Active Learning through Place-Based Education - Florence

Available in: Florence

Course calendar: Check the confirmed dates

Cultural activities: The number and schedule of the cultural activities depend on the location; check the location webpage to discover more.

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Course Description

Place-Based Education (PBE) aims at creating an immersive learning experience for students by placing them in local heritage and cultural environments. This educational philosophy isn’t just about visiting; it is about investigating, participating, creating, exploring, and contributing through engaging activities and reflection.

The course explores how PBE can be used to promote critical thinking, taking the Renaissance city of Florence, Italy, as its stage location.

One of the best things about the proposed thinking activities and formulas – inspired by Project Zero at Harvard Graduate School of Education – is that they can be easily incorporated into any situation where learning happens, and modified to fit students’ needs, interests, and/or the school curriculum.

Hence, the course will foster ideas, strategies, and frameworks for teaching that can be used in different settings – i.e., virtual classrooms and/or onsite learning; along with educational experiences that can take place either indoors, outdoors, or both. Various routines, which will be practiced during the week, can be also adapted to different age groups and can be done individually, in pairs, in a small group, on a team, or as an entire class.

During in-class activities, participants will be prompted to employ, analyze, and discuss the application of various thinking routines (e.g, compare and connect, explore viewpoints, find complexity, observe and describe, question and investigate reason), and receive suggestions for their use with students.

In outdoor activities, participants will visit four well-known neighborhoods in Florence’s historic city center, and learn how to incorporate additional thinking routines and PBE strategies to the sites visited.

By the end of this course, participants will understand how experiential learning through place and community can be included in any educational program in a whole new way. They will have also explored and experienced a variety of new powerful creative tools to add to their teacher toolbox in order to encourage the development of thinking, reflecting, noticing, and observing carefully; all of which will support student learning across age groups, disciplines, competencies, and populations.

Continue reading: Discover the learning outcomes and the tentative schedule of this course.

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Course categories: Creativity and Soft Skills and School Innovation

Creativity and Soft Skills: By fostering critical thinking and communicative abilities, an educator can develop better relationships with students, colleagues, and students’ parents, thus obtaining higher learning outcomes. If you want to expand both your creative thinking and storytelling skills, you should check out our Creativity and Soft Skills courses. They can help you design stimulating activities which aim to promote entrepreneurship and collaboration among your students.

School Innovation: Both students’ needs and institutional demands nowadays change so quickly that is not always easy to keep up with the latest requirements. These courses provide school principals, managers, and teachers with new tools to face an ever-changing society. Our training courses about project management, entrepreneurship, team building, and mentoring will help you make the most of new trends in school administration. You also have the chance to get familiar with the most interesting educational systems in Europe, such as the German VET system, the Finnish school system, or the Italian preschool education. Finally, you can also explore innovative methodologies to foster a more creative and inclusive school environment.

Discover other courses on:

• Critical thinking and problem solving
• Arts
• Study visits and cultural activities