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Place-Based Education (PBE)

Place-Based Education

Learning Begins Where We Are

At Hawbridge, students do not simply learn about the world around them. They learn through meaningful connections to the people, places, questions, and experiences within their community.

Place-Based Education connects strong classroom instruction with local culture, environmental systems, community partnerships, public policy, and authentic questions that help students understand why their learning matters.

Whether investigating the Haw River, studying local history, collaborating with community organizations, or exploring real-world challenges, students develop academic knowledge alongside curiosity, responsibility, and a stronger sense of place.

What Is Place-Based Education?

The local community becomes part of the learning experience.

Place-Based Education is an approach to curriculum and instruction that connects learning to local culture, environmental systems, community issues, and meaningful experiences. It is also known as place- and community-based education or place-conscious learning.

In addition to preparing students academically, Place-Based Education helps students understand their relationship to the communities around them. Students learn that they are capable of making meaningful contributions and that their ideas, knowledge, and actions can help improve the lives of others.

At the heart of Place-Based Education is the belief that children of every age can contribute to their communities—and that doing so strengthens both their desire to learn and their belief in their own ability to create change.

Adapted from Smith, G. A. (2017), “Place-Based Education,” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education.

Learning Through Place

The Community Becomes Part of the Classroom

Local places, people, environments, and questions give students opportunities to see academic ideas in context and explore how their learning connects to the world around them.

Hawbridge students participating in a Place-Based Education experience.
Hawbridge students studying environmental science outdoors.
Hawbridge students participating in community-connected learning.
Hawbridge students participating in Place-Based Education.
Hawbridge teacher supporting students during a learning activity.

More Than Learning Outdoors

Outdoor experiences can be part of Place-Based Education, but the approach reaches much further.

Place-Based Education helps students examine the cultural, environmental, economic, and civic life of the communities around them. Learning can move naturally between classroom study, community investigation, collaboration, and reflection as students encounter different dimensions of the places they call home.

A Broader Approach

Five Traditional Strands

Place-Based Education connects learning to multiple dimensions of community life.

01
Cultural Investigations
02
Environmental Education
03
Local Problem-Solving
Exploring issues that affect the surrounding community.
04
Economic Studies
05
Public-Policy Involvement

Place-Based Learning at Hawbridge

Place-Based Education is not a separate program or occasional activity. It is an approach teachers can incorporate across subjects and grade levels.

Throughout kindergarten through grade 12, teachers can connect academic study with local environments, community knowledge, authentic questions, interdisciplinary projects, and opportunities for students to apply what they are learning.

Several Hawbridge courses and experiences place a particularly strong emphasis on learning through place and community.

Place-Focused Courses and Experiences

  • AP Environmental Science — Upper School
  • Horticulture — Middle and Upper School
  • AP Human Geography — Upper School
  • Community Internships — Upper School
  • Outdoor Skills — Middle School
  • Outdoor Leadership — Upper School

Place in Practice

Learning Through Experience

Across subjects and grade levels, students encounter opportunities to connect academic learning with place, people, community, and experience.

Hawbridge students participating in Place-Based Education.
Hawbridge students participating in community-connected learning.
Hawbridge students studying environmental science outdoors.

Why Place Matters

Students understand learning more deeply when they can see its connection to real life.

Place-Based Education helps students develop critical-thinking skills, confidence, civic responsibility, environmental awareness, and a stronger understanding of how their learning can contribute to the world around them.

Every community has stories to understand, questions to explore, challenges to address, and opportunities to contribute. At Hawbridge, place gives learning context—and gives students opportunities to see that what they learn can matter beyond the classroom.