David Sobel

David Sobel is an education writer who has helped in developing the philosophy of place-based education. He has written extensively on the topic in books and numerous articles. He is currently a Core Faculty member and Director of Certificate Programs at Antioch University New England.

Professional overview

Sobel received a B.A. in English from Williams College and a M.Ed. from Antioch New England Graduate School.

David T. Sobel was a co-founder and director of The Harrisville School from 1972 to 1975 and has served as a publicly elected school board member in both Nelson and Harrisville, New Hampshire. He has served as a staff development and science curriculum consultant to schools in New Hampshire and Vermont and has been a guest speaker and workshop leader for a variety of school and environmental organizations. David was also a curriculum coordinator for Yankee Lands: A Land Use Curriculum Project from 1980 to 1983. He was a core faculty member in the Education and Environmental Studies Departments at Antioch New England Graduate School from 1977 to 1986, chairperson for the Education Department from 1983 to 1997, and has been the director of Teacher Certification Programs from 1997 to the present. Sobel was Project Director for Know Nukes Institute from 1982 to 1987.

David currently serves on the editorial board of the Holistic Education Review and is the author of Children’s Special Places and many other articles on children and nature.

Books

• Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators (Stenhouse Publishers, 2008) ISBN 1-57110-741-X

The current crisis in geography education has spawned several new books on mapmaking, many of which advocate either recitation and drill or a conceptual top-down model that ignores children's interests. Mapmaking with Children presents an inspired alternative. Maintaining that there is no substitute for hands-on experience, David Sobel places the initial emphasis on local projects--projects that begin in students' own backyards and communities, projects that provide a sense of place.

As Sobel explains, "In the beginning, children's maps represent their experiences of beauty, secrecy, adventure, and comfort. With these affective endeavors as a foundation, I then gradually start to focus on scale, location, direction, and geographic relationships. The development of emotional bonds and cognitive skills needs to go hand in hand in my approach to developmentally appropriate social studies and geography." To that end, his book identifies each stage of development, presenting relevant theoretical issues and several appropriate projects.

In the beginning, students stay close to home, mapping their known world. Gradually, they move on to their neighborhood, developing a sense of place, scope, and perspective. Eventually, once students are older, they explore the nation, the world, even the solar system, creating raised relief maps and contour maps to develop visual literacy and spatial reasoning skills. Vivid illustrations of the students' work are provided throughout to let you observe each stage of development.

Mapmaking, as Sobel uses it, has relevance across the curriculum. In addition to appealing to social studies teachers, this book will be of interest to science teachers, language arts teachers, and math teachers looking for new ways to invigorate the curriculum

• Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities (Great Barrington, MA: Orion Society, 2004) ISBN 0-913098-54-X
• Mapmaking with Children: Sense-of-Place Education for the Elementary Years (Portsmouth, NH: Heineman, 1998) ISBN 0-325-00042-5
• Children's Special Places: Exploring the Role of Forts, Dens, and Bush Houses in Middle Childhood (Tucson, AZ: Zephyr Press, 1993) ISBN 0-913705-81-0
• Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education (Great Barrington, MA: Orion Society, 1996) ISBN 0-913098-50-7

Articles available online

• Beyond Ecophobia, Yes!, 2 November 1998
• Suddenly a Waterfall...
• An Interpretive Lunch

References

Sobel's Antioch University New England Webpage

External links

• David Sobel: Lighting Up Minds to the Wonder of Their World (article at Edutopia.org)
• "Saving Presents: The Re-emergence of Dreamtime and Playtime in Childhood" article in Whole Terrain Vol. 9