PSU students will have the opportunity to explore first-hand a place-based learning initiative. Place-based refers to using the local community for teaching interdisciplinary concepts and connecting students to the real world. The Bioregional Outdoor Education Project (BOEP) of the Four Corners School of Outdoor Education has the following mission: “To promote understanding and appreciation of the Colorado plateau through core-based, interdisciplinary, experiential curriculua in grades K-6 through a Roving Teacher Education and Mentoring delivery system.” Components of the BOEP are funded by the National Science Foundation and this trip will give us timely insight into what it means to instill a bioregional ethic into a school’s culture and climate.
Blogging about this course is an experiment to provide real time interaction between: the PSU students in the course who in small groups will be visiting different sites in the Four Corners region; teachers and students who live on the Colorado Plateau who want to contribute to our learning and pose questions that we or the PSU librarians can assist with; teachers and students who live elsewhere who are interested in dialoguing about this region; and anyone else who can contribute to our learning on the myriad of topics that relate to our trip.
–Mary Ann McGarry, instructor
