place-based learning

What is Place-Based Learning?

Antioch University defines place-based learning as "the process of using the local community and environment as a starting point to teach concepts in language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and other concepts across the curriculum."  Whatever you call place-based learning and however you define place-based learning, students need to be asking questions about the world around them.

walkSTEM Projects
talkSTEM, a non-profit organization in Dallas, calls these learning experiences walkSTEMS, “guided tours that engage adults and children of all ages with STEM in their local environments.” A walkSTEM “allows walkers to engage in real world-, inquiry-, and observation-based learning relating to a wide range of STEM and STEAM themes.” In one example of the walkSTEM YouTube Channel, students at the Greenhill School investigate the number of tri-circles in their playground. What a great way to place geometry concepts in the real world!

2024 Projects

Our school moved to a new building on E 97th Street in East Harlem so this offered an opportunity for stydents in my Honors Physics class to create a walkSTEM tour of the neighborhood. Students did a "wander wonder" (copyright: Don Buckley) of the East Harlem neighbourhood to find examples of physics in a real world context. Each student produced a short video that answered a specific physics question at a specific location.

Google Earth project

2023 Projects
As a class, students designed and created a walkSTEM tour for Central Park, specifically for use by participants at the for the International Coalition of Girls Schools' Educating Girls Symposium, held in New York City in February 2023.  Students also designed and created a walkSTEM tour of the Santa Monica Pier to use as a demo in their workshop presentation, Using Place-Based Learning to Explore STEM Concepts in Your Local Environment. 


2022 Projects
Students designed and created a four stop walkSTEM (an interactive physics-based walking tour) for any location (specifically your favorite location) in the world.  Students used Google Earth to create their tour and then embedded videos for each location that described a physics concept highlighted by that location.

walkSTEM Projects