“[This book] will change the landscape of education.”

— Dr. Christopher Emdin

New York Times best-selling author of For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y’all Too

Join award-winning educator Jared Fox in—and out — of his New York City science classroom on an excursion beyond textbooks and lectures to reimagine teaching and learning. Replete with projects, activities, theories, and strategies, Learning Environment offers a concrete vision for engaging students and energizing teachers through project-based experiential learning.

Driven by narrative and classroom-centered stories, this actionable guidebook provides an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at Fox’s teaching methods as he and his students explore their environment by canoeing on the Bronx River, hiking in the Catskill Mountains, peering into a sewer’s abyss, advocating for their harbor’s health, revitalizing a neighborhood park, and more. With each chapter, Fox takes readers on a journey and demonstrates how educators can create dynamic, transformative educational opportunities — from field trips as fieldwork to collaborations with experts to celebrations of success — in pursuit of hyper-local, community-centered learning experiences for their students.

Now, more than ever, educators, environmentalists, policy makers, and parents seeking to address the challenges facing our collective future need stories and ideas from the classroom that inform and inspire. Thankfully, in this love letter to the classroom, Fox’s heartfelt wisdom and practical know-how does just that, encouraging and guiding us toward reconsidering and redefining what teaching and learning can and should be.