Assignment TwoInteractive Workshop

Topic: The need to make Geography mandatory from

years 6 to 10

James LymerRachel Bola

Pamela SlackAshlee Patzwald Tina McDonnell

Why are participants attending our workshop?

Why is our workshop relevant? What are some key questions being

addressed? What is the focus of our workshop?

Rationale

Goal 1: Australian schooling promotes equity and excellence

Goal 2: All young Australians become successful learners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed citizens

Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young

Australians

Gardner (multiple intelligences) Bloom’s Taxonomy De Bono’s six thinking hats Constructivism – Piaget, Vygotsky (Zone of

Proximal Development & social constructivist), Bruner

Freire

Theoretical Frameworks

Did you study Geography at school? Do you think it should be made compulsory? What has been your experience with

teaching Geography so far? What do you think about the new Geography

curriculum?

Focus Questions

Findings

SOSE syllabuses are organised into complex structures of values, processes, strands and concepts, which do not adequately allow for a focus on geographical questions and their analysis. A concept-structured syllabus also makes it difficult to examine a geographical question from a variety of perspectives, using a variety of concepts, as is typically done in geographical inquiry. The experience of many teachers has been that the absorption of geography into SOSE has meant a loss of much of the content, rigour and skills taught when geography was a separate subject. They find that students taking up geography in the final years of high school are lacking much of the basic knowledge needed for that level of study (CIAG, 2007).

The Importance of Teaching and Learning about Geography

The perceived decline in the teaching of geography is most likely a product of severalfactors, some of which are related to curriculum structures, and some of which relate more generally to teaching and learning, school organisation and teacher professionaldevelopment. A number of obstacles to the quality of teaching and learning of geography were identified in submissions to this study. These factors are summarised below.

1) Problems caused by amalgamation of geography into Studies of Society andEnvironment (SOSE)

As noted above, a primary concern for many stakeholders has been the loss of identity of geography in the primary school and early and middle years of high school through its amalgamated with other subjects into the learning area of Studies of Society andEnvironment (SOSE) in most states and territories. This, stakeholders believe, has lead to several problems.

The Importance of Teaching and Learning about Geography

Activity

Findings

Feedback

Years 5 and 6Approaches spatial interaction spatial analysis

Years 7-10Approaches human agency scalar cultural/social constructivist

Teaching Strategies

Learning Experiences

Year 5/6 Geographical skills finding the way around countries and the

world with small-scale maps mapping land surfaces, human

settlement and circulation using maps to investigate locational and

movement patterns planning geographical inquiries fieldwork interviewing using maps, photographs, statistics and

literary sources classifying and interpreting data constructing climate graphs using aerial photographs and satellite

images to identify patterns interpreting isopleth maps

Skills and Concepts

Major concepts system spatial

distribution culture adaptation perception evaluation

Years 7-10 Geographical inquiry skills measuring environmental, demographic,

economic and social phenomena using maps to develop and test generalisations constructing and interpreting mental maps constructing, interpreting and analysing

choropleth maps constructing, interpreting and analysing

graphs and diagrams statistical analysis using computer mapping software to create

statistical and other maps interpreting simple remotely sensed images understanding a GIS and its uses evaluation of information Reflection

Skills and Concepts

Major concepts • scale• behaviour• risk• power• linear and non-

linear change• sustainability• policy• representation• time–space

compression• agglomeration

and dispersal

Geographical knowledge and understanding

Years 5 and 6

Place Understanding cultural differences between places and countries Finding out how local community issues are managed Exploring places in the world with similar characteristics to those of the students’ own

place

Environment Investigating the local environment Investigating a local environmental project Investigating Australian and world climates and human adaptation to them Studying an extreme environment Learning about environmental hazards

Space Investigating how places are connected to each other Finding out how retailing and transport produce spatial patterns of towns and

commercial centres

Knowledge and Understanding

Geographical knowledge and understanding:

Year 7

Place Investigating the population and community structure of the neighbourhood Comparative analysis of the local place with other local-scale places

Environment Investigating the environmental impact of housing and household

consumption

Space Investigating the places and spaces that students use Investigating online spaces

Knowledge and Understanding

Geographical knowledge and understanding: Years 8 and 9

Place Comparative analysis of places and countries; deeper study of selected countries

Environment Understanding and explaining environmental systems and environmental change Exploring the concepts of environment, nature and wilderness Studying world biomes and their ecosystem health Investigating environmental resources and human dependence on them Exploring the perception and use of environmental resources Undertaking an in-depth study of water and one or more other resource

Space Investigating topics such as sport, tourism, surfing, popular culture, food, retailing, crime, and

cyberspace Understanding the local economy Explaining the distribution of employment Identifying the effects of changing transport and communication technologies on local economies Explaining population distribution and urban concentration Explaining population mobility and its consequences

Knowledge and Understanding

Geographical knowledge and understanding:

Year 10

Place Comparative analysis of places and countries; deeper study of selected countries

Environment Understanding and investigating environmental sustainability Undertaking in-depth studies of one or more of climate change, urban

environments, forests, land, and marine resources

Space Investigating migrant settlement Explaining the spatial pattern of economic and social wellbeing, and its

consequences

Knowledge and Understanding

Work, Employment and Enterprise

Difference and Diversity Aboriginal and Indigenous

history and culture Asia and Australia’s

engagement with Asia Creativity and thinking skills

including higher order Intercultural understanding Self management and teamwork

Cross-curricular Links

Literacy Multicultural Numeracy ICT Civics and

citizenship Environment Sustainability Social competence Ethical behaviour

Assessment, both formative and summative, must be planned for so that the teacher can determine students’ preliminary knowledge, understanding and skills, keep track of students’ progress and report student achievement. Students receive feedback about what they have learnt, and what needs to be done to continue their learning from their teacher and from self and peer assessments. The complexity of assessment tasks gradually increase over time to allow students to develop evaluative independence as they assess their own knowledge, understanding and skills, and determine ways of improving their learning.

Assessment for learning: emphasises the interactions between learning and manageable

assessment strategies that promote learning clearly expresses for the student and teacher the goals of the

learning activity reflects a view of learning in which assessment helps students learn

better, rather than just achieve a better mark provides ways for students to use feedback from assessment helps students take responsibility for their own learning is inclusive of all learners

Assessment

Geography is suited to the following types of assessment Inquiry-based research assignments and

projects Fieldwork activities Presentations Peer assessment Self-assessment

Assessment

Firstly, the geographical content of SOSE is often taught by teachers with no training in geography, and perhaps with no great enthusiasm for the subject. Members of the Council of the Institute of Australian Geographers (CIAG) in several states report that SOSE teachers in Years 8-10 are expected to teach across the disciplines of history, geography and economics, even though they may have studied only one of these subjects at university level. This is not conducive to good education” (CIAG, 2007).

Importance of Pre-service Teacher Training

www.dest.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/8221F0DF.../geographyreport.pdf http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/Draft__Shape

__AC_Geography21062010.pdf http://

www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_sc/pdf_doc/geography_710_syl.pdf

http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_sc/pdf_doc/geography_710_support.pdf

http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_Educational_Goals_for_Young_Australians.pdf

References