Place-Based Curriculum Design: Exceeding Standards through Local Investigations by Children, Place and Sustainability by

Abstract

Book Reviews 159 Place-Based Curriculum Design: Exceeding Standards through Local Investigations Amy B. Demarest (2015) New York: Routledge, 172 pages $108.95 (hardcover), $45.60 (paperback); ISBN: 978-1138013469 Children, Place and Sustainability Margaret Somerville and Monica Green (2015) New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 200 pages $95.00 (hardcover); ISBN: 978-1137408495 Pathways Toward Complementary Aims of Education and Environmental Sustainability: A Paired Book Review As environmental education (EE) has struggled to take center stage in schools in the U.S., many educators and researchers have argued that when EE is an integral part of classroom life, it not only promotes ecological sustainability, but also general educational aims (Moroye & Ingman, 2013). The two books reviewed here contribute to the field by providing curriculum, pedagogy, and research to support the complementary aims of education and environmental sustainability. Demarest’s (2015) Place-Based Curriculum Design: Exceeding Standards Through Local Investigations and Somerville and Green’s (2015) Children, Place and Sustainability provide teachers, policy makers, and community members the resources and rationale for a prolific role for environmental education in schools. Both authors promote visions of EE that are both good for kids and good for the environment. While there are many ways to argue that a good education is compatible with— even enhanced by—environmental education, one useful framework is John Dewey’s (1934/1997) criteria for an educative (versus miseducative or noneducative) experience: continuity and interaction (Moroye & Ingman, 2013). Continuity describes educational experiences that lead to further similar experiences toward growth. In other words, an experience that propels the learner to seek out additional experiences that enhance his/her skills and knowledge is one characterized by continuity. Interaction, as continuity’s partner, describes experiences that are responsive to the internal conditions of the learner (his/her desires and abilities) along with the external conditions of the experience (content to be learned, context of the lesson, and democratic participation). In reading the work of Demarest and Somerville and Green, we quickly recognized that the examples and ideas met Dewey’s criteria for educative experience. As such, we believe both texts hold promise for revitalizing environmental education and more firmly grounding EE in school curriculum. Further, we noticed that both texts are asking a similar question with different emphases. Demarest asks, “Where are children in environmental education?” noting the importance of place. Somerville and Green ask, “Where are the children in environmental education research?” noting the importance of the child’s voice in research. Together these Book Reviews 160 emphases coalesce in educative experiences and provide worthy reads for parents, educators, researchers, and policy makers. Demarest’s focus is on place and its role in curriculum design as constructed by teachers with their students. She offers an explanation of the theory of environmental education that sets the foundation for her discussion of the elements of place-based curriculum design. She then dives deeply into the practical logistics and challenges we often hear from teachers before offering strategies for wholeschool change, noting the “contrasting patterns” (Demarest, 2015, p. 2) with which children undertake their inquiries into the world, as well the vastly different ways that “students access and experience education” (p. 2). Her approach to curriculum design places equal weight on the internal conditions of the learner and the external conditions as characterized in place-based education, thereby satisfying the criteria for interaction. Further, her text promotes student inquiry and choice balanced by content and standards for learning. The text is written largely in response to Demarest’s own urgent calling that students must not only feel tied to the natural world, but also ask critical questions that lead to investigations. Demarest’s vision is nothing short of transformation—of students, of schools, and of communities—toward the aim of planetary health and vigorous learning experiences. Further, as the product of her dissertation work, Demarest artfully crafts stories of teachers and students on their journeys in, through, and with place. Perhaps this is her more important purpose, in that it emphasizes the immediate and present opportunity we have to engage meaningfully and with integrity in sustainable practices. She notes: There is power in knowing how to take the larger outcomes that emerge from local...