Place Network
School Network
By connecting with other schools, teachers and school leaders find the inspiration and solutions they need to break away from an outdated, test-heavy, one-size-fits-all system of education. The Teton Science Schools network of place-based schools helps teachers rebuild human connections and facilitate the kind of inspiring, authentic learning for which Teton Science Schools is famous.
The Teton Science Schools Place-Based Learning Framework includes:
- Learner-centered practices. Students, teachers, and leaders are active, resilient, lifelong learners. They feel deeply connected to learning about place and they demonstrate agency and self-efficacy.
- Community Impact. Learners, teachers, and school leaders understand the history and present of their place and develop the transferable skills to learn about all places, at a scale ranging from local to global. Learners and teachers actively contribute to their community’s vitality. The school helps the community to be more ecologically resilient, economically vibrant, and culturally inclusive.
- Community as Classroom: Situating learning within the local community gives the learning experiences context and relevance.
- Through engaging and relevant place-based content, learners meet or exceed academic targets.
“It’s pretty powerful stuff! We’ve learned so much and are getting the opportunity to apply the place-based principles to the context of Fairview. Needless to say, we’re ecstatic about this journey that we’re taking together as a school family!”
Tyler Simmons, Columbia School District
Engaging with a place-based school network can be particularly powerful for rural schools.
The Case
We are living in one of the most “connected” times in history, when children have the ability to engage with someone across the world, instantly. Meanwhile, the increased use of technology has been shown to negatively impact children’s health, attention span, and social-emotional development. So while they’re digitally connected to people all over the world, they are simultaneously disconnected—lacking meaningful engagement with peers, neighbors, and community members.
The Teton Science Schools Network provides much-needed connection for schools seeking to solve these problems and undo the damage caused by the industrial model of education. Schools that participate in network activities are seeking to reestablish these connections among children, between children and their communities, and between children and the natural environment.
Current Network Status
Our Place Network schools from across the United States and Canada have included public, independent, and charter schools, all of whom are deeply committed to place-based education.
