Place-based environmental education teaches students about their local surroundings and has the potential inspire a conservation ethic. This approach can also help with community resilience by showing students how coastal ecosystems can protect communities from extreme weather like the recent Hurricane Maria. However, according to Shirley Droz, a schoolteacher from Puerto Rico, “Textbooks and classroom-based lectures can often overlook local species and issues that may be affecting the nearest ecosystems.”
![Puerto Rico Sea Grant educator, Angela Ferra, gives a lecture about field instruments to measure meteorological factors (Image credit: Puerto Rico Sea Grant) Puerto Rico Sea Grant educator, Angela Ferra, gives a lecture about field instruments to measure meteorological factors](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_width_1275/public/legacy/image/2019/Jun/PHOTO-.jpg?itok=sS8edixc)
Puerto Rico Sea Grant educator, Angela Ferra, gives a lecture about field instruments to measure meteorological factors (Image credit: Puerto Rico Sea Grant)