Many educators want students to see their own community as a place to learn and to make a difference. But what does that look like in practice, across ages and settings?
Staff at Teton Science Schools describe how their organization has used place-based education since 1967 in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. They share their six design principles, four program examples, and a before-and-after survey of 206 visiting middle and high school students.
The six principles are: link local and global, put learners at the center, build on students' questions, have students design solutions, use the community as a classroom, and bring subjects together.
They report:
- Fifth graders helped with a real park problem. People had dumped aquarium fish into Kelly Warm Springs, threatening native trout downstream. Fifth graders took turns as "fish biologist," "fish doctor," data recorder, photographer, and fish handler. They chose their own questions, then presented and compared their data. Nearly every group knew someone who had dumped a fish there. Weeks later, students could still explain their experiments. Rangers now meet younger siblings who know not to dump fish.
- Older students thrived on choosing their own research. Each February, high school students spent four days in the park designing and carrying out original projects. Peers and teachers then critiqued their work. Students most valued the freedom to choose topics and working with peers.
- A six-day program built confidence. After a six-day program in both parks, 206 students from a Missouri school district reported more confidence in doing science, leading and helping peers, and adapting when plans change. They also better understood that science rests on evidence and changes with new evidence.
- The approach works with adults too. On wildlife tours, guides let visitors watch pronghorn through spotting scopes, then find and smell the sagebrush they eat. The talk then widens to how oil and gas development affects sagebrush habitat.
What this means for your practice:
- Partner on real questions. Ask park or agency staff what data they need, then build student work around it, as the warm springs study did.
- Give everyone a job. Rotating roles like fish biologist or data recorder keep the whole group busy and show the parts of scientific work.
- Observe first, then let students ask. Students explored the spring before choosing their questions. Older students shaped questions with teacher guidance, then worked independently.
- Close with sharing. Have groups present, compare data, and critique each other's work.
- Look for links to students' lives. One student realized invasive fish could hurt his family's fishing and guiding business.
- Start with what's in front of you, then widen. Move from an animal, to its food, to the human choices that shape its habitat, and invite different perspectives.
- Give a keepsake. Making plaster casts of animal tracks sharpens observation and reminds visitors of what they found.
- Use the six principles as a checklist when planning a program.
The Bottom Line
Staff at Teton Science Schools describe four place-based programs in and near Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Fifth graders collected data on invasive aquarium fish for park scientists and could still explain their work weeks later. Younger siblings later knew not to dump fish. High school students designed their own research in the park and valued the freedom to choose. After a six-day program, middle and high school students felt more confident in science and in leading others, and better understood how scientific knowledge is built. Tour guides used the same approach with adult visitors. For educators, the examples show how real roles, real questions, and links to local lives can turn a park or neighborhood into a classroom. The six principles behind the programs offer a ready planning checklist.