Putting Geography Education into Place: What Geography Educators Can Learn from Place-Based Education, and Vice Versa

Abstract

In recent years, geography educators have sought to make their pedagogy relevant to pressing social and environmental issues, but these efforts have largely imported pedagogies from outside of geography. In place-based education, in contrast, place—one of geography’s defining themes—serves as a central organizing principle for a socially relevant pedagogy. This article reviews the pedagogy of place-based education and compares it to current practices in geography education. The argument is that integrating the approaches of place-based education can make geography education more relevant and that a geographic perspective can help place-based education programs more effectively promote social justice and environmental sustainability.