Michael Duffin

Watching Michael Duffin's lecture on dvd, was not quite the same as seeing it in person because you could not hear many of the questions. However, it touched on placing the choice in the hands of the students. By allowing students to problem solve through hands on projects, and creating a learner-centered education that adapts to students individual skills and abilities, eventually allowing these kids to explore their communities. He studied the impacts on place based education and found that it had profound effects on learning experiences for kids. He used the dose response theory, standardized testing, interviews, and observations all as research for his theory on place based education. I recall from his lecture that he found by taking kids outside and learning about ecology for a couple weeks, most all the students after scored higher on their science exams.
I think that place based education is still a very new concept and has not yet caught on, however I see that it does have many positive effects on children and teachers. There are still many more studies to do and this theory needs to become more mainstream before it is used in all schools. It seems that this could be a good solution for a faulty education system, and kids are proving to be learning more through Duffin's research.

-Kaley