Session Information and Materials

During this hands-on learning arc, you will step into the role of a learner, and work through a real place-based challenge that you currently face in your classroom or school. Each day you will get to spend time clarifying the challenge, asking deeper questions, considering context and community, and collaborating with other place-based educators to share ideas and solutions. At the end of the week, you will walk away with a thoughtfully designed proposal for a solution to your relevant place-based project that is grounded in your context and is ready to share, refine, or implement immediately. 

This experience is intentionally designed to build from session to session, allowing your thinking to deepen and your solution to strengthen over time. Each session, experience, conversation, and collaborative moment throughout the week will contribute to the clarity and quality of your final proposal. To fully benefit from this process, we encourage participants to plan for full engagement across the entire conference so you can experience the complete arc of learning and leave with work you feel confident moving forward. 

FAQ: 

What exactly is the Place-Based Challenge–Solution Experience?

The Place-Based Challenge–Solution Experience is the core learning arc of the conference. Participants will work through a real challenge from their classroom or school using a place-based, project-based approach. Rather than learning about PBL in theory, you will actively clarify a challenge, ask meaningful questions, collaborate with peers, and develop a thoughtful solution proposal rooted in your context.

Do I need to bring a specific Challenge with me?

No. We will begin the week by brainstorming and narrowing down challenges together. You are welcome to arrive with ideas in mind, but you will have structured time and guidance to identify and refine the challenge you want to focus on during the conference.

What if my Challenge feels too big - or too small?

There is no challenge too big or too small! The goal is not to “fix everything,” but to develop a well-considered proposal for a solution grounded in evidence, learning from the conference, and your local context. What matters most is clarity and alignment, not scale.

Will I be working alone or with others?

That’s up to you. Participants may choose to work independently or collaborate with colleagues from their school if attending as a team. You will also engage in structured peer conversations throughout the week to strengthen your thinking, regardless of how you structure your work time.

What happens at the end of the week?

At the end of the conference, you will share your solution proposal in a creative, visual format designed to spark conversation and feedback. We’ll provide time and materials for you to bring your thinking to life in an engaging way. We won’t give too much away now, but expect a little creativity, a little making, and a lot of meaningful dialogue. The focus will remain on the strength of your proposal, with the final piece serving as a conversation starter rather than a polished performance.

What will I walk away with?

You will leave with a thoughtfully developed solution proposal grounded in your context and informed by the week’s learning. Many participants choose to refine or pilot their ideas shortly after the conference.

Do I need to attend every session for this to make sense?

Yes. The experience builds intentionally from session to session. Each workshop, conversation, and collaborative moment strengthens your understanding of the challenge and informs your developing proposal. Full participation ensures you experience the complete learning arc and leave with work you feel confident advancing.

How much time will we have to work on our proposal?

About three hours of dedicated work time is built into the conference. You will also have opportunities to apply insights from other sessions directly to your developing proposal.

Is this only for experienced place-based educators?

No. The structure supports educators at all stages. Whether you are new to place-based learning or refining established practices, the process is designed to deepen your thinking and move your work forward.

Introduction to Place-Based Education - Leslie (TSS)

Just getting started with place-based education? Join us for this session to learn why place-based pedagogy is worthwhile and how you might already be using it, and to spark new ideas to increase student engagement and purpose.

Elementary: Seeds as Stories: Learning from Place & Peoples - Ren (Academy for Global Citizenship)

Participants will engage with a seed-centered learning model that begins with local inquiry into our area and ourselves, expanding through community connections, and comes to life through growing and storytelling. This session highlights how to center local ecologies and community knowledge as co-teachers in the learning process. Educators will explore how this approach fosters meaningful connections to place, culture and identity, and environmental stewardship across grade levels.

Secondary: Public Service Announcement of Policies That Have Shaped Our Current Society (Pinnacles Prep Teachers)

Scholars raised awareness about an important issue affecting communities. The PSA informed, persuaded, and helped the audience understand the issue and possible solutions. This was an interdisciplinary project that connected ideas from Math, Science, English Language Arts, and History. PSA focused on a real-world issue within the Pacific Northwest and connected to our recent classroom studies of systemic racism and how past policies and procedures have shaped our current society.

Sit Spots

Here is a resource on Sit Spots from the book How to Teach Nature Journaling - a free PDF download.

Admin Session: What Robots Can and Cannot Do - Julia Putnam (Boggs School) and Sharon (TSS)

When the James and Grace Lee Boggs School wanted a K-8 science and social studies curriculum that was place-based, addressed all the standards, and was customizable by their teachers, they partnered with their Teton Science Schools Professional Learning Coach and ChatGPT. We'll share the successes and challenges with that effort and hear what is working and not working for them today. Finally, we'll close with a conversation around what it might look like for students to be meaningfully using AI for place-based learning in 2026-27.

Introductory Session: Integrating Content/Standards and Place: QFT and Chopped, Unpacked - Kelly (TSS)

No matter where you teach, the grade levels you serve, or how excited you are about place-based learning, you still have specific content and standards to meet! This session focuses on how to integrate, not add, place-based learning into the curriculum you are already required to teach. Through two practical and engaging strategies, the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) and a “Chopped” style design challenge, you will experience how to turn standards into meaningful, place-connected learning opportunities. Content and place are not separate. Let’s integrate them and have some fun while we do it.

Experienced Session: Advanced Mapping Tools to Deepen Place-Based Learning - Alex (TSS)

Maps are more than tools; they are ways of seeing and making meaning in place. In this session, participants will explore advanced, user-friendly mapping tools that can be integrated into classroom practice right away. We will examine how digital mapping can support student voice, strengthen inquiry, and reveal connections across social, ecological, and cultural systems. Educators will leave with practical strategies to deepen engagement and expand how students understand and represent the places they know.

All participants will spend part of the day in Grand Teton National Park on Thursday. Choose a hiking option based on your desired level of challenge and pace. Both hikes will include uneven ground, where rocks, roots, mud, snow, and other hazards are all possible. 

Naturalist Hike: averages 1.5mph while hiking, with many opportunities to stop, take pictures, and learn about the flora and fauna. This group might hike 1-3 miles in three hours, including a stop for lunch. The terrain will include minimal elevation gain.

Adventure Hike: averages 2 to 2.5 mph, with the goals of covering more ground and having fewer stops for photos, rests, and learning. This group might hike 4-6 miles in three hours, including a stop for lunch. The terrain may include steep elevation gain and descent.

Please email Sharon at sharon.laidlaw@tetonscience.org, if neither of those experiences are appropriate for you and you would like to discuss alternative options.

In the afternoon after the field experience (4:30pm - 6:00pm), participants will have the option of attending Project Exhibition Night at the Teton Valley Campus of Mountain Academy.

On Friday morning, we'll have a school swag exchange. Bring your school swag, if you'd like to participate!

Admin Session: Leadership Moves that Grow Place-Based Educators - 3-Year Data Review - Alex (TSS)

What leadership moves truly support teachers in growing their place-based practice over time? This session shares a three-year data review from a Place Network school, highlighting the structures and decisions that mattered most. We will explore how factors such as time, trust, and teacher autonomy shaped instructional growth, drawing on teacher reflections and program data. Participants will leave with clear, actionable insights to support strong, sustained place-based teaching in their own contexts.

Elementary: Leveraging Strong Community Partnerships - Betsy Leeker (Wohlwend Elementary)

Looking to build meaningful community partnerships? I will briefly share ideas and examples of my partnerships and how they support student learning and engagement. The remainder of the session will be interactive, giving participants time to discuss ideas, ask questions, and brainstorm ways to identify and develop partnerships within their own communities. Attendees will leave with practical starting points and inspiration to begin building strong, local connections.

Secondary: Rooted in Place, Built to Last: Sustainable and Replicable Place-Based Secondary Education in Coastal Alabama - Krista and Jessica (Gulf Shores)

This session explores how place-based learning can grow from powerful individual experiences into something more enduring—a system of learning shaped by place, sustained through leadership, and rooted in community. Along the Gulf Coast, where the line between land and water is always shifting, students learn by stepping directly into the ecosystems that surround them.

Through experiences such as oyster gardening, water quality monitoring, dune restoration, and microplastics research, students engage in authentic inquiry that connects science learning to real ecological challenges. They are not simulating the work—they are doing it.

Bringing both classroom and administrative perspectives, this session highlights how educators and leaders can design the conditions that make this work possible at scale: aligning learning to local issues, building meaningful partnerships, and securing funding that supports long-term impact rather than one-time projects.

Participants will engage in a hands-on planning process using a place-based framework to begin designing or refining investigations rooted in their own communities. Attendees will leave with practical tools, adaptable structures, and a renewed sense of what becomes possible when learning is grounded in the places students already call home.