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Place and Education : expanding the conversation within adult ESL and other educational contexts

University of British Columbia

In a world replete with many views of education, it is perhaps easier to notice the differences amongst educational perspectives rather than the interconnections. The role of this thesis is to bring together some of these perspectives through a conceptual analysis of place and its links to education, self, and ESL. Place is a term used in environmental philosophy to refer to a particular space or region as experienced by a person, and to the relationships and responsibilities which connect that person to the world in which he or she lives. Environmental philosophers argue that the relationships bound up in place intimately shape who we are as individuals and the life choices that we make. I will differentiate further between four aspects of place, and address what it could mean to allow a sense of place to influence my life more deeply: what it means to be placeful. Investigation of the politics of place and the impact of race, class, power, and global inequalities on place experiences — areas I cannot explore deeply here - are important areas of research to continue to expand this conversation. The role of place in education is dynamic. I come to the classroom as an educator with two main passions: concern for the learners and concern for the environment. Through an understanding and awareness of place, environmental education and cornmunity/experience-based pedagogy can come together to develop an educational system which will address the needs of the learners, help them develop their understanding of self and place, and encourage care for and awareness of the environment. Jane McRae and Winnie Tarn, two educators of the Association for the Advancement and Promotion of Science Education (APASE), shared with me in a set of interviews their perspectives on place in ESL education. The discussion of APASE's Community Mapping Project which concludes the thesis is presented as an example of how one association has done this: a place-centred curriculum which incorporates feminist pedagogy, understanding and awareness of place, and the importance of addressing environmental issues.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-06-29

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/9801

Administrative, Adult and Higher Education

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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