Place-Based Pedagogy Education

The more meaningful something is to use the more we care about it and the more we are going to remember it. This also happens with the way students learn which is why we are using a place-based pedagogy of education to teach them about history/social studies recreational activities. Place based-education is teaching students about any topic, in this case recreational activities while incorporating something or someplace they know about and that pertains to their community which is the South Padre Island for this lesson.

When you are going to teach students of the way people in the past met their recreational needs I find it really hard for students to understand what snowboarding or skiing is or how it works when they have never been in contact with snow. However, if you ask students of the Rio Grande Valley who has gone to the beach at the South Padre Island is very likely that everybody will pick up their hand. This is because of where we are located in and how accessible it is to the public. No matter the grade level, all students will have stories about the things they have done while being at the island and that is what teachers have to take advantage of to make a lesson meaningful and successful.

This pedagogy is one of the most engaging because it gives all students the opportunity to share what they know about the topic which is when their prior knowledge is activated since they have to think about all the times they have gone to the beach and the kind of activities they have done. Every students has the chance to be the star when they narrate their experiences to the class and while they contribute to the topic all the other students get an opportunity to acquire new knowledge about something they know and enjoy doing.