The Power of Place: Authentic Learning Through Place-Based Education

Tom Vander Ark, Emily Liebtag and Nate McClennen’s “The Power of Place” is like oxygen for design thinkers! Many of us feel that the “bells and cells” model of school (classrooms and corridors) is a form of prison. The Power of Place breaks through that prison and speaks for us with joy in place, solid experience and research. The authors explore the theme in a broad context, framing it as integrally connected with competency-based learning and student agency:“Around the world, schools are moving from long hallways lined with identical classrooms to more flexible learning space that facilitate project-based learning and competency-based progressions. Students move from project teams to skill groups to activity centers while building skills and developing agency and self-management.”The book is firmly grounded in vibrant, creative collaboration. Education Reimagined’s five elements of learner-centered education are championed, along with powerful case studies such as Iowa Big and Teton Science Schools.Finally, the book has a moving and emotional sense of story that sparks our curiosity. Tom writes in the preface: “It wasn't any of the classes that I took in college that I remember: it was work in strange and wonderful places that shaped my path. Place is powerful, personal and persuasive.”

The Power of Place focuses on community-embedded partnerships, service learning, and impact projects and is a very nice complement to the authors' other recent book, Difference Making at the Heart of Learning. New schooling models are showing us how to make learning more meaningful and impactful, if we are willing to follow the paths that these schools are blazing. I can’t recommend these two books highly enough.

This is a great book. Highly recommend.

Muy buen libro, explica cómo es la educación basada en el lugar y pone ejemplos prácticos.