Preservice teachers\u27 perceptions of place and curriculum: An essential link to the realization of critical place‐based education

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the perceptions that preservice teachers held about place and curriculum and to consider how those perceptions might affect the implementation of critical place-based education. Considering the decline in the health of the environment and the concerns among environmentalists about ecological sustainability, preservice teachers investigated and implemented critical place-based education, an approach that fosters healthier communities through curriculum by exploring the complex and dynamic interactions between nature and culture and how they affect the environment. Research shows that the classroom teacher has a significant impact on what and how curriculum is designed and enacted. Therefore, if critical place-based education is to be realized, understanding how preservice teachers perceive curriculum provides insight for teacher educators who want to promote an educational reform that illuminates the interconnectedness of social and ecological systems through a curriculum that connects schools and communities. Data were analyzed through the lens of phenomenology. Individual and group interviews, reflective journals and essays were used to explore participants\u27 experiences, and to reveal preservice teachers impressions of place, the curriculum and the natural world. Additionally, this study examined whether the participants could imagine the possibility of place as pedagogy after they had designed and implemented a place-based unit at a local elementary school as part of a science methods course. This research study suggested that participants held a traditional and technical view of what constitutes curriculum, and participants indicated that they would not implement critical place-based education because of a number of real or perceived challenges. Participants explained that they felt ill prepared to teach environmental concepts and that they would most likely not be including environmental education in their curriculum. Data suggested that preservice teachers\u27 perceptions have been shaped over many years of enculturation and that a research agenda that explores various types and levels of immersion in authentic place-based experiences in teacher education programs may be a crucial step toward shifting preservice teachers\u27 paradigm toward alternative frameworks for curriculum that foster the growth of healthier natural and social communities