Geography Teaching Today

Course leader: Sue wanted to examine rivers with her class. She devised three strands of activities linked to her class's current literacy activities and local fieldwork. Two literacy texts, The Wind in the Willows and Dinosaurs and all that Rubbish, were used to top and tail a fieldwork investigation into rivers. Pupils were initially stimulated to think about how the 'wide world' might impact on natural river environments and then undertook fieldwork to investigate just how adjoining land use reflected human occupation and affected wildlife habitats. There was a strong emphasis on developing map work skills.

We chose to share some of this work because:

• It had a strong map work component: pupils used maps and also developed their own maps from real and imaginary settings
• It used fieldwork through an enquiry approach which helped pupils to be aware of their own role in damaging and sustaining environments
• The planning used layered curricular targets to focus on particular aspects of attainment
• It used familiar texts to clarify and support investigative thinking about some of the geographical issues raised

Download: Medium Term Plan Part 1
Download: Medium Term Plan Part 2
Download: Medium Term Plan Part 3
Download: Extract from Wind in the Willows
Download: Pupils' maps

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