Enquiry Visit - KS3 Geography at Silverdale School – 6th July 2012

Which learning activities and subject content makes KS3 Geography an enjoyable/engaging subject?

In seeking to answer this question we:

  • Observed 2 x Y7 lessons
  • Observed 2 x Y9 lessons
  • Spoke to a range of KS3 students
  • Discussed the pertinent issues

The enquirers were:

J Hamshaw-Thomas – Subject Leader: Geography

John Lyon – Geographical Association

Ian Howe – Subject Leader: Geography, Ecclesfield School

Helen Storey – Headteacher

Victoria Howard – History/Geography Teacher

Context

Our 2010/11 PGCE Geography students undertook a collaborative enquiry investigating Y9 pupils’ attitudes towards Geography in three Sheffield schools. The Silverdale results showed that 67% of pupils said they found Geography interesting but only 54% said they enjoyed the subject. This data has its limitations but presents some interesting questions which I hope this enquiry visit can shed some light on.

Reflections in advance of the enquiry visit

We aim to foster an interest in the world around our pupils, delivering a curriculum which develops contextualised skills and knowledge.

What would the students like to learn about? Would they like more of a place based curriculum? Which places interest the students? Do they like a thematic approach like the unit on mobile phones? What aspects of the UK and Sheffield are they most interested in? Would they like more physical geography?

We include lesson activities like group work, thinking skills activities and enquiries to develop independent learners.

Do they enjoy card sorting exercise and mysteries? How do they feel about group work activities? What are their views on the enquiries we have done (house prices in Y7, microclimates in Y8 and patterns of development in Y9)? Which lesson activities have they enjoyed? What activities are less engaging?

What is going well?

  • It was clear from talking to students that the vast majority of students enjoy Geography and get a lot out of it.
  • It was clear that lessons were well planned, organised and structured and were supported by appropriate resources.
  • Students were generally enthusiastic and keen and had the capacity and motivation to make greater contributions to lessons and work independently.
  • Students enjoyed what they considered to be relevant topics.
  • They enjoyed topics that featured ‘Awe and Wonder’ (eg Bear Gryllis).
  • They enjoyed and wanted to learn more about exotic places, they had a fascination with ‘culture’ and were engaged by issues concerning ‘injustice’.
  • They enjoyed investigative activities in general.
  • Students clearly understood about the activities they had to undertake particularly when these were modelled by the teacher.
  • All students could access the curriculum with appropriate support from the teacher and TA.

Directions for the future

  • Lesson Objectives are an area for potential development. Currently Geography could be seen as a subject that gives answers rather than posing questions, this was illustrated by the writing down of lesson objectives at the start in books. This may prevent an engaging and enquiring start. Some students fed back that the start of lessons was not inspiring and they did not feel the subject was relevant to them. The role of teacher as expert at times limits students enquiry and they could be stretched more and take greater responsibility for their own learning.

Possible considerations include:

Pose a key question at the start of the lesson, answering this question becomes the lesson objective. How far the class is able to answer the key question also enables the teacher to measure ‘Progress’ more explicitly in the plenary.

Possible format for lessons might be:

  • Posing a critical question
  • Giving background information and resources where appropriate to guide and challenge.
  • Modelling tasks during the lesson to support learning.

Key Questions could be devised and then built into short term and long term

planning.

Common Geographical misconceptions could provide a similar starting point to a challenging question.

Asking students what are the aims of the lesson and getting them to discover them by the end.

If these approaches were taken it would be necessary to review planning in order to ensure key elements eg map work were built into lesson plans.

  • Marketing strategies – some topics need to be revamped to use the language and ‘spin’ that engages pupils eg ‘Global health’ is less appealing to students than ‘Investigating Disease’.

  • Students are interested in countries economic development and the reasons why countries are wealthy. They do not always want to learn about developing countries, they enjoy comparing countries and understanding why some are ‘more successful’ than others.
  • They like a variety of projects, they do not like repeating things eg Sheffield: My Place.
  • Assessment – students were less certain about their levels and progress in Geography than some other subjects eg History and Art. Every opportunity should be taken for self and peer assessment eg judging presentations etc, this would enable a better student understanding of how to make progress in Geography.
  • Skills development – at times Geographical understanding was secondary to developing skills in literacy and ICT. There is a need to match specific Geographical skills carefully to content and other elements in order for students to maximise their progress in Geography.