Podcast: Emily Liebtag and Nate McClennen on the Power of Place

“If we were lucky enough as children to be surrounded by grown-ups who loved us, then our sense of wholeness is not just the sense of completeness in ourselves but also is the sense of belonging to others and to our place; it is an unconscious awareness of community, of having in common. It may be that this double sense of singular integrity and of communal belonging is our personal standard of health for as long as we live.” –Wendell Berry 

After four years of sharing stories about The Power of Place, the co-authors of a new book see place-based learning opportunities everywhere they look. 

Tom interviewed his co-author Emily Liebtag (@EmilyLiebtag), new CEO of Boundless. On the day of the interview,  she visited Colonial Drug Store 60 years to the day that nine young African American men posed a sit in to fight for their rights. The Town of Chapel Hill dedicating a plague to their contribution. For Emily, it was a reminder of the history of the fight for equity that is all around us. The ceremony sparked a morning of learning about the place she now calls home. 

The other co-author Nate McClennen (@nmcclenn), Vice President for Education and Innovation, Teton Science Schools (@tetonscience), noticed on his drive to work that he had to put on sunglasses for the first time this year as the sun poked through a notch in the mountains as he drove up the Snake River valley reminding him of the change of the seasons. 

As examples of schools that embrace place, Emily mentioned Purdue Polytechnic in Indianapolis and Center One in Charlottesville. Nate discussed Roscoe ISD, a rural Texas district that opened places for businesses to start. 

The book took shape during a writing retreat in September 2018 at the log cabins of Murie Ranch (below) in Moose Wyoming, home of the American environmental movement.

What is place-based education? 

Place-based experiences increase engagement, learning and community impact. The Teton Science approach is interdisciplinary and emphasizes three lenses: economy, ecology, and culture. 

Why place now? “Many students are disengaged and not providing an experience that connects with meaning,” said McClennen. 

“Connecting to the community makes them feel like they can make a difference, come to understand what they care about and who they want to become,” added McClennen.  

The way place contributes to agency, equity, and community are the three themes of the book. 

The book is organized around six design principles: 

• • Learner-centered: everyone experiences place differently; everyone deserves the right to build an identity rooted in place; everyone can make a difference. 
  • Local to global: starting local allows students to build on prior knowledge and connect to global issues.  
  • Inquiry-based: understanding what is in the world; staying curious and making observations.  
  • Design thinking: a creative problem-solving approach that allows young people to become solutionaries 
  • Community as classroom: every place offers something to teach; every place is part of an ecosystem; learning wherever it happens should count;  
  • Interdisciplinary: using project-based learning, skills and dispositions are learning through real world learning not in isolation.