Place and Pedagogy (1992)

Abstract

David Orr's classic article links education to living in the outdoors and studying all disciplines through the unifying lens of place. Pedagogy of place counters abstraction, it is the natural world embodying principles of learning that involve direct observation, investigation, experimentation, and manual skills. Place is the laboratory providing the hands-on materials through the diversity of the habitat and its messages through a community experience. Emphasis is placed on human history, social science, political science, geology, biology, etc. as creating a "complex mosaic" that widens perceptions about applications of the disciplines and deepens the perception of time. Mr.Orr's article ties into Montessori education and the role of nature in the development of the older elementary child and adolescent. [This article was reprinted from David Orr "Ecological Literacy: Education and Transition to a Postmodern World." New York: State University of New York Press, Albany, 1992: 125-131.]