The Habitat of Place: Supporting Meaningful Student Work
Technology and collaboration allow student to repair habitat.
Sheila Mitchell (pictured on right) and her Rural Special Elementary School (Fox, Arkansas) students were recently recognized for a place-based education project that works toward toward identifying options to repair displaced habitat. The $875 Grants in Place award helped fund the purchase of a 3D printer (pictured above) and other supplies that will help students learn about and create models of local geography. Rural Special students will work hand in hand with Stone County officials on the project, which will be coordinated by Mitchell, the 4th-6th science teacher who also serves as the elementary school principal.
Additional funding support for the project was provided by the Rural Special School Foundation and Arkansas' Rural Community Alliance. Rural School Collaborative board member, Renee Carr (pictured on left), who also serves as chief financial officer for the Rural Community Alliance, presented the Grants in Place poster award to Shelia.
Mitchell's effort is one of 35 projects funded through the inaugural Grants in Place program by the Rural Schools Collaborative (RSC). Launched in the spring of 2015, RSC supports place-based education, school-centered philanthropy, and purposeful partnerships, including the emerging Rural Teacher Corps initiative.
Currently working in eight states, RSC has a small administrative office in Cambridge, Wisconsin.
Pictured below: A student-made bulldozer, produced by Rural Special's new 3-D printer.
