What makes a geography lesson good?

Margaret Roberts

There are only ever choices

“The what, the how and the why of teaching is always up for grabs. There is no one correct set of things that students should know, there is no one ‘proper’ way of learning; there are no ‘self-evident’ goals of education. Instead there are only ever choices about what to teach, how to teach and to what ends.”

Castree, N. (2005) Nature, London: Routledge

Standards for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)• Professional attributes 1-9• Professional knowledge and

understanding 10-21• Professional skills 22-33

The standards …areoutcome statements that set out what a trainee teacher must know, understand and be able to do to be awarded QTS.

Three essentials

Geography

Constructivism:connecting with existing knowledge

Making sense

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copyright reasons

Source: http://earthquake.usgs.gov

Geographical data

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Geography’s big ideas

Geography: in contextSource: BBC

http://earthquake.usgs.gov

Standards: subject knowledge

14 Have a secure knowledge and understanding of their subjects/curriculum areas…

15 Know and understand the relevant statutory and non-statutory curricula and frameworks…for their subjects/curriculum areas

22 Plan for progression … designing effective learning sequences within lessons …and demonstrating secure subject/curriculum knowledge.

25(b) build on prior knowledge, develop concepts and processes, enable learners to apply new knowledge, understanding and skills

Dream School

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Entering child’s mind: Zone of Proximal Development

Within ZPD:With support

On own: without support

Beyond ZPD:

“Scaffolding”

Image of a child building a basic Lego tower removed for copyright reasons

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copyright reasons

“Entering the child’s mind”: Constructivism

“Humans actively construct their knowledge rather than receive it, fully formed, from external sources” (Physical world, social wisdom, schooling, television)

“Humans use information from these various sources to create theories of the world… concepts of other people and of society and modes of problem solving”

Constructivism: key ideas

• How we see and understand the world depends on our existing ways of thinking

• Each individual sees and understands the world differently

• In constructing new knowledge we are not adding separate new ‘bits’ of knowledge to what we already have

• Our constructions of the world are not fixed but are being modified continuously

Constructivism in practice

We need to: • take account of students’ existing knowledge

and ways of understanding• allow time for students to explore new

information • provide opportunities for students to

reconstruct their existing knowledge in discussion with others

• make students aware of the way they see things

Connecting with existing knowledge

Connecting with existing understanding

Connecting with existing opinions

Standards: constructivism1 Have high expectations of

children and young people … and to establishing fair, respectful, trusting, supportive and constructive relationships with them.

25(b) build on prior knowledge, develop concepts and processes, enable learners to apply new knowledge, understanding and skills and meet learning objectives

Image of teacher with students removed for

copyright reasons

Making sense: through right answer culture?

“Most plants contain a green colouring called chlorophyll.

This chlorophyll enables them to make their own food by photosynthesis.

Yeast gives off alcohol when it respires”

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‘Without even passing through the brain on the way’

We can’t just pass down information, tell them to absorb it raw, ready for regurgitation in a later test, and expect them to learn anything. To learn something, students need to take that piece of information and build it into their own picture of the world. The information needs to pass into and around their consciousness. Only when it becomes part of the pattern in their heads does it become theirs.

Making sense: sharing information and ideas

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Making sense: connecting ideas

Making sense: through discussion

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Making sense: through writing

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Making sense through reconstruction

Standards: making sense

10 …provide opportunities for all learners to achieve their potential.

25(b) build on prior knowledge, develop concepts and processes, enable learners to apply new knowledge, understanding and skills and meet learning objectives

• 25(d) demonstrate the ability to manage the learning of individuals, groups and whole classes, modifying their teaching to suit the stage of the lesson.

Student Experiences

Geography: the subjectTeacher Choices

Underpinned by Key Concepts Thinking

Geographically

Learning Activity

How does this take the learner beyond what they already know?

Curriculum Making

23

There are only ever choices

“The what, the how and the why of teaching is always up for grabs. There is no one correct set of things that students should know, there is no one ‘proper’ way of learning; there are no ‘self-evident’ goals of education. Instead there are only ever choices about what to teach, how to teach and to what ends.”

Castree, N. (2005) Nature, London: Routledge