This special issue of Children, Youth and Environments will explore multi-disciplinary perspectives on place-based education and critique its role in learning and community development. Papers will be based on real-world research in formal and informal educational and/ or community settings, with a focus on participant experience and voice. The issue will reflect an international perspective and will draw on ideas from theory, research, policy and practice. Papers will be particularly welcome that focus on: i] place-based education in environments of disadvantage or conflict, and ii] place-based education with children and young people with special needs and/or from marginal communities.
Expressions of interest
One-page abstracts of your paper ideas should be sent by April 15, 2010 to Robert Barratt < r.barratt @ bathspa.ac.uk> and Elisabeth Barratt Hacking< edsecbh @ bath.ac.uk > and copied to <louise.chawla @ colorado.edu>. A selection of abstract authors will be invited to submit full papers for peer review. Full papers will be due by September 30, 2010. Abstracts should mention how the ideas in the full paper will apply directly to research or practice.
Illustrative Questions
The following questions are intended as a stimulus for exploring the significance of place for education. Authors are invited to submit papers that address one or more of these questions, or related questions, and that make connections with education, including the implications for place-based education.
1. How do people understand and make sense of place(s)?
2. How is place represented through popular culture, and what influence does this have on understandings of place?
3. In what ways are people emotionally attached to place? How is identity formation influenced by place?
4. What outcomes are associated with place-based education for children and young people, for teachers or other school staff, for the environment, for the community? (for example, learning about sustainable lifestyles, learners' connection to their local community and environment, the health and well-being of children and youth)
5. (How) can place-based education contribute to the places, communities and environments concerned? (for example, community attitudes and behaviours, community cohesion, more sustainable communities, conservation and habitat protection plans, place-sensitive design and development).
6. How can local communities contribute to place-sensitive landscape development in urban and rural places?
Children, Youth and Environments
University of Colorado, Campus Box 314
College of Architecture and Planning
Boulder, CO 80309-0314
USA