Place-Based Science Teaching

Jumpstart your imagination and transform your science classroom by centering place-based learning

Identity, community, and place are tightly connected and can be leveraged to deepen science learning for students. Place-Based Science Teaching offers K-12 science educators an innovative approach to building learning experiences that embrace the rich and varied knowledge held by people, both past and present, about the places we call home. This book helps teachers to foster greater personal investment of students in their learning, as well as develop NGSS-informed authentic problem-solving and critical reasoning skills. The book will also help teachers create and find joy in their classrooms by connecting lessons to local environments, cultural heritage, and global issues.
Written by nationally recognized STEM educators Whitney Aragaki and Kirstin Milks, the book blends inspiring storytelling with practical frameworks and resources. Chapters will take you behind the scenes into innovative classrooms, detailing high-impact, standards-aligned activities and sharing educator stories from diverse settings.

Grounded in cutting-edge research and real-world examples, Place-Based Science Teaching

Introduces the Place Based Science Teaching Framework that asks “where are you,” “when are you,” “who are you,” and “who are we together” as a way to connect learning to local and global contexts
Provides classroom-ready lessons and case studies from many educational settings, aligned with NGSS and centered on belonging, access, and engagement
Offers strategies for virtual spaces and digital perspectives to enhance teaching in an increasingly online world
Includes actionable reflection prompts designed to help teachers explore their own positionality and better connect with their students and communities

This book will encourage educators and administrators alike to transform science learning into an opportunity for building empathy, connection, and hope. Place-Based Science Teaching is designed to help teachers foster a sense of place and stewardship among their students, and address peace- and justice-focused solutions that encourage students to care for their communities, think critically about global challenges, and develop the agency to lead for generations to come.

Author Biography

Whitney Aragaki is an educator, parent, and learner from Hilo, Hawai?i.  She supports students to learn through a lens of abundance that honors place, people and cultures. Her teaching focuses around conversations, practices and systems that sustain the intimate inter-relationship of public education, community and environment. Whitney is a fifth-generation Hawai?i Island resident of Japanese ancestry. She is the daughter of two educators, and was a student in her mother’s biology class. She currently serves as a high school science teacher at her alma mater, Waiakea High School and as a Professor of Practice and Faculty Lead at Reach University. Her two children also thrive in this supportive public-school ecosystem. Whitney has a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Swarthmore College, a Master of Science in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science from the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Education from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa College of Education. Whitney, a National Board Certified Teacher, is the 2022 Hawai?i State Teacher of the Year and National Teacher of the Year Finalist. She is a 2021 Presidential Awardee for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching and a 2023 Obama Foundation USA Leader.

Kirstin J. Milks teaches AP Biology and introductory science at Bloomington High School South in Bloomington, Indiana, where she also serves as a STEM team coach and mentor. Kirstin loves collaborating with students and community members to learn together in inclusive and responsive environments, as well as supporting and making public the work of teaching and learning—all with the goal of helping youth build a just and sustainable world. A graduate of Stanford University’s Schools of Medicine (PhD) and Education (MA), she is a National Board Certified Teacher, a Presidential Awardee for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching, a Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellow, the 2025 president of the National Association of Biology Teachers, her Girl Scout council′s Leader of the Year, and a Senior Fellow at the Knowles Teacher Initiative.  She’s worked with organizations including the MacArthur Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the College Board, SXSW EDU, Educating for Environmental Change, and schools across the country to envision, engineer, and enact the future of education, with a focus on humane and socially-responsive science teaching. When she’s not teaching or volunteering with Girl Scouts, Kirstin enjoys visiting the local library with her family, practicing all-ages taekwondo, and singing along at top volume to local radio.