Peer-reviewed research2017–2026 update
Mindful Place-Based Education: Mapping the Literature
A literature review argues that combining mindfulness with place-based education may help teachers and students experience place more deeply and think critically about power structures.
What's new
This literature review looks at place-based education and sociocognitive mindfulness, with special attention to writing that suggests the two overlap. It examines the methods and findings of foundational research on each idea. The author concludes that the two are closely linked, and that a mindful place-based pedagogy may help teachers and students experience place more deeply and think more critically about the social norms and power structures around them.
Why it matters in Aotearoa
Place-based learning is a common aim of EOTC in Aotearoa. This review gives teachers a way to frame how they ask students to pay attention to a place and to question it.
Putting it into practice
On your next local place-based trip, plan a period of deliberate, mindful attention to the place, followed by a discussion that asks students who shaped this place and whose interests it serves.
How strong is the evidence
A single-author literature review with no new data. Its claims about benefits are possibilities drawn from existing literature.
What to read
The full article, especially the sections on where place-based education and mindfulness overlap.