Contemporary Issues in Geography Education

Outline

1) Epistemology of Geography and Geography education

2) Understanding and progression in learning

3) Developing a curriculum model

4) Learning theory

5) Pedagogies – developing our approaches to learning

6) Developing reflective practice through small-scale action research

• What allows you to understand this image?

• How have you made sense of this image?

• Does this help give us an insight into what it means to be a geographer?

GEOGRAPHICAL IMAGINATIONS

How might this principle be important in

considering how we develop a new

curriculum?

Epistemological Considerations

What types of knowledge and understanding are developed through Geographical thought and research?

How can we begin to structure these ideas to make sense of our experience?

SettlementCulture

RiversWeather and climate

Geography of conflict

Landscape management

EnquiryGIS

Drawing mapsUse of statistics

Space Place

Cultural Diversity

THE GEOGRAPHICAL

IMAGINATION

How does the discussion so far relate to your initial reading?

According to Bennetts, what is he essence of understanding?

Reflect on your own school-based experience – how would you define

progression?

Can we think of progression as being multi-faceted?

PROGRESSION TOWARDS …….. a target (may only slightly develop the a geographical imagination)

PROGRESSION IN …….. Knowledge and understanding of the subject (requires a deeper involvement with the subject)

PROGRESSION AS ……. a geographer (requires a shift in perception and the development of a clear geographical imagination)

External requirements

for the curriculum

as defined by formal

specifications and external

bodies

Demands of the curriculum

as planned and operated by teachers

Capabilities of students

advance with increasing maturity

and experience

The Geography Curriculum as the vehicle for developing progression in

students’ geographical understanding

Content structure processes After Bennetts, 2005