Our Neighborhood: A Place for Heightening Emotional Energy in Science Education

Abstract

A growing body of educational research suggests science studied in one’s neighborhood becomes a valuable venue for fostering not only students’ conceptual understanding but also a connection to their place. In this chapter, we discuss this research, as well as present authentic examples from our own case studies that provide further understanding of how place-based pedagogy affects students’ emotional energy in the science classroom. More specifically, we illustrate the (1) emotional connections that result from place-based experiences, (2) value students place on solidarity-building interactions, and (3) barriers to realizing the potential of place-based pedagogy in terms of fostering students’ engagement with the community. These understandings are supported and discussed in a manner that provides science teacher educators who are interested in enhancing emotional engagement through place-based instruction with practical applications and theoretical underpinnings that could enhance their own practice or research efforts.