Place-based learning: Reflections on the value of repeated field trips

This Q&A is based on a conversation with primary school teacher Dianne Christenson about her use of place-based learning in science. The idea for the column took shape as Rose Hipkins listened to Di report back to her co-researchers in a Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) project team meeting. Di was talking about her experiences of taking her class to a neighbouring beach, not once, but multiple times. This pricked up the ears of Rose, who was writing a book about complexity theory in education (Hipkins, 2021). Rose wondered if revisiting the same place over time might give students a fuller sense of its ecosystem and a deeper connection to it. Set editor, Josie Roberts, followed up by asking Di some of the questions Rose was keen to know more about.