Teaching Ideas
The resources in this section have been created by teachers attending our Curriculum Making courses during 2007. We are passionate about Living Geography and localised curriculum making and this area of the website shows what it begins to look like.
We have chosen examples of teachers’ work which, we believe, demonstrate how teachers have localised the activities and underpinned what has been done with careful, purposeful thought. The chosen examples are NOT intended to be held up as exemplary or ‘perfect’ but as examples of curriculum development which teachers have been willing to share.
We hope they will inspire in different ways, but they are not supposed to be ‘copied’. Interrogate them and see where they work for you (for your school and for your students). The resources can be used at different key stages – think how you might adapt or ‘improve’ them to suit your purposes.
A-Z
A Journey Down the River Ouse (KS1-2)
Approach: Hide & Reveal activity, photos, maps
Concepts: Scale, interdependence, place, space
Keywords: River Ouse, assessment, map reading
A postcard from Japan (Year 9)
Approach: Investigating and selecting images, Movie Maker
Concepts: Place, cultural understanding and diversity
Keywords: Global connections, Japan, culture, diversity, peer assessment
An Island Home (Year 2)
Approach: Use of story, maps, plans and ICT to find out about a distant locality; use of Roamer (floor turtle)
Concepts: Place, space, environment
Keywords: Island, village, Coll, Scotland, local area, map, key, journey
Does your shopping measure up? (KS3-4)
Approach: Questioning, enquiry, problem solving, mysteries, identification of bias, map-reading, ICT
Concepts: Environmental interactions, space, scale, interdependence
Keywords: Sustainable development, location, sphere of influence
Environmental problems in your local area (Year 8)
Approach: Fieldwork, investigation & enquiry, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Movie Maker
Concepts: Environmental interactions, place
Keywords: Environmental quality, pollution, concerns, local, fieldwork, out of classroom learning, investigation, analysis
Rivers and Wildlife (KS2)
Approach: Interdisciplinary (through use of literacy texts), fieldwork, mapwork skills
Concepts: Place, changing human and physical processes, environmental interaction
Keywords: Human impacts, maps, rivers, imaginary settings, fieldwork, water
Using our Playground (Year 2)
Approach: Familiarisation walk, observation, using a digital camera, Hide & Reveal activity, PowerPoint
Concepts: Place, space, location
Keywords: Local, environment, place, space, location, senses, map, symbol, key
Water and Life (KS2 – Year 6)
Approach: Interdisciplinary, enquiry approach, linking global to local, action orientated
Concepts: Scale, changing human and physical processes, environmental interaction
Keywords: Active citizenship, enquiry, visual literacy, water
Water around us (KS2)
Approach: Interdisciplinary, active fieldwork, using the locality
Concepts: Interdependence, place, environmental interaction
Keywords: Fieldwork, locality study, active citizenship, water