Learning with Geographical Sensitivity: Place-Based Education and Its Praxis

Abstract

This study presents pragmatic evidence to make learning a geographical process. It investigates how place-based education (PBE) can deepen the sense of place and vice versa. The study first reviews the meaning of PBE and continues with an ontological discussion of place. As place is theorized, learning practices in the course Sustainable Urban Development and Hong Kong are outlined. The submissions of students are analyzed, and selected reflections are presented to interface with the ontological construct of place. We examine how PBE can enrich student awareness of place and in what way student appreciations of place can add values to the geographical reasoning on sustainability- and urbanism-related topics. Results show that site selection is important and place in PBE is both real and imagined. Heritage conservation and place revitalization are potential reflective topics to design a PBE-based teaching praxis.

本研究呈现让学习成为地理过程的实务证据, 探究根据地方的教育 (PBE) 如何能够深化地方感, 且反之亦然。本研究首先回顾 PBE 的意义, 接着探讨地方的本体论。地方被理论化后, 接着描绘出“可持续城市发展与香港”课程中的学习实践之轮廓。本研究分析学生提交的作业, 并呈现挑选出的反思, 与地方的本体论构造相互接合。我们检视 PBE 如何能够丰富学生的地方意识, 以及学生对于地方的评价, 能够在什麽方面为可持续性和城市主义有关的主题的地理论说增加价值。研究结果显示, 场所的选择是重要的, 而 PBE 中的地方同时是实际和想像的。袭产保育和地方復兴, 对设计一个以 PBE 为基础的教学实践而言, 是具有潜力的反思主题。

Este estudio presenta evidencia pragmática para hacer del aprendizaje un proceso geográfico. Se investiga cómo la educación basada en lugar (PBE) puede intensificar el sentido de lugar y viceversa. El estudio revisa primero el significado de la PBE y continúa con una discusión ontológica sobre el lugar. En tanto el lugar es teorizado, se esquematizan las prácticas de aprendizaje en el curso sobre Desarrollo Urbano Sustentable y Hong Kong. Se analizan las presentaciones de los estudiantes, y se presentan unas reflexiones selectas para interactuar con el constructo ontológico del lugar. Examinamos cómo la PBE puede enriquecer la conciencia de lugar del estudiante y de qué manera las apreciaciones de lugar del estudiante pueden añadir valores al razonamiento geográfico sobre tópicos relacionados con sustentabilidad y urbanismo. Los resultados muestran que la selección del sitio es importante, y que el lugar en la PBE es tanto real como imaginado. La conservación de la heredad y la revitalización del lugar son tópicos potenciales de reflexión para diseñar una praxis de enseñanza basada en la PBE.

Key Words:

• geographical dislocation
• geographical process
• learning
• place
• place-based education (PBE)

关键词:

• 地理错位
• 地理过程
• 学习
• 地方
• 根据地方的教育 (PBE)。

Palabras clave:

• dislocación geográfica
• proceso geográfico
• aprendizaje
• lugar
• educación basada en lugar (PBE)

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Urban Renewal Authority and Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups for the support on the field trip. We would like to thank the anonymous reviewer and editor Barney Warf for the constructive comments. Thank you to Dr. Ying Yu for her insights on pedagogy.

Funding

The research was supported by a Common Core Teaching Development Grant at the University of Hong Kong (No. 10100469.16437.01300.339.01).

Notes

1 No Child Left Inside is an act acknowledged by many U.S. states with a view to bringing children to a real urban context to study the environment. A similar curriculum reform was proposed by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, which called for “learning outside the classroom” (see http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_d/mod26.html). Although the bill for No Child Left Inside was never passed by the Senate, it has become an influential philosophy in the United States that has triggered interest in and practice of PBE.

2 Thematic analysis is subjective and could lead to different observations when various people assess the same work. This subjectivity is one limitation of this research method.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yi Sun

YI SUN is Postdoctoral Fellow in the CUHK Club Institute of Ageing at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include ageing well, place making, and the politics of planning.

Roger C. K. Chan

ROGER C. K. CHAN is an Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Design at the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. E-mail: [email protected]. He is the coordinator of the course Sustainable Urban Development and Hong Kong (course code CCCH 9033). His research interests include regional and urban development of China, urban agglomerations, and the economic interactions between Hong Kong and the neighboring regions.

Huiwei Chen

HUIWEI CHEN is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Social Science at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. E-mail: [email protected]. She is interested in research on urban housing and sustainable development.