? Because I am an English teacher, I initially started by incorporating a novel into our studies. A novel offers the setting of a particular community and provided us a springboard for leaping into community research. I began with Ivan Doig’s autobiography, This House of Sky –which is literally set right outside our back door in Broadwater County. I used Tom Brokaw’s book, the Greatest Generation as a springboard for interviewing local veterans. We used The Jungle and O Pioneers! To aid our study of local fires in 2000. Peter Fromm’s Indian Creek Chronicles established a basis for hunting and wilderness stories and Ann Rinaldi’s The Coffin Quilt aided our study of quilters and quilting in our community. We read Vivianne Kirkbride’s narrative, Vantha’s Whisper
• How did the social, political or economic events of the 1960’s affect the citizens of Broadwater County?
, a story of survival and Saroan de Pol’s oral interview on the Cambodian invasion, to aid us in our study of the Vietnam conflict. Later on in the project we initiated an essential question for our research. For example, we asked, “What type of things do people collect?” Students conducted oral interviews asking questions of collectors and finding out the who, what, and why of collectors. Students contacted collectors through information obtained at the local Broadwater historical Society and museum. Students videoed collectors and photographed a variety of collections. Later students wrote narratives and complied them in a book of collections. Examples of essential questions included:
• Why do people quilt? • What is the significance of Quilting in Broadwater County? How has Main Street
changed in Townsend? • Why do people collect? What things do people collect? • Who are our Veterans and what role did they play? • What was Townsend like in 1910? • How did the Fires of 2000 affect our community? • What was it like to live during the Depression? • What is the history of Broadwater High School? • How has the role of women changed? • How have women in Broadwater County changed? Each year, we made initial contacts to community members by hosting some
community events. To meet veterans within the community we hosted a Veterans’ recognition program in November and we made contacts through members of the American Legion. To meet women leaders in the community, we hosted a women’s tea. To gather oral histories from the quilters, the students attended a quilt show,
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photographed quilts, videoed interviews and hosted a state quilt registration night with the assistance of the Montana Historical Society.
Training students to do projects involves showing students how to run audio, video and photographic equipment. Students utilize computers, video editing software and various software programs to prepare power point and movie presentations of final projects.
We rely on a variety of sources from our community. In addition to oral interviews, we have relied on research materials from the Montana State Historical society—primary research trips and the loan of microfilm of local newspapers. We have used a variety of photos, records and field trips to our local museum. We’ve relied on the archives from our local newspaper, the US forest service, the court house and local library.
We have also relied on professional speakers from the historical society, state agencies, authors, radio and television, forest service personnel, etc… Q 3. Are Heritage Projects integrated throughout your curriculum or something that is done once a year or more with students? How long do the projects last? I involve all of the junior and senior English classes in the heritage projects. This is half of our high school (approximately 125 students). The students do not work simultaneously on the same projects, but we incorporate a variety of projects throughout the year—we spend anywhere from 8-16 weeks on projects and in a few instances the projects were on going throughout the entire year. Q 4. Please describe the heritage project your students have participated in.
• Veterans Projects—several years with juniors and seniors • 1910 Expedition—Asking the question “What was life like a hundred years
ago?—several years with juniors • Depression studies—What was life like in the 1930s? oral interviews conducted
by juniors • Study of Place – researching & writing stories about scenic places in the region • Traditions – interviewing and writing stories about holiday traditions in families • Study of influential women within our community – interviewed 100 women • History of Quilting and Quilters in Broadwater County • The Fires of 2000 – who was affected and how did the fires affect the
community? • Collections – why do people collect things? What do they collect? • History of Broadwater High School – 82 + years of our high school – its
construction and destruction and re-construction • A collection of the history of local ranches • History of mining in Broadwater County • A study of what it was like in the 1960’s in Broadwater County – including an
architectural walk down Main Street with an archivist to detect the placement, age, design of businesses and buildings
• Study of farming and ranching in the community – interviewing local farmers and ranchers
• Researching cemeteries and rural schools within the county
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• Researching and recording stories of the history of transportation, clubs and organizations, businesses, fashion, churches, occupations, entertainment, bars and saloons, restaurants, doctors and hospitals, sports, during a specified time period within the county – students pursued their own topics during a specified time period
Q 5. How did they decide what to study? What did they use to do their projects (what resources did they use)?
We relied on a trip or two to the local museum to get students thinking and asking questions about our area. We’ve relied on local archives, the local history book – The Broadwater Bygones – old newspapers (the students love these) and then we have called upon organizations, clubs and some professionals to give us background information and sources for the students. Q 6. How long have you taught with Heritage Projects?
10 years Q 7. What benefits have you noticed compared to traditional classroom teaching methods for you students? Previously, my students simply detested our small town – they couldn’t say enough bad about the small town and wanted to vanish from Montana as quickly as possible. The study of our community has given some students some knowledge and pride into knowing about where they have come from and about where they want to go from here. There seems to be more knowledge and a new found respect for community members and leaders and also what has been accomplished here. All research is original – students can focus on what interest them. If students have an interest in focusing on the research of their ranch – they work hard to do the best job that they can do. Students are pursuing their own research interests. They are not going to the Internet and plagiarizing a research paper. The community has a lot of respect for student work and what is being accomplished. I have people who stop me on the street and ask me if some of my students will present at a Rotary meeting or will put up a display in the museum or the library. I have parents who value the historical stories that their children have completed. One mother told me that they valued their son’s research on their ranch so much that they placed it in the safety deposit box with the ranch’s deed. Several people have returned to seek information on deceased veteran interviews and we have had pastors who have asked for interview papers so that they might use some of the stories in funerals or memorial services. Q 8. What are the barriers to teach Heritage Projects? Heritage projects are time consuming and quite demanding. Students need to be taught to listen carefully, ask good questions and learn to listen for opportunities to ask follow up questions. Too often students only ask the five questions that they wrote down and miss opportunities for expansion. Having an experienced mentor often helps these students – but we don’t always have the extra leadership. From a teacher’s perspective – they take a lot more planning and footwork than assigning an essay, a workbook page or a short story. Having resources, money for equipment and a good working computer lab is essential.
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Q 9. How have Heritage Projects affected student learning abilities and attitudes? Students are proud of their accomplishments. We bind all of the narratives together in books; we’ve distributed them to the museum, library, hospital, senior citizen center, state archives and Library of Congress. Twice, my students have presented their work in Washington D.C. and they have presented at student heritage conferences, local heritage evening, and at the local museum open house. They take pride in the work that they have done. Q 10. Has this teaching technique from observations with your students positively affected student grades, test scores, or in general student achievement? Do you have data or evidence that you could share with me for my project? Student writing is definitely enhanced. Students know that their work is held to a higher authority because all of the individuals want to read what students have written. They know that their work is being published and read by many individuals so there is more effort and dedication on the part of the students. I do not have numerical data that substantiates the writing scores. I think my best feedback on achievement comes from the students and college professors. Many of my students email or write me in the fall and say –“My professor says, ‘I have a good background in writing’. or ‘My writing was used as an example for the entire class because I learned to write so well.” Q 11. In your experience what are the negatives or issues you had to deal with in teaching heritage projects? One time we had a student who lost WWI photographs of a veteran. The community member was livid and I visited her in her home. I brought her a book of veteran stories, but it was certainly not a replacement for her heirloom pictures. From that time on, I continually stressed the importance of all materials in a clearly labeled envelope and I need to stress the importance of care and return of other people’s possessions. As in all cases, there are always one or two individuals who complain that they weren’t interviewed or we should have done something differently or whatever; but for the most part the students and the projects are very much appreciated and very well received in the community. Q 12. As a teacher what are the biggest rewards of doing Heritage Projects with students? As a teacher, I like seeing the students actively pursuing their individual interests—I love it when they are researching and they are excited about telling their newfound research. I like it when students tell that they lived here all of their life and that was their first trip to the museum—or they always wondered what something was about and now they know. I loved the student presentations—and I love it that they evaluate themselves and know they did a superb job! I like it when we have heritage evenings or open house and the students take control of the entire evening—they plan—they present and perform and they converse with the community member about their projects. Q 13. In your opinion have students developed a stronger connection and understanding of their community? If so, how? Or what changes have you observed? Please give examples if possible.
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Absolutely!!! Students don’t “put down” the community—they look more positively upon people. Students show a definite respect for elders in the community. Some students have made new friends. Some women taught my students to quilt. Some veterans invite my students in for 7up, cookies and war stories. Again, Rotary, the American Legion, the Lion Club, the Quackin Quilt Club, and the historical society have all asked my students to present their work. Students continually tell me things like…”I sat across from that woman in church all my life and I didn’t know that she contributed so much to the community. Until I interviewed her, I never knew her.” “I didn’t realize that life was so hard…I can’t imagine growing up in a family of 13 kids and having 2 bedrooms…and having to haul water from a well.” Quotations from my students—I use these in my presentations about the project and you may use them as well.
“The Heritage Project meant a lot to me. It allowed me to meet members of our community that I would have never had come into contact with at any other time. It amazed me to see how much talent we had within our community. It had no idea it all existed. Because I am a teenager, my circle of friends is somewhat limited. The Heritage Project expanded the circle.” Heidi Myers, English III “Being able to interview people within the community was a great experience. Sometimes you never know what others have contributed until you ASK. It was interesting to hear and find out what others have to say….to hear the stories first hand. I really enjoyed talking with people….ones that without this project, I would have never had the opportunity to speak with…” April Ludwig, English III
“Working with the community for the Heritage Project was very beneficial for everyone who was involved. It gave the quilters who were interviewed a feeling that what they were doing was appreciated. Having younger generations interview them about their work made it even more special. I got a better understanding of the history of Broadwater County.” Darren Johns, English III “I feel that the quilting project was a valuable experience for the students of this class. We got to get out and visit with members of our community and listen to their stories and see their quilts. This project also improved our writing skills…I feel it was fun to transform our knowledge into our display boards and show our finished products. I feel all students should have the chance to participate in it.”
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From Phil Neilson, English III “I thought working with other people was a wonderful experience. I learned about other people and their interests. This project has taught me a great deal about me---I like to sit down and learn from talking to someone—I feel I learned so much through personal interviews and interaction.” Landon Rauser, English III
