Enquiry in Geography

What is it? Process – finding answers to pertinent questions Process - involves children in the relationship of both questions and answers Many starting and ending points – small and large enquiries Progression from asking questions to testing ideas and hypotheses

The process is intellectual and practical: –Observation –Recording –Communication –Developing viewpoints It can go in any direction –Linear enquiry –Mind-map enquiry –Cyclical enquiry

Process is an end in itself: –Structuring of thought –Planning of action –Posing hypotheses and questions –Selecting and Ordering evidence –Refining and testing ideas –Applying new knowledge to new conditions –Reshaping ideas in the light of new knowledge

Sample planning: Water I choose these objectives/outcomes –Understand how water influences and shapes the environment –Identify how people use water and in doing so affect the environment –Explore issues of drought and flood –Understand the importance of water management and distribution –Use a range of evidence in exploring issues, viewpoints and attitudes –Develop fieldwork skills to explore ideas and issues about water

The Standard Process Recognising an issue or focus for enquiry Asking a question or series of questions Collecting relevant data from primary/secondary sources Analysing and interpreting data Presenting the findings Drawing conclusions Evaluating the enquiry

What questions do we ask? Many! No fixed list - they develop with the learning: Place: –What is this place like? –Why is it like it is? –How is it connected to other places? –How is it changing and why? –What does it feel like to be there?

Processes & themes: –What is happening? –Where is it happening? –What caused it to happen? –What is the result of the event? –What will happen in the future? –What do people think about it?

Enquiring into the Local Area What is around me? –In the school, in the family, in the street – basic enquiry concepts of size, age, relativity What do I know about this area? –What is it like to live here? What makes it special? –What was it like in the past to live here? –What do people do here, now and in the past?

How is the land used? –What is the shape of the area? –How old is it? How can we tell? –How and where does it change, if we walk 5/10/15 minutes? –What is old and new? –How have the buildings/area been used? What has changed? How do the people/land use/activity create the “character” of the area? –How and why did it become like this? –How has this changed over time? –What might happen in the future?

How does the local area connect with other places? –How do people use the transport and connections? How have the physical features/landscape of the area affected the people? –What is the settlement like, how did it begin, what names are used locally? –How do the routeways fit into the landscape? –What activities have occurred here in the past?

What is the weather like in our area? –How has it helped to shape landscape, and activity? –Are there any special sites? How do we look after our area? –What is the environment like – do we look after it? How? –How have people changed the environment over time? –Are there any local issues to do with the land or activity that could affect the environment?

Has our area been important in the past? What does our area tell us about people, the world, and the past? –How do we get pupils to build up links between the local, the regional and the global, both in time and place? –Can important ideas or observations about people be tested at the local level? –Do we use local case-studies to illustrate and compare with what is being learnt about other places and other times? How can we tell somebody else about what we have learnt? What do I know about the local area that I didn’t know before?

Stimulating Enquiry Active, questioning approach Experiential, go-out-and-see Pupils ask the questions and decide how to collect the data Avoid qs that lead to simple description How, why, change, impact, cause, consequence, explanation, prediction Developing/understanding views with evidence Making links – people, place, environment

Progression in Enquiry skills Bloom’s Taxonomy Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation

Using the “Continuous units” in Geography QCA

How do you use them? What are they? How have you used them in school? What do they mean to you?

These units are an opportunity to: Break away from formulaic plans Grasp issues that come up Provide a break/relief from other work Support for the main work Provides opportunity to revisit specific skills/themes progressively They are a form of lateral thinking in planning the teaching and learning in Geography

Barnaby Bear Can be picked up and put down almost randomly Choose different places to visit The skills of researching places, looking things up, drawing maps, writing to the Bear, reading letters, support the work of other units or provides a break. Do not visit several places in one go, but over a year Use the Bear to make comparisons between places Develops their awareness of place, variety, response, etc. Progression: enables you to revisit, reinforce and extend a set of skills and ideas

What’s in the News? Use as a break from other work to pursue something that is pertinent in the news – disasters, the Olympics, etc. Use to develop skills in using the media, searching/comparing stories in the papers, watching the news on TV, using the Internet, Doing follow-up research or extension work about places, events and issues Developing project skills, doing a little each day, sustaining personal work Every year, an aspect of geography that you cover hits the news!

Passport to the World Complementary unit to Barnaby and Connecting Ourselves It gives you ideas for getting pupils to consider the geographical issues of other places – Can be used for short project work from time to time (a grown-up Barnaby) Use to enhance personally experienced case studies and how you use them for learning about places – holidays, visits, etc. Use to bring together particular issues and skills for personal research Emphasises the need for regular, vari-sized case studies

Connecting ourselves to the World a more complex unit that addresses ICT as well as specific skills such as asking geographical questions. Promotes the idea of –Using a connection the school has with other schools –Using the internet to learn about other places through peers Great with literacy, good use of sharing ideas about the world with other people around the world. Apply ideas to place units being done at length.

Geography and Numbers Cannot be done by itself Unit that acts as reference to appropriate numeracy skills in Gg –measuring, –observing, –handling data, etc. Should be applied to most units, esp. where number skills are involved

Break Out!! What, therefore, are the principles behind these units? –Cross-curricularity, –Thematic/conceptual learning –Flexible/appropriate to learning needs –Experiential learning Application of ideas to range of areas Active learning Research and project based learning Reflective learning What other “continuous units” are possible in your school?