Geography Teaching Today

Evaluating Arguments

You can undertake this activity on your own, with colleagues or with a group of students. It is described as if you were working with a group of students.

1. Divide the class into groups of four. Give each group one of the four maps and a writing frame.
2. Make a new group of four students, each with a different map. Give each student four copies of the evaluation frame. Ask them to evaluate each argument.
3. Ask them to look back at their response and add to it using their new knowledge gained from the maps. Ask them to make their new response by annotating the population map.
4. Ask them to evaluate their new response using the evaluation frame and ask them to think about the following questions:
   a. Is their response different now that they have data and information beyond themselves?
   b. How might location make a difference to their response?
   c. What action will they take based on their argument?

Here is a final thought from Biddulph (in Citizenship through Secondary Education, 2001):

The decisions teachers make with regard to 'what to teach', 'how to teach it' and 'the environment in which to teach it' will all serve to influence pupils' experiences of learning about citizenship as a concept and of developing the skills and values necessary to be an active and participatory citizen. (p. 188)

COURSE END