They ground educational concepts and ideas in student's surroundings, thereby increasing their understanding of the concepts and ideas. They use their place as a lever to get at subject matter meaningfully. For example, students in Howard, South Dakota, learned about community cash flow by conducting a study based on the people and institutions of Minor County, not on fictitious examples from a nationally-oriented textbook. Students in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, learned about history by conducting an oral history project that also provided an archive and memory bank for the community. In short, the community and its immediate surroundings become the lens for seeing subject matter areas with greater clarity.
Students learn about and through their community by being active participants in that community.
Perhaps most importantly, students help develop their own future by being active participants in the making of that future. On my morning commute, as I drive the twisting roads along the river, I inspect the raw ingredients, those ideas that I think will nourish my students.