pr1914 the foundation curriculum learning through practice geography session 2 – place studies...
TRANSCRIPT
PR1914THE FOUNDATION CURRICULUM
Learning Through PracticeGEOGRAPHY
Session 2 – Place Studies Local Area and Distant Localities ( A bit more Magical Geography!)
Semester 1 2011
What was your inspiring place?
Aims of the session: • Discuss our own
inspiring places and recap on Session 1
• Explore why we teach about ‘place’ in geography
• Develop knowledge and understanding of the teaching of local and distant places
• Promote an understanding of the issues surrounding place studies
What did you think when you read the Ofsted report ?
• Geography is surviving in Hampshire! • Hampshire is the only county that have an Inspector
for Geography - Jeff Stanfield
• Supported by Advanced Skills Teachers
• Area support network meetings
• Primary Geography News
• Training for teachers
A different view – a manifesto from the Geographical Association
Everyday Geography
• Recent call for “Everyday Geography” to be taught by Fran Martin
“Ethno-geography”
• Using Children’s everyday experiences or “personal geographies” as a basis for curriculum development
Geography is where we are at!
• Routes and journeys to school, work and other places.• Choice of clothes we make according to the weather • Choice of games / activities we play or undertake • Jobs people do and role playing of these jobs E.g.
grocers , dentists, undersea world , doctors • News • Holidays and special days out • The food that we eat • Considering day to day information / tables – decision
making
Flat Stanley – supports exploration of children’s personal geographies in the classroom
www.flatstanley.com
This is Ben Cruachan and there is a lovely view of Ben Cruachan from my Gran’s
house and she only lives a few miles away from the
mountain .I like to watch the clouds move over the top of the mountain – it is very calming.
Scrapbooking happy spots - thanks to Sharon Witt
Why did you choose this happy spot to scrap book ?
A sense of documenting for the future – a personal legacythanks to Sharon Witt
It was private and it was
mine . It wasn’t anyone else’s to have and it was different. It would always be there on paper that I had been there with my cousins. I had been there and it was so nice there and it really was just great !”
Which places do we study?
GlobalOverseas localities
National Contrasting localities to
home environment
Local area Includes school grounds and
the surrounding area( within walking distance)
IMPORTANT!• Please remember a locality
is not the study of a country or region but a smaller area.
• A locality is likely to be:
- A village - Part of a town or city ( e.g. the
city centre)
- Small island
EYFS Requirements
EYFS (Birth – 5) Knowledge and Understanding of the World
ELG Observe, find out about and identify features in the place they live and the natural world
ELG Find out about their environment and talk about those features they like and dislike
ELG Begin to know about their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people
NC Requirements KS 1 ( Year 1 and 2)
Pupils should be taught the knowledge, skills and understanding THROUGH the study two localities:
• The locality of the school• A locality either in the UK or overseas that has
physical and/or human features that contrast with those in the locality of the school
In their study of localities, pupils should:• Study at a local scale• Carry out fieldwork investigations outside the
classroom
NC Requirements KS 2 ( Year 3-6) Pupils should be taught the knowledge, skills and understanding
THROUGH the study two localities and three themes:
Localities
• A locality in the UK
• A locality in a country that is less economically developed
Themes
• Water and its effects on the landscapes and people…
• How settlements differ and change…
• An environmental issue caused by change……
In their study of localities, pupils should:
• Study at a local scale ( local, regional and national)
• Study a range of places and environments in different parts of the world, including the UK and the EU
• Carry out fieldwork investigations outside the classroom
Why teach children about the local area?
• Fosters children’s curiosity and fascination with places • Widens children’s horizons • Develops spatial awareness • Helps develop their sense of scale • Helps children recognise the relevance of the rest of the
world to themselves • Opportunities to develop knowledge, understanding
and skills of key geographical concepts • Challenges bias, stereotyping and emphasises
commonality and diversity of human experience • Supports and develops children’s own sense of place
and sense of identity
Catling, S. (2002) Placing Places, Sheffield: Geographical Association,p.
Local area studies can contribute to:
• Community Cohesion • Learning Outside the Classroom• Primary Review • Personalised learning• Sustainable Schools• Climate Change• Children’s Geographies• Futures perspectives• Active, informed local/global citizens• Place and community based education
Why teach about place? Through investigating and interacting with the environment we gain a sense of:
PurposeCommitment Emotional well- being Peace and tranquillityExcitement Awe and wonder Identity belonging
Jeff Stanfield
Make those links!Activity - Paper Chain Geography
Exploring children’s geographies- local to global
Know your local area !
Keep it real !
HOW do we teach about place?
Searching for clues…. Inspire children to
become……Geographical / Environmental detectives
Investigate the TECHNICAL Story (Read the geography of landscapes and the landscape story
board )
Unravel the EMOTIONAL Story(elicit the mystery and emotion of places, consider place
attachment)
(Jeff Stanfield – County Geography Inspector)
Spies
Wendy North
Hooking the children’s interest
Use technologies to spark their interest…
• Mobile phone message
• Video of a local issue
• Geo- caching …http://www.barnabybear.co.uk/main.asp?pageID=49
http://www.geocaching.com/
Use contexts that you know will have them hooked…
• Adventures…• Quests…• In search of …• Journeys…• Voyages of discovery…• Treasure hunts…
Use ideas that will motivate and excite children
Animated films
Over the Hedge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE77igZczlI
Essence of place !Create a mood board for a place
• What is a mood board? • A mood board is a collage of materials (images,
text, colours, textures, website screen shots, etc) which captures the ambience or feel of a place and is widely used in interior design and advertising.
• http://www.ilikecake.net/hci/envisionment/moodboards.htm
Why make a mood board for a place?
• Encourage children to explore feelings about a place
• Develop emotive vocabulary when describing places
• Visual representation of children’s response to place
• Used as a journal or diary to record events/thoughts/ feelings about a place
• Collect ideas about a place to stimulate an enquiry
Ideas for creating your place mood board?
• Paint samples of colours that match the environment • Rubbings and /or small swatches of fabric to represent the
textures found • Objects / artefacts collected from the place • Photographs • Sketches from observations • Words / Ideas • Shapes• Sound maps
•
But…..
• Don’t forget the geography…
• Remember the programmes of study … what do you want the children to actually learn?
Resources for place based studies
• …and many others…
• T.V• Links with overseas locality- pen
pals • Visitors• Personal knowledge • Commercially produced pack
including photos and activities • Video• Stamps • Postcards• Paintings• Music • Calendars
• Slides• Photos• Locality in the news • Books – fiction/information
books• Globes• Maps• Atlases• Artefacts• Food• Travel brochures• pictures
Using photos - Why use photographs?
• Images play an important role in shaping our ideas about ourselves and other people
• Good open- ended resource with lots of potential in the classroom
• Important for children to question photographs and develop their visual literacy, enquiry and critical thinking skills
• Can provide stimulating, challenging and creative learning opportunities and hep them gain knowledge and critical understanding of the wider world
How do children respond to and “read” photos?
Do they see what adults see?
• Children will “home in” on clues in the picture that seem familiar and use these to interpret the photograph (even if their understanding of the clue doesn’t fit the context of the rest of the picture)
• Children may add details that aren’t there!
• Children respond differently to photographs according to their age
• Children will tend to ignore the unfamiliar.Margaret Mackintosh
Checklist for using photos in the classroom
• Work with photos should be integrated with other classroom work
• Start with photos of people and places that children are familiar with before moving on to less familiar subjects
• Use photos of good technical quality • Put photos in some sort of context why was the photo
taken? Who by? What for? • Give children as much accurate information as possible
about the people and places in the photos you use• Encourage children to explore the links between their own
lives and experiences and those of the people in the photos
• Questioning • Freeze frame• Hot seating• Matching sets • Drawing photographs • Field sketch • Comparisons• Cropping/ masking
Photo activities
• Field sketching • Labelling• Writing titles • Describing• Sequencing• “good and /or bad adjectives • Speech bubbles
Be creative!Use tried and tested methods and develop your own!
Activity
Take your set of pictures and sort them into two piles.
•Why have you made these sets?
•Can you sort them in a different way?
•How many ways can you find of sorting them into two sets?
Why study distant places ?
Children already know there are other places
• They need to understand:• how important these other places are to us and us to them
– interconnectedness
• We are all part of one world with many similar and different ways of living
• Opportunities for travel • World brought into our living rooms on tv • Geography of fashion• Geography of food • Global health and safety concerns e.g. bird flu
and climate change
Now increasingly recognised we are global citizens
Growing up in a global world
10 good reasons for studying other places
• Uses and develops their interest and natural curiosity about places
• Provides opportunities for them to explore ideas and skills
• Develops their existing knowledge and understanding of places, environments and cultures
• Helps them to examine and clarify their existing experience and awareness of places
• Develops spatial awareness towards a global scale
10 good reasons for studying other places (Ctd)
• Helps them to recognise their interdependence with the rest of the world
• Builds positive attitudes towards other people around the world
• Builds a global perspective that extends their present perspectives
• Helps them to value diversity in places, environments and cultures
• Combats ignorance ,partiality and bias thus helping to avoid stereotyping and the development of prejudice
Distant Places / Contrasting localities
What is certain is that children are fascinated from an early age by places that are unfamiliar and distant.
However their ideas about these places may, understandably involve inaccuracies and stereo types. Place studies give teachers an opportunity to investigate and through teaching, challenge and pupils initial ideas. (Greg Walker, 2004)
Start from what the children know already………..
What are the children’s current perceptions of different places?
Life for people living in a village in England would be
‘like African people they beg for food and water’
Children need to know about the world in which they live
• What image do they have in their heads of their local area?
• What image do they have of the world? • Start with a little knowledge • Ask children to draw their maps of the world
Activity
In pairs decide what would you put in this artefact box?
An important issues to consider when studying any place but particularly distant places is……
Bias and stereotyping
You need to be constantly be on your guard about images of place conveying the wrong messages or use of words to describe a place e.g. primitive / simple
Where do you think this?
and this ……………
but many people only see this…
http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html
Remember
• Ensure a broad and balanced view
Images of rich and poor
Urban and rural
Female and male
• Values and attitudes
Appreciation of cultures
Value others way of life and ideas
Teaching strategies to promote a global dimension in Geography
• Give an all-round view of a place
• Don’t generalise • Look for similarities
before differences • Compare like with like • Be prepared to
challenge any discriminatory views that may arise
• Look for reasons and explanations
• Thinks of solutions not just problems
• Draw on the richness of the school community
• Find the right information and pictures to help you
• Avoid being tokenistic
Teaching distant localities –good practice
Spatial awareness• Location of features in own locality and the wider world • Understanding of near and farAttitudes towards places ( be aware of…)• Bias materials• Stereotyping• Negative images Building on previous experiences & everyday geographies• How much do children know and understand about their own area• Experience of distant places• Travel patterns locally, UK and further a fieldFinding out about places• Using and making maps • Consider availability of resources • Using examples of real people and real places
Making your distant locality study fun and stimulating
• Use of a cross- curricular approach• Variety of teaching and learning strategies • Drama • Focused day of activities • Soak the children in the culture of the locality
chosen BUT be aware of the discrete geography being taught
Activity
Look at the range of resources that you have in front of you
and discuss which ones:
-you would use as they are at the moment
-you would adapt and use
-you would not consider using ( give reasons why)
Basic principles when teaching the global dimension-Three C’s
• Creating positive images • Challenge stereotypes • Consider everyday events ( similarities rather than
differences)
Am I doing these things?
Stephen Scoffham
Top Five Aid agencies for primary geography resources
1. Oxfam- • 01202 712933 for catalogue• www.oxfam.org.coolplanet
2. Action Aid• Call 01460238000 for catalogue • www.actionaid.org.uk
3. UNICEF• www.unicef.org.uk/tz -teacher zone
4. Christian Aid• 0207620444 for catalogue• www.christianaid.org.uk/learn- schools pages • www.globalgang.org.uk/learn - pupils’ website
5. Water Aid • www.wateraid.org.uk – excellent for water topics.
Independent Study Task
1.Visit the Learning network and look at the resources that have been put up for this course
2.Find a fiction book with a geographical theme which would be suitable for primary aged children. Bring this to the next session and be prepared to talk to your peers about how you think you might use it with a small group of children.
3.Read the article by Stephan Scoffham ‘Please Miss , why
are they so poor?’ posted on the LN and come prepared to discuss it next week
Bibliography
• Catling, S. (2002) Placing Places, Sheffield: Geographical Association;
• Smith, G.A. and Sobel, D. (2010) Place and Community – Based Education, New York: Routledge
• Sobel, D. ( 2005) Place based Education Connecting classrooms and communities , Great Barrington: MA The Orion Society.