Reconstructing Conservation: Our Common Ground
Ben A. Minteer and Robert E. Manning, eds.
Island Press, 2003
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Reconstructing Conservation: Our Common Ground is the
second publication to share the results of the November 2001 symposium,
"Reconstructing Conservation: History, Values, and Practice."
This volume brings together 23 leading scholars and practitioners
to examine the classical conservation tradition and its values
to contemporary environmentalism. Focusing not just on the tensions
that have marked the deconstructionist debate over wilderness
and environmentalism that surfaced in the 1990s, the book represents
a larger and ultimately more constructive and hopeful discussion
over the proper course of future conservation scholarship and
action.
Ben A. Minteer is assistant research professor, Human Dimensions of Biology Faculty, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University.
Robert E. Manning is professor of natural resources at the University of Vermont.
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by David Sobel
The Orion Society, 2004
In this fourth volume of the Nature Literacy Series, David Sobel presents a comprehensive review of place-based education. From philosophy to strategy, Sobel traces place-based education in the U.S., celebrating teachers that connect classroom, community, and the environment.
David Sobel is Director of Teacher Certification Programs in the Education Department at Antioch New England Graduate School. He also co-directs the Community-based School Environmental Education (CO-SEED) program, a place-based education initiative that improves schools, encourages community vitality, and preserves environmental quality in rural and urban communities throughout New England.
Making Community Connections: The Orton Family Foundation
Community Mapping Program
Connie L. Knapp and The Orton Family Foundation Community
Mapping Program
ESRI Press, 2003
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This book is designed to bring teams of teachers and their students together with community members to study a problem, a resource, a condition—any matter of interest and importance to the community. The school work includes gathering and examining existing information, discovering new facts through field investigation, and mapping the resource using GIS/GPS tools. Not only do the students meet and work with community mentors and experts who participate in the classroom and help with the field studies, they also typically hold public forums to gather input on the resource and their work. At the end of the semester or project the students hold a public forum to present their work in a variety forms, providing a body of research to the community, which can be used to address immediate concerns and help plan for the future.
The Orton Family Foundation was established in 1995 by Lyman Orton and Noel Fritzinger. The foundation is a nonprofit, private operating foundation working with rural communities as they cope with rapid economic, social and environmental change. The mission is to provide rural America with the tools they need to undertake responsible rural and land use planning. Contributions comes in the form of programs and projects that communities can use in the course of their planning discussions and decision-making processes.
Questing: A Guide to Creating Community Treasure Hunts
Delia Clark and Steven Glazer
University Press of New England, 2004
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Inspired by the British pastime of "letterboxing,"
questing has become one of the fastest growing recreational-educational
activities on this side of the Atlantic. In scores of communities,
people from toddlers and teens, parents and grandparents follow
maps, clues, and rhyming riddles seeking treasure boxes hidden
in natural and cultural locations. In this book, two experts in
community education explain how individuals and organizations
can create and organize permanent quests to foster place-based
education, stewardship, adventure, and fun.
In the process of undertaking quests participants "celebrate
and strengthen community life" by forging "lifelong
connections to the distinct landscapes and cultural features of
their home ground." This book is intended to offer inspiration
and practical advice for parents, teachers, community group leaders,
and others interested in learning about where they live and building
community ties through questing.
Questing draws upon the well-established success of a program in New England in which individuals, students, and organizations create clues and maps highlighting the special places and stories of their community. The book presents a rationale for place-based education and quest program goals and objectives that can easily be implemented in any community.
Delia Clark is co-founder and Project Director of Antioch New England Institute in Keene, New Hampshire. She is also the co-founder of Vital Communities.
Steve Glazer is coordinator of the Valley Quest program, a place-based community education program of Vital Communities in White River Junction, Vermont. He is author of The Heart of Learning (1999) and editor of Valley Quest: 89 Treasure Hunts in the Upper Valley (2001).
(Text taken from University Press of New England website.)
