Interdisciplinary Place-Based Learning in Urban Education: Exploring Virtual Worlds

Description

This book focuses on the interdisciplinary incorporation of place-based learning in faculty teaching strategies at the New York City College of Technology. Contributing authors highlight their creative use of the unique urban environment of Brooklyn, illustrating the integration of urban resources into student research projects and activities in the context of an interdisciplinary course. Beginning with a reflection on the interrelationship between learners and nature, built and virtual environments, contributors then examine the experience of students and faculty in interdisciplinary projects in architecture, the geosciences, economics, computer science, the humanities and medicine. The volume concludes with a synthesis of best practices from these projects, focused on virtual place-based learning. This scholarly book makes a valuable contribution to the literature, offering a model of creative employment of urban spaces to enhance experiential interdisciplinary learning and demonstrating the potential educator application in diverse urban institutions elsewhere. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Introduction: A Model for Interdisciplinary Place-Based Learning (Reneta D. Lansiquot, Sean P. MacDonald)....Pages 1-15 The Varieties of Place-Based Education (Laureen Park)....Pages 17-38 The Solar Decathlon: Team DURA and Interdisciplinary Place-Based Learning (Paul C. King)....Pages 39-64 Cyclonic Pedagogy: Learning Interdisciplinary Lessons from a Hybrid Storm (Reginald A. Blake, Janet Liou-Mark)....Pages 65-87 From Local to Global: The Role of Interdisciplinary Place-Based Research in Teaching Environmental Economics (Sean P. MacDonald)....Pages 89-109 Visualizing Medicine: Mapping Connections with Plague Inc. to Learn in the Interdisciplinary Classroom (Sandra Cheng, Aida L. Egues, Gwen Cohen-Brown)....Pages 111-132 Modeling Interdisciplinary Place-Based Learning in Virtual Worlds: Lessons Learned and Suggestions for the Future (Tamrah D. Cunningham, Reneta D. Lansiquot)....Pages 133-145 Back Matter ....Pages 147-149