Place- and Community-Based Education in Schools - Paperbackby Gregory A. Smith (Author), David Sobel (Author) Place and community based education an approach to teaching and learning that starts with the local addresses two critical gaps in the experience of many children now growing up in the United States: contact with the natural world and contact with community. It offers a way to extend young people's attention beyond the classroom to the world as it actually is, and to engage them in the process of