This week two groups presented grade two social studies units.

One presentation
focused on People and Environments: Global Communities and my group focused on
Heritage and Identity. When we started to discuss what place-based learning was and it’s
importance in the classroom I found myself instantly comparing to both presentations. As
mentioned in our course slides, “place-based learning immerses students local heritage,
cultures, landscapes, and experiences, and uses these as launching points for meaningful
learning across the curriculum.” (PowerPoint Slides, 2018). We have talked about place-
based learning in other classes however this week’s group presentations really helped me to
connect the importance of play-based learning in the classroom.
I can connect back to my elementary school career in regards to place-based learning
using local heritage. Down the road from my public school (which was W.R Best) is the Oro
African Methodist Episcopal Church. This church was built between 1846-1849 and is the
last existing building built by a community of African Canadians (Township of Oro-Medonte,
2013). I drove by this church on the bud every day to school, I still drive by this church every
day on my way to Lake Head, we did assignments on this church and what it was
representative of, and I believe this was so important to me because it is local to my
community. When I have friends visit I love telling them about this church of how it is a
representative of the role the Black militiamen in the War of 1812. Relating back to grade
two social studies and Heritage and Identity, in particular, my experience and interest in the
Oro African Methodist Episcopal Church would be an ideal situation to launch place-based
learning into the curriculum.
Overall, I am extremely excited to incorporate place-based learning in my future
class, as I believe learning about local heritage and incorporating a child’s sense of place is
critical in children wanting to actually learn.

References

Driessn, S. (2018). Drawing on Children’s “Sense of Place”. [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved

from file:///Users/brittanylowry/Downloads/Week%205%204034.pdf

Township of Oro-Medonte. (2013).Oro African Preservation Project. Retrieved

from: https://www.oro-medonte.ca/community/history/oro-african-church-preservation