063-Annual-Report-2023-v13 Final pages - Flipbook - Page 14
Get outside and teach
to teacher confidence and self-efficacy are where
faculty can help. Dean is working with districts to make
recommendations to educators in the use of placebased education and how to integrate outdoor learning
with the state’s academic standards.
Dean’s visit with Stinehart’s class didn’t just boil down
to grabbing some art supplies and trekking into the
woods; their lesson on animal camouflage, for example,
took planning and coordination between the two to
ensure it would be fun and informative while conforming
to state science standards.
Steph Dean listens in as Kevin Stinehart wraps up a
lesson on animal camoflauge.
Through teaching, research and partnerships, College
of Education faculty rethink students’ surroundings and
envision a new kind of classroom.
Assistant Professor Steph Dean is one of many faculty
members in the College who are incorporating more
place-based education in their teaching and bringing
these best practices to districts and schools interested
in taking advantage of the benefits of teaching in a
forest. Or on the water. Or at a museum. Or anywhere
that a lesson can be elevated through a student’s
surroundings.
“The physical benefits are obvious, from more vitamin
D to even fighting the current wave of short sightedness
caused by so many screens,” Dean said, “but the social,
emotional and cognitive benefits make learning more
meaningful and memorable. The learning is more likely
to ‘stick.’”
Dean has partnered with Central Academy of the Arts’
Kevin Stinehart, a fourth-grade teacher, to deliver
more place-based education to his students. Stinehart
routinely teaches lessons outside and has been an
advocate for play and play-based education during his
time working in the School District of Pickens County.
Dean said a big hurdle to place-based education is
finding ways to incorporate it. She said that concerns
about safety and weather, especially in areas of
the country where rain is constant, are certainly
factors that are harder to control, but issues related
13 | College of Education
Dean introduced the lesson and set up the phenomena,
while Stinehart gave instructions that he knew would
register with the students he had gotten to know so
well over the course of a year. Both engaged with the
students during the “animal hunt,” but Stinehart closed
out the lesson, drawing conclusions that connected to
the learning.
“Place-based education is valuable because if we
want students to take care of the world, they really
need to have a connection with where they are. If
they understand what’s here they will care about
it, and then they can expand that care to oceans or
other countries and continents around the world.”
Kevin Stinehart
Fourth-grade teacher, Central Academy of the Arts
Dean is currently working with other faculty on both
a scoping review of research related to place-based
education and on a project that investigates rural
outdoor science education. Dean and other College of
Education faculty are interested in exploring ways that
educators engage in place-based pedagogies to teach
all subjects in the natural environment. Fortunately
for Clemson faculty, their workplace is not lacking for
nature or spaces in which to teach outdoors.
“Clemson is really well situated to engage in placebased education given our location in the Upstate and
the incredible ecosystems, geography and culture we
have here,” Dean said. “The College of Education is
increasingly working toward partnering with schools
to support teachers in their efforts to get outside and
teach.”
