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A New Paradigm
in Learning
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World Watch |
| A
new paradigm in learning represents an emerging approach to curriculum
development called place-or community-based education, which seeks
to link classrooms more tightly to their communities and regions.
These programs have helped encourage teachers to document local art
and history, to work with students to create new businesses, and to
strengthen the teaching of science through the development of aquaculture
and gardening projects. Place-based education works to cultivate students'
knowledge of the unique characteristics of their home communities
and to engage them in meaningful and authentic work. It begins with
the belief that young people will be more likely to invest their time
and energy in the care and support of the places where they live if
they are familiar with local assets and come to see themselves as
valued contributors to the common life of their families and neighbors. Humanity faces major global challenges,
and it is becoming increasingly clear that neither nation states
nor transnational corporations display much willingness to invest
the energy or resources needed to seriously address issues such
as climate change, the peaking of oil production, or the dislocations
caused by economic globalization. Major cultural and social adaptations
will be required in coming decades if the wellbeing of human populations
and the integrity of natural systems are to be protected and improved.
It is not surprising that those who have the most at stake in the
status quo are reluctant to embark upon a transformational agenda
that could threaten their privilege and power. This means that meaningful
change must take place outside the centers of current political
and economic authority-and those places include the neighborhoods
and communities where most citizens lead their lives... --------------------------------------------------------------- |