Preeminent education writer and teacher-trainer David Sobel will give a workshop in and talk in the Twin Cities on March 18th and in Duluth on March 20th. Sobel is the author of five books on “place-based” education and the power of linking K-12 classrooms to community, physical place and the globe. He is commonly regarded as a peer to education celebrity Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods.
For decades, David Sobel has been leading the conversation about the power of place-based education. Roughly, place-based education translates to a curriculum that reaches beyond the classroom walls, while achieving classroom goals. He believes that by linking classrooms to the local physical environment, the local community of people and the global community we, “(inject) value and meaning into the school experience” (Smith & Sobel, 2010). And a growing number of people think he deserves your attention.
Student disengagement in the No child Left Behind era of the United States has reached pandemic-like proportions. Research shows that 40-60% of students in the U.S. are “disengaged”, and likely to drop out before completing high school (Blum, 2005 as quoted in Sobel, 2010). It’s not unfair to assume that this disengagement is a real barrier to closing the achievement gap and preparing future leaders. This is a trend that Sobel believes can be solved in-part by making education “place-based” and developmentally appropriate. This is especially true if we hope to encourage young people to develop into environmentally and socially responsible adults.
Sobel has made it his mission to show teachers how they can apply these concepts to modern teaching standards and to many (if not all) teaching situations. In his recent book, Childhood & Nature: Design Principles for Educator (2008) he shares the guiding “play motifs” of how children play and how that can guide our creation of curriculum and instruction. He adds that research has shown that to make environmentally-responsible adults calls for a certain kind of natural or wild experiences in their youth. The same can be concluded for making socially responsible adults and leaders – let the "play motifs" guide you in the ways of youth and it will pay-off 10 fold in adulthood.
At Sobel's events he will share insights into some of these "motifs" and help educators with their transition into the place-based curriculum model they've been dreaming about. As educators, parents, or childcare providers we'd all do well to listen to what David Sobel has to stay.
Both events are FREE and open to the public! Event information:
March 18th
Minnesota Zoo
13000 Zoo Blvd, St. Paul, MN 55124
7:00 – 9:00 pm
FREE – please register here: http://www.mnzoo.org/education/lectureseries.asp
March 20th
University of Minnesota-Duluth (UMD)
Duluth, MN, 55812
12:30 - 3:30 pm: UMD Library Rotunda
4:30 - 6:00 pm: Weber Hall (UMD Campus)
FREE – please register here: http://www.minnesotaee.org/Default.aspx?pageId=593936&eventId=439069&EventViewMode=EventDetails
*Registration is free, but necessary due to limited space.
Sources:
Smith, Gregory & Sobel, David. (2010). “Bring It On Home”, Educational Leadership68:;1 (September), pp, 38-43.
Sobel, David. (2008). "Childhood & Nature: Design Principles for Educators". Stenhouse Publishers.