‘I was not aware that I did not know’: developing a sense of place with place-based education

Abstract

The current research aims to reveal how place-based education (PBE) increases prospective social studies teachers’ awareness of the local community and develops a sense of place in them. We employed the case study model to achieve this purpose. In the first stage of the study, each of the 14 participants studying at a public university located in Konya, a city in south-central Turkey, interviewed 10 people to determine local people’s level of awareness of local historical and cultural elements. In the second stage, the participants developed various projects based on the data obtained from the interviews to increase local people’s awareness of local historical and cultural heritage elements. In the third stage, the participants submitted their projects to relevant stakeholders. We evaluated the data by using the content analysis method. The results of the study showed that PBE applications promoted prospective teachers’ sense of place and social participation skills. Besides, it was determined that these applications contributed to the active learning, communication, research, and historical thinking skills of the participants. The results are discussed with the relevant literature in terms of integrating PBE applications into undergraduate education, and some suggestions are presented.

Keywords:

• place-based education
• social studies education
• a sense of place
• social participation
• local history

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Çumra is a district in Konya where Çatalhöyük is located.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Servet Üztemur

Dr. Servet Üztemur is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Studies Education, Gaziantep University, Turkey. His research field covers social studies education, museum education, and epistemological beliefs.

İlker Dere

İlker Dere is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Studies Education, Necmettin Erbakan University, Turkey. His research field covers the teaching of social studies, citizenship education, history teaching, oral history, teacher training, and qualitative research.