5 PlANNlNG GEOGRAPHY INTO THE CURRICULUM 3 7

Children's worlds

Action world

Competence world

Perceived world

Information world

Source world

People world

lmoginary world

Valued world

Future world

Commitment world

Focus

the places in which children live, go to school and play

the skills children develop to make sense of and increase their control over their spatial and environmental experience, such as navigation and routelearning skills

the images children hold of places as they believe them to be, which involve stereotypes of, attitudes to and feelings about their own places and places they have not been to and may know almost nothing about

children's knowledge and understanding about the local and global environment, of the physical and human processes at work, much of it informed but partial, some of it inaccurate in various ways, some of it fanciful

the variety of experience and sources of information from which children build their views and knowledge of the world

children's focus on people's lives and actions in places

the places children create in physical and mental play

what children count as important or not, based on the views they hold about places and influenced by their images, stereotypes and feelings

children's ideas about what the world could and should be, drawing on their sense of right and wrong

the actions children are prepared to take for a better world

FIGURE 11 Children's 'worlds' of geographical experience, skills, knowledge, understanding and values

5 Planning geography into the curriculum

There are three levels of planning geographical work for children (CCW, 1993b):

1 long-term planning of the whole school or key stage policy for geography;

2 medium-term planning of schemes or units of work including or focusing on geography, lasting from a few weeks to a term;

3 short-term planning of sessions and the activities children do.

5.1 Planning a geography session

Short-term planning needs detailed planning. In planning at session level, it is important to be clear about what needs to be included in order that the activities the children do run effectively. The following key questions and examples will help you structure the session (see also Catling, 1994).

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What is the focus of the session?

The topic - whether the school site influences ground temperature and wind speed.

The context - continuing work on local weather topic.

Who is involved and for how long?

The children .- the whole class of !+I0 year olds.

Length and timing - one and three-quarter hours; Tuesday, after lunch.

What do I want the children to learn?

Learning objectives - the children will be able to: mark sites on a school site map accurately; use a thermometer and anemometer accurately; explain that temperature or wind speed varies around the school site; give reasons why a site might influence the weather.

What will the childen do?

Introduction -- recap on what has been discovered from weather measurements outside in the school grounds; check knowledge of what temperature and wind measurements show; ask where there are sheltered places in the grounds on cold or windy days; identrfy these on large-scale map of grounds; ask whether temperature and wind will be the same everywhere in the school grounds; encourage ideas about how this can be checked.

What activities will the childen do?

Activities - children to work in groups of three; indicate who works with whom; half groups to take temperature readings, half wind measurements; six sites to be recorded; each group to plan what they will need, to clecide where they will make recordings, mark sites on map in pencil, identlfy who will do what at which site (all taking turns); all groups go out as a class but work independently outside; groups to put data on to graph paper (two groups to use 'Our Facts' database) and to write temperaturedwind speed on class map of school grounds having checked accuracy of sites while outside.

What about difJ;.entiation?

Differentiation by resources, teacher and peer support - two groups have picture maps of school grounds, remaining groups have plans of school grounds; the two groups have the large thermometers and receive teacher support in reading the calibrations; one group using commercial anemometer has two members aware of need to support third member in reading and recording; the two groups use 'Our Facts' to record data and print out bar graphs.

How will the session conclude?

Reporting and discussion of findings - draw out what has been found: are temperatures/wind speeds all the same? where are their variations? by how much? what reasons can be given? how can this research be checked? what could be improved?

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What do I do?

Key tasks - explain to the class the purpose of the activities; give out the resources needed; support the work of the two groups; check at least once outside the measurements and recording of each group; intervene as necessary; ensure groups have appropriate materials for graphs; set up 'Our Facts' program for the two groups to use, each group to talk to me about what they did and found out while the other puts their information on to the database.

What wsources do I need?

Source and disposable materials - five thermometers (two large); five anemometers (two commercial, three made in class); clipboards, pencils and plain paper; maps of school grounds (A2 laminated map and water-based felts, A4 copy for each group); A4 sheets of mrn graph paper; 'Our Facts' database on screen.

What assessment can I make of the childmk learning?

Learning outcomes - which children have located sites accurately on maps, made accurate measurements and recordings, marked data on graph accurately, drawn reasonable conclusions from the data, been able to generalise from their findings to the idea that sites influence local weather?

Types of evidence available - accurately marked maps; accurately drawn graphs; oral evidence from discussion; observations of work, attitude and behaviour.

The children's responses - what variations in response occurred, for example, in measuring, recording or drawing conclusions? what reasons are there for this? how did the session go?

Evaluation of teaching - what went well/badly in the fieldwork? was the timing of the work appropriate? did graphing and mapping the data enable useful conclusions to be drawn? what have I learnt from this session about my planning and about the children?

Implications for future planning - any reorganisation of grouping needed? who needs further support/more chance to work unaided? what should be added to/altered in the following session?

Providing for differentiation in geography teaching C O R E A C T I V I T Y 3

Purpose

To identify a variety of activities for children of differing needs - experience, understanding or achievement - in a geography session.

Preamble

Supporting the needs of individual children is as important in geographical studies as in every other area of the curriculum. There follow five strategies (NCC, 1 9934 that are often used to differentiate work for children. The children are to use a teacher-prepared sketch of part of the school grounds to observe and identify geographical features on the sketch. Note the types of differentiation strategy used, the activities the children undertake and the outcomes.

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5.2 Planning a geography scheme of work

The effective planning of a geography project or scheme of work (DES, 1989) is one which:

has a clear focus and purpose involving the use of geographical skills, the study of one or more places and the drawing on of one or more of the thematic aspects of geography;

stimulates children's interest in the topic;

uses an enquiry approach, involving both discussion and questioning by the teacher, alongside the development of well guided investigations by the children;

draws on children's existing knowledge but takes them into new areas of awareness and understanding;

makes effective use of the local environment, visits to other locations or case studies of more distant places;

involves children in questioning and justifying their methods and findings as well as any views they express about them;

uses a variety of sources of evidence, resources and equipment, as appropriate;

involves children in a variety of ways of working, as a class, in groups and individuall.~, through using approaches such as investigations, role play and presentations;

enables children to use skills and understandings from other areas of the curriculum, including information technology, mathematics, art and science, and has links to cross-curricular themes, such as environmental education;

clearly relates to other work that the children have undertaken and to work to which they will move, within a whole-school or key stage policy shared by all teachers;

draws on the programmes of study for geography and supports the development of children's understanding.

There are a number of components to take into account in planning a scheme of work. These include:

o the focus of the scheme;

@ topics within the scheme including links to the geography programmes of study;

e teaching sequence;

e the range of teaching activities;

e key resources;

o assessment.

Each of these will be considered next, except assessment, which will be considered in the final section.

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The focus of the scheme

A scheme of work needs to be developed with a clear geographical focus, whether this is part of an inter-disciplinary project or is essentially a geographically based project. Such a focus might be on 'place'; for example, a study of the local area of the school or of a locality in an economically developing country. It may be based around a geographical theme. For example, a project on 'homes' might be inter-disciplinary with the geographical focus being on homes in settlements. A geographical study of 'water' might focus on the supply of fresh water.

Topics within the scheme

Within the geographical scheme of work it will be important to study a variety of topics that are pertinent to the focus of the scheme. These should involve the three dimensions of geography: skills, places and themes. They should draw on the programmes of study for geography. This will support the development of geographical understanding and knowledge, enabling children to draw on their previous experience and their awareness in new contexts (DES, 1986).

In a scheme focused on a locality outside the local area, studies will involve the use of photographs and maps amongst other secondary sources, as well as considering aspects of the physical and human environment, for example the landscape, weather, the type of settlement, the services available, the economic activities, and the impact of change.

A project on 'homes' might draw on the local area and examples of homes in other parts of the world; it could involve work on types of homes, building materials, how homes are part of a settlement, the services to homes, why people move home, the development of a housing estate and so forth, and use fieldwork skills, maps and photographs.

A study of 'water' might look at water in the local area and use case studies from around the world, water in different forms, rivers, streams and lakes, the pollution and cleansing of water, how fresh water reaches our homes, problems in the supply of water (too little, too much), and issues associated with the development of a reservoir; it could involve fieldwork activities, developing questionnaires and using secondary source materials.

In these studies, key geographical concepts, vocabulary and skills are being developed. Children are also involved in looking at issues and in considering their own views.

The teaching sequence

The organisation of a geographical scheme of work, or indeed a session plan, needs a clear sequence. This should be structured around a number of key questions, drawing on the enquiry approach, as the basis for considering the variety of activities that might be undertaken. Whether the scheme is planned for two or three weeks or half or a whole term, the sequence needs to be identified (Bowles, 1993a). Figure 12 illustrates the sequence of key questions and activities for a study of local rainfall.

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The range of teaching activities

There are a wide variety of teaching approaches that can be used in geographical studies. Having decided on the topics in the scheme, teaching strategies and activities will need to be identified. These include:

setting up enquiries - agreeing the topics to be examined; identifying the key questions; deciding on the type of resources needed, data to collect, methods of collection, etc.;

collecting information - using questionnaires, surveys, experiments, interviews, databases; reading photographs and maps, map-making; selecting information from primary and secondary sources, etc.;

interpreting and analysing - presenting data; drawing conclusions from data; relating different data items to each other; making deductions; recognising limitations; explaining findings, etc.;

using simulations and drama - role play and simulations of events; imaginative play; creating dramatic interpretations and reconstructions, etc.;

using case studies - packages of prepared resources; teacher- resourced, etc.;

model-making - models of features and landscapes; making equipment to use in experiments and investigations;

fieldwork - personal enquiries; group work investigations;

discussion and debate - initial, recap and concluding discussions; debating an issue based on research, teams presenting different perspectives;

presentations - presenting findings in displays, orally to the class or in an assembly.

Key resources

There are four important types of resource in geographical studies:

1 the environment itself;

2 primary resources;

3 secondary resources;

4 equipment.

Where possible each of these resources should be used in geographical studies. Once the topics and the teaching approaches have been decided upon, it is important to list the resources which will be needed by the children.

The environment includes:

all that the local area has to offer, including housing, shops, roads, industry, leisure facilities, churches, etc.;

places where fieldwork can be undertaken outside the local area, including field centres, special sites, etc.;

0 places that can be visited, such as planning offices, museums, etc., that can provide sources of information.

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Primary resources include:

e, statistics from field surveys, questionnaires, newspaper articles, census data, weather records, local guides and information books, timetables, etc.;

ce, photographs (of features, oblique and vertical), large-scale maps, plans, etc.;

@ personal experience, friends, adults' audiotapes and videotapes of interviews, etc.;

rocks, soil samples, etc.

Secondary resources include:

t~ reference books, audio and video programmes, geography textbooks for children, etc.;

iP role-play and simulation packs, computer games and simulations, project packs, atlases and wall maps, globes, case study materials, etc.;

o stories and novels for children and adults, poetry, paintings, etc.

Equipment resources include:

ce weather recording equipment, sample jars and bags, clinometers, distance measuring equipment, directional compasses, etc.;

t~ modelling equipment and tools, etc.;

CP computers and other IT technology, such as 'LOGO Turtle', wordprocessing packages, etc.;

toys, including building bricks, Lego, vehicles, people, playmats, model houses and furniture, etc.

There is a very wide range of material available for use as secondary resources and equipment (Foley and Janikoun, 1992; Bowles, 1993a, 1993b).

5.3 Sefting out a scheme of work

In setting out a scheme of work for geography, the use of a grid allows the key components of the planning to be related to each other. There is no one way in which this must be done, but all grids should contain the core components outlined above. They will usually indicate features such as:

e year group of children;

@ which term in (.he year;

e time scale involved;

UB links with other curriculum subjects or themes.

Figures 13 and 14 present two approaches using grids. Both are based on an enquiry approach and use key questions as the focus for topics within the scheme.

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