Often, when students are given an assignment to complete, whether responding to literature, researching another culture, performing a science experiment, or practicing calculations, they gloss over the power of place. What’s so special about a location?
Quite a bit, actually.
Having a firm grasp of location brings a great deal of context to all manner of content. When a student, a teacher–anyone really–has a solid understanding of where an event, idea, or process originated or a particular person or group of people came to prominence, the likelihood of engaging, memorable learning increases significantly. The power of place includes (but is certainly not limited to):
- knowing more about the setting of a story
- where an author lived or traveled
- the site of a famous scientific investigation
- a location where a student executed experiment is take place
- where a famous mathematical equation first appeared
- where a society began, flourished, or encountered the beginning of its end
- a place that is yet to be
Even when when teachers and pupils think they know a place very well, there’s always more to the story.
Related Resources: What digital tools and resources might teachers and students use to enrich what they know about a place? Take a journey through the following and see what you discover. 