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17  Invoking the Ontological Realm of Place: A Dialogic Response  227

            Enacting Place-Based Education


            We agree that invoking the ontological realm in PBE would allow for richer science
            teaching and learning experiences that are contextualized and relevant to the lives of
            students and teachers. We also recognize that although projects like WormWatch and
            standards-based  education  are  beneficial  in  that  they  offer  salient  guidelines  for
            enacting content-rich and process-oriented science education, they fail to incorporate
            what students know about and how they understand the place where the curriculum
            is enacted. To summarize our discussion, we present the following key points that
            we  believe  are  important  in  conceptualizing  truly  place-relevant/place-conscious
            science education experiences:
            •   We must be wary of “globalizing” approaches that are meant to be local and
              contextualized.
            •   PBE as a methodology is as equally important as PBE as pedagogy. If balanced
              appropriately, it might offer science educators the necessary framework to apply
              PBE in their classrooms.
            •   Teacher  education  and  professional  development  for  PBE  should  integrate
              activities that allow educators to make sense of their own relationships with and
              in a place and experience the tools to bring this place-consciousness into their
              teaching.
            •   Place-based science education should work to make student’s relationships with
              place more explicit, focusing on the kinds of relationships students develop with
              and in a place, thus acknowledging the ontological realm of place.
            •   With  consideration  of  the  ontological  realm,  PBE  can  foster  “foundational
              capacity for care” in students which becomes essential grounds for ecojustice
              and education for ecojustice.



            References

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