Understanding Place-Responsive Pedagogy
The Environment as the Third Teacher
About
Christina Davis
RECE, RC, CYW
Christina is an early childhood educator and child care professional with 20 years of experience, currently in her fourth year of the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and Care (BECEC) program. She lives and works on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the Algonquin Nation, as well as the traditional territories of the Huron-Wendat, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee Peoples near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and expresses deep gratitude for these lands.
Passionate about pedagogical innovation, Christina is dedicated to fostering collaborative communities among educators to inspire and strengthen early childhood practice. Her research study, Understanding Place-Responsive Pedagogy: The Role of the Environment as the Third Teacher in Early Learning Contexts, has profoundly influenced her perspective on early learning.
Through her blog, she shares this journey to create a virtual professional space for reflection, inspiration, and support, exploring how intentionally designed environments can nurture children’s curiosity, agency, and sense of belonging.
Reflexive Pedagogy & Place
The land is not just a backdrop; it is our first teacher and a living participant in pedagogy.
Land as Teacher
Every environment tells a story. As educators, our role is to invite children into that narrative with curiosity.
The Narrative of Place
Reflective practice is the process that allows us to see the ‘third teacher’ clearly and act with intentionality.
Intentional Practice
Undergraduate Research Project
Background
As an early childhood educator, I created this blog as a space to share my personal experiences with reflective practice. It began as a creative outlet for my undergrad research project at Brock University with the intention to have it grow into a place where I can think, question, and learn through reflection.
Over the past eight months, from September 2025 to April 2026, I worked on my undergraduate thesis, Understanding Place-Responsive Pedagogy: The Role of the Environment as the Third Teacher in Early Learning Contexts. This project invited me to think deeply about how the spaces around us shape children’s learning, and how, through reflective practice, I can become more aware of the environment as an active participant, a “third teacher”, in early learning.
AIM
My study aimed to explore how place-responsive pedagogy, and the environment as a “third teacher,” shape early childhood education settings. I examined how educators interpret and bring place-responsive approaches into their learning environments, as well as the challenges they encounter when connecting children to local landscapes and community contexts. Through this process, I considered how these experiences influence children’s engagement, relationships, and learning.
By aligning these insights with pedagogical practices and values, this work highlights the potential for environments to become meaningful, relational, and responsive spaces for learning. The purpose of this project is to inspire educators to think more deeply about place, embrace the environment as an active participant in learning, and remain open to new and evolving ways of understanding children’s connections to the world around them.
Research Question
I explored the question: What is the relationship between early childhood pedagogical approaches and children’s connection to their natural and local environments?
Throughout this work, you will encounter my reflections on how place-responsive pedagogy and the environment as a “third teacher” influence children’s sense of belonging, engagement, and connection to the world around them. You will also see how I critically examine early learning environments, educator practices, and the ways children, families, and communities come to know and experience place.
Methodology
This research project uses a secondary qualitative research design to explore how early learning environments function as a “third teacher” and how place-responsive pedagogies support children’s connections to place. Using a rapid review approach, I analyzed peer-reviewed literature from 2015–2025 sourced through academic databases, applying clear inclusion and exclusion criteria to ensure relevance to early childhood contexts. Through qualitative thematic analysis, I identified key patterns and themes related to how environments shape children’s learning, relationships, and sense of belonging. This process was guided by a commitment to reflexivity and ethical research, acknowledging how my experiences and perspectives influence interpretation, while maintaining a focus on equity, inclusion, and respect for diverse ways of knowing and being in place.
Findings
The discovery within this study revealed that exploring learning environments as pedagogical partners deepened my understanding of how place-responsive approaches shape children’s learning, relationships, and sense of belonging. Through this process, my view of the environment shifted from a passive backdrop to an active, meaningful contributor, a “third teacher” that supports curiosity, engagement, and connection to place.
As my understanding evolved, so too did my perspective on pedagogy and the role of the educator. I began to see teaching not as directing learning, but as intentionally designing and co-creating environments that invite exploration, collaboration, and inquiry. The literature highlighted how thoughtfully designed indoor and outdoor spaces, enriched through connections with families and communities, can foster children’s holistic development and deepen their relationships with the natural and local world.
This study also reinforced the importance of inclusive, culturally responsive environments that reflect diverse identities, local knowledge, and community contexts. By recognizing the environment as relational and dynamic, I have come to value spaces that support belonging, equity, and meaningful participation for all children.
The link to my full research paper (thesis) can be found here:
01
Being in Place
Grounded in ecological and place-based theories, children’s learning is shaped through their relationships with immediate environments and broader social and cultural contexts. Both classroom and outdoor spaces, when intentionally designed, become active sites of exploration where children build identity, belonging, and connection through direct, sensory engagement with the world around them.
Core Themes Shaping Place-Responsive Pedagogy in Early Childhood Learning
02
Indigenous Wisdom
Integrating Indigenous and local knowledge highlights the importance of learning from the land, community, and cultural traditions. This perspective fosters respect, reciprocity, and diverse ways of knowing, emphasizing that children’s connections to place are deeply relational and enriched through collaboration with educators, families, and communities.
The Teacher With In
03
Material Agency
Place-responsive pedagogy encourages children to become active participants in their environments, fostering ecological awareness, inclusion, and responsibility. Through collaborative, culturally responsive, and accessible practices and with intentional educator facilitation children develop a sense of stewardship, seeing themselves as capable contributors to their communities and the natural world.
04
Local Stewardship
Fostering ecological identity involves encouraging children to see themselves as active co-constructors of their environment through inclusive and culturally responsive practices. This approach nurtures a sense of belonging and responsibility, empowering children to engage meaningfully with their local ecological and social worlds.
Place-responsive pedagogy positions the physical environment as an active participant in early learning. Our research demonstrates how intentional spatial design, incorporating natural light and tactile textures, significantly enhances children's engagement and belonging.
Recent Blogs
The Teacher Within
Earlier in my career, I understood environments mainly in terms of structure, safety, and materials. While those elements remain important, my perspective has shifted over time. I now see environments as active participants in learning, co-constructing knowledge, shaping relationships, and fostering a deep sense of belonging.
This shift is supported by recent research: thoughtfully designed learning spaces promote children’s agency, encourage exploration, and support holistic development. Studies show that classrooms and outdoor spaces intentionally structured with open-ended materials, flexible layouts, and accessible resources help children engage deeply with their surroundings. Furthermore, when these environments include culturally responsive and inclusive elements, they strengthen children’s sense of identity, belonging, and connection to their community (Ryan & Graue, 2020; Sobel, 2013; Chawla, 2015).
The Third Teacher Within speaks not only to the environments we create but also to the ongoing reflection within ourselves as educators. It reminds me that our growth is just as important as the spaces we design, and that both are constantly evolving. By engaging with research alongside personal reflection, we can better understand how environments actively shape learning and relationships.
This blog is a space for me to think out loud, question assumptions, and continue growing through reflective practice. It feels both exciting and uncertain but deeply meaningful. By weaving together personal experience and research insights, I hope this space becomes a place where ideas are shared, perspectives are challenged, and meaningful connections are made.
Thank you for being here and for reflecting alongside me on this journey.
Finding Connection in
Limerick Forest
It’s amazing how beautiful things can be when we take a moment to pause, step back, and truly take it all in.
Today, I ventured into a new natural outdoor space, Limerick Forest. This forest offers several hiking trails, gently shaped and maintained by the footsteps of those who walk them. Surrounded by towering trees and connected by a small, winding stream, the space immediately brings me a sense of calm. The smell of the forest, the stillness in the air, it all seems to wrap around me, grounding me in the moment.
As I spend time in this space, I notice how my connection to nature begins to deepen. I am not just observing the environment; I am engaging with it, examining, questioning, and allowing myself to feel a sense of oneness with the natural world. As Mayer and Frantz (2004) describe, nature connectedness is “a sense of oneness with the natural world,” and in these moments, I begin to understand what that really means. Research in early childhood education suggests that experiences like these, when translated into pedagogy, help children develop ecological awareness, empathy, and a sense of responsibility for the environments they inhabit (Sobel, 2013; Chawla, 2015).
While reflecting in this wild and peaceful space, I also consider my role as an early childhood educator. What if nature was not simply a setting for learning, but a partner in it? Studies show that environments intentionally designed to be interactive, relational, and connected to real-world experiences can become “third teachers,” supporting children in developing agency, curiosity, and environmental stewardship (Robertson & Mastrangelo, 2017; Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014).
Recently, I completed the Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) and received a score of three. This tells me that I am connected to nature beyond a surface level, yet still growing in my understanding. While I feel calm and grounded in natural spaces, I recognize that fully integrating sustainability into early learning through pedagogy, ethics, and reflective practice is an ongoing journey.
This reflection directly informs the Knowledge Mobilization (KMb) project I have selected for this blog. By documenting these personal experiences and linking them to research on place-responsive pedagogy, environmental learning, and the “third teacher,” I hope to model how educators can bring reflective practice into their professional lives. The blog serves as a space for sharing insights, questioning assumptions, and translating research into practical ideas that connect children meaningfully to the natural world.
As educators, we know that children and our colleagues bring diverse experiences, perspectives, and relationships with the natural world. There is no single way to approach sustainability in early childhood education. Instead, we must remain open, reflective, and responsive, understanding that connection to nature is both cognitive and emotional. It lives in what we know about the environment, but also in how we feel within it and how we see ourselves as part of something larger.
When we create meaningful opportunities for children to engage with natural environments, we are doing more than offering outdoor play. We are nurturing relationships with the land, with each other, and with the future. In doing so, we foster a deeper sense of connection, responsibility, and care, echoing the findings of recent research on place-responsive learning and environmental education.
And perhaps, in these small, intentional moments, we begin to shape a more sustainable world.
Weathering Together:
Learning With the World Around Us
It’s amazing how beautiful things can be when we take a moment to pause, step back, and truly take it all in.
Recently, I ventured into a new natural outdoor space, Limerick Forest. The forest offers several gently shaped hiking trails, surrounded by towering trees and connected by a small, winding stream. Immediately, I felt a sense of calm the smell of the forest, the stillness in the air, the grounding presence of the natural world wrapping around me.
As I spent time in this space, I noticed my connection to nature deepening. I wasn’t just observing the environment I was engaging with it, examining, questioning, and allowing myself to feel a sense of oneness with the natural world. As Mayer and Frantz (2004) describe, nature connectedness is “a sense of oneness with the natural world,” and in these moments, I began to understand what that really means.
At the same time, I reflected on my role as an early childhood educator. What if nature wasn’t simply a setting for learning, but a partner in it? How might children experience the environment as an active participant in their own learning? Research on place-responsive pedagogy suggests that sustained engagement with natural spaces fosters ecological awareness, relational thinking, and a sense of responsibility in children (Sobel, 2013; Ryan & Graue, 2020). Through activities like gardening, exploring trails, or observing seasonal changes, children build meaningful connections to the places they inhabit.
This reflection naturally led me to think about weather worlding, paying close attention to the shifting elements of the environment. The sun casts warmth across everything it touches, while the air remains cold and heavy, wrapping itself around me like a damp blanket. The ground is softening, mud forming beneath my feet, and ice cracks reveal delicate air bubbles trapped beneath the surface. Birds rustle through the trees, and small creatures begin to reappear, moving through the landscape with renewed energy. I notice how these changes affect me. I am not simply observing the weather I am experiencing it alongside everything else in this shared space. As Rooney (2018) suggests, our relationships with weather are not individual experiences, but part of a collective “weathering” of the world.
Pausing to notice these changes opens endless possibilities for learning with children. What might it look like for young children to learn with weather rather than just about it? By noticing how environments shift over time, children develop curiosity, observation skills, and a sense of care for the world around them. They see themselves as participants in a living system, learning to navigate change and recognize interconnections between land, elements, and living beings.
Engaging with nature in these ways is more than outdoor play it’s about nurturing relationships with the land, with each other, and with the future. Through reflective practice, I can connect personal experiences to my Knowledge Mobilization (KMb) project, which explores how educators can integrate place-responsive approaches into early learning. By documenting moments like forest walks and weather worlding, I model how reflection can inform pedagogy, strengthen children’s environmental awareness, and help educators translate theory into meaningful practice.
Ultimately, engaging with place and weather reminds me that learning is relational, dynamic, and ongoing. The environment is not just where learning happens it is how learning happens. In these moments, we are not just in the environment… we are learning with it.
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Photography used with permission from Heather Servage (2026)