Over the past 100 years, visitor learning at America’s national parks has grown and evolved. Today, there are over 400 National Park Service (NPS) sites, representing over eighty million acres. Sites exist in every US state and territory and are located on land, at sea, in remote areas, and in major urban centers. Every year, more than 300 million people visit national parks, and several million of them are children engaged in one of many educational programs hosted by the NPS.
America’s Largest Classrooms offers insight and practical advice for improving educational outreach at national parks as well as suggestions for classroom educators on how to meaningfully incorporate parks into their curricula. Via a wide collection of case studies—ranging from addressing inclusivity at parks and public lands to teaching about science and social issues—this book illustrates innovations and solutions that will be of interest to nature interpreters, outdoor educators, and policy makers, as well as professors in the sciences writ large.
Jessica L. Thompson is Associate Professor in the College of Business at Northern Michigan University.
Ana K. Houseal is Associate Professor and Science Outreach Educator in the Science and Mathematics Teaching Center at the University of Wyoming.
"America's Largest Classroom is a masterfully crafted assembly of case studies reflecting the purposes, passions, and impacts of place-based education in our national parks. Written by the very best practitioners, this book offers rich and diverse illustrations of powerful and enduring educational experiences designed to open the eyes, ears, and hearts of the young people who will steward our planet."—Daniel Beaupré, Vice President of Experiences, Education Division, National Geographic Society
"For over a century, the national parks have held a special place in the American imagination. The parks have helped us to appreciate our common past, and have allowed us to celebrate the inspiring landscapes of our country. America’s Largest Classroom offers a new way of thinking about the national parks as laboratories for learning. This impressive collection includes stories from places as diverse as the Great Smoky Mountains to Grand Teton National Park, and illustrates how these places can serve as teaching tools for topics that range from climate change to environmental justice, hydrology, and more. America’s Largest Classroom belongs on the shelf of all educators who value place-based learning, and is a must-read for anyone who loves America’s national parks."—Sarah Mittlefehldt, author of Tangled Roots: The Appalachian Trail and American Environmental Politics
“America’s Largest Classrooms crisscrosses the landscape of education, offering important insights into place-based education, economics, and partnerships among seemingly unlikely actors, science, and history.”—Victoria Gillis, Retired Endowed Chair of Adolescent Literacy Education at the University of Wyoming
“With historical nuance and a great breadth of research methods, this volume brings excellent scholarship to the important but otherwise neglected matter of our national parks as sites of learning.”—David Sobel, Professor Emeritus, Education Department, Antioch University New England
310 pp.6 x 9Illus: 29 b/w illustrations, 9 charts
9780520340640$29.95|£25.00Paper
Apr 2020