Quick Look
- Written by teachers with extensive experience of place-based and environmental education
- Offers useful and inspiring ideas for activities ranging from one-day trips to year-long projects
- Helps children connect with their local surroundings and encourages the power of observation
A theoretical and practical book for teachers with ideas to engage students in their landscapes and communities.
Description
"Getting to know home is the most human and necessary of occupations. To give the power of observation to students is to give them something of infinite values and importance -- something to do for the rest of their lives." -- from the Introduction by Ann Zwinger
Into the Field provides teachers with curriculum ideas for engaging students in the natural and cultural history of their community.
The book is both theoretical and practical, combining pedagogical background on how and why field work enhances educational experiences with the nuts and bolts details of how one gets started.
John Tallmadge outlines a process for teaching writing as a means to better seeing and knowing the landscapes of home. Clare Walker Leslie describes how field sketching, with an emphasis on journal-bsaed work, can strengthen relationships with and affinities for the homegrounds. And Tom Wessels writes about how to connect students with the ecological and cultural heritage of their home places.
The activities will be particularly useful for teachers of English, science, history and art who want to incorporate place-based education into their teaching, and can be adapted to one-day trips or year-long projects.
Author
Clare Walker Leslie is a wildlife artist and educator. She has taught nature journaling and field sketching for over twenty-five years to children and adults. She is the author of five books and she lives in New England, USA.
John Tallmadge is Professor of Literature and Environmental Studies at the Graduate College of the Union Institute and works as a consultant on environmental education. He lives in Ohio, USA.
Tom Wessels is an ecologist who has taught at secondary, undergraduate and graduate levels. He is currently Director of the Environmental Biology Program at Antioch New England Graduate School in New Hampshire.
