Westminster Institute of Education Young Geographers Matter Professor Simon Catling

Westminster Institute of Education

Young Geographers Matter

Professor Simon Catling


Four elements

To say something about each of the following:

• Children matter: their curiosity and everyday geographies matter.

• The Geographical Association’s Young Geographers Project: what mattered.

• Geography matters: The Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum Final Report proposals affecting geography

• Learning together matters: enquiring curriculum makers.


The wonder of geography

• The world is a fascinating place – full of fascinating places.• We have our favourites – places that have astonished us; been

new, exciting, even awesome; places that are ordinary, everyday, ‘homely’; our neighbourhoods; where we have associations; where family and friends are…….

• They affect us – and are special too.


Local places


Children’s everyday geographies 1

• Children’s geographical experience begins at home, sparked by their curiosity and desire to explore.

• Their experience expands outward through need, excursions and journeys.

• Given safe but varied places to play children can make them their own with whatever materials they have and using their imagination and creativity.

• As they mature, from say 7-8 years old, they gain some freedom of movement and explore and expand their ‘home range’, not necessarily known by parents.

• Constraints on younger children’s ‘freedom to roam’ have crept in over the past 20 years, particularly linked to traffic and travel.

• Coming to know their local area fosters a sense of place, with links to the affordance or functionality of places, their social places and their ‘secret or personal places’.

• They develop a sense of place and affordance through their experience of their school.


Children’s everyday geographies 2

• While they may live ‘in the local’, children encounter the wider world through family, friends and peers, the media (eg news), visits, and holiday travel – at second and first hand - with partial, conflated and misconceived ideas about places…..

• The world beyond is local through, eg food, technologies, clothing, what they read…..

• That world out there impinges on children and affects their lives, through access, environmental and political decisions and events, migration, transport, the internet …..

• The global affects their sense of the local…..• Children’s ideas of the world are encouraged through their

imagination: stories, drama …..• They develop concerns about social justice, environmental

quality and ‘envisaged’ futures at local and global scales.


The Young Geographers Project

• Living Geography is about teaching geography so that it comes ‘alive’ for children. Some defining principles are:~ embracing young people’s/children’s geographies;~ being current and futures oriented;~ often ‘local’ but always set in the wider (global) context;~ investigating changing environments/places;~ encouraging critical understanding of sustainable development.

• The Young Geographers Project emphasised four key aspects:~ engaging in practical ‘curriculum making’ – creating a geography project;~ capturing the sense of motivating ‘living geography’;~ learning outside the classroom;~ education for sustainable development.

YG site : www.geography.org.uk/projects/younggeographers/resources/

Planning focus areasKnowledge and understanding of patterns and processes. – Identify and describe what places are like.Knowledge and understanding of environmental change. – Make observations about where things are located. Recognise changes in the environment - e.g where broken glass has caused a hazard.

Key QuestionsWhat is it like to live in my locality ? (Southborough)How can I observe and record features of my locality in an entertaining and thought provoking way?How can I record locations on a map and plan and use this to find locations during fieldwork?How is the environment around me changing and how has it become the way it is?What is my perception of places in Southborough and how have these changed during the making of the film?

Geographical skills Fieldwork?Identify locations within Southborough that present dangers or difficulties for pedestrians.Use maps and plans to mark a route to visit these locations and use them as film locations to re-tell a narrative story.Visit locations and record film footage. Record environmental hazards and dangers with photography and sketches.Identify the causes of some of the environmental hazards in Southborough.

Aspects of ESDEconomic, Environmental, Social / 8 doorways / ESD concepts?.Recognise how the environment is influenced and affected by human activity. Recognise how aspects of the environment can be sustained, developed and improved

Links with other curricular areasLiteracy- linked to Year 2 Narrative unit on traditional tales. Production of multimodal texts using images and sound. Links to speaking and listening, reading and narrative writing elements of Literacy.ICT- use of digital recording equipment for capturing images and sound. Basic editing techniques taught as an extension activity where appropriate. Design Technology- Design of DVD cover for film product.Music- percussion performance for sound effects.

ResourcesDigital video camera and tripod,Costumes and simple sets for interiors.Apple Macbook laptop with Imovie for editing and IDVD for burning.Audacity for sound editing.Audio Network sound library for sound effects and music score.Edirol digital voice recorder for recording of narrative.

The True Story of Little Red Riding Hood - A Geographical Adventure through Southborough

What do I want pupils to get out of this?

Jonathon Kersey


The True Story of Little Red Riding Hood


Creating the film of the True Story of Little Red Riding Hood in Southborough“Story writing• The children wrote chapters for the story based in different locations

around Southborough.• Each location tells the story of Little Red Riding Hood’s journey to

granny’s house and how she avoided danger with the help of the Wolf.• Each location represents children’s perceptions of hazards in our local

environment.”

“Location choices• The story gave us geographical locations for Little Red Riding Hood

and the Wolf to visit in the story. The next step was to turn our narrative into a film.

• Using street maps of the area around our school the children chose specific film locations for us to use. We visited the locations to decide whether they were suitable for filming.”

Jonathan Kersey, Year 2 teacher


Year 2 filming in Southborough


Southborough: The children’s learning 1

“We shouldn’t cross the main London Road unless we use the pedestrian crossing. The London Road is very dangerous because there are always lots of cars.”

“Don’t pick up glass because you could cut yourself. The alleyway near Prospect Road has lots of dangerous broken glass.”

“Never climb up places where it says danger on it. The electricity box is very dangerous. There is a yellow danger sign on it. It says ‘danger of death’.”

”You should not sit at the end of a slide in case someone hurts you. There are slides in Crundwell Road Park and Pennington Park. Be careful in the parks!”

“ Some of Southborough is dangerous. You need to be with a grown up to support you and look after you. They can help you stay safe.”

“ Never walk into the woods by yourself. You can have fun there but make sure you are with a grown up.”


Southborough: The children’s learning 2

What did the children get out of this?• Fascinated by the project and motivated to make a film.• Discussed their perception of place, considered aspects of their local

environment, and very clear about suitable locations for the film.• Expressed their views on particular locations about real environmental

hazards/issues.• Had clear ideas about local hazards/dangers to include and how to avoid

them. • Used maps to identify specific streets and sites around school to use to tell

the story, developing map reading skills.• Developed ICT skills using cameras for framing environment film shots.

What could be improved?• Children to consider how the locations could be portrayed positively. The

focus on hazards/dangers saw locations in terms of their negative aspects.• Revisit the same locations and see what positive images we could take to

counter balance the images from the film.


The Value of the Young Geographers Project

• It gave teachers permission to do something different, try a new approach, be a little risky, and actively engage their children.

• It made geography more visible in school to everyone.• It opened eyes to the environmental awareness, capabilities and

potential children bring to geographical studies – their everyday geographies.

• It encouraged both getting out into and using the locality – local fieldwork – and seeing its greater potential for enquiry.

• It improved teachers’ understanding of sustainable development in a modest way. A number already had clear understanding and ideas.

• Curriculum making proved a liberating, demanding and much valued approach. Teachers created their own new geography topic and plan, involving the children.

• Teachers felt that sharing their ideas, experiences and outcomes was very supportive and encouraging.

• The Project Leaders played an invaluable initiating, encouraging, responsive and supportive role.


Refreshing Geography

The Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum

Area and Programme of Learning:‘Historical, geographical and social understanding’

The geographical (incorporating elements of citizenship):• ‘How and why places and environments develop, how they can

be sustained and how they may change in the future’;• The shaping of the present by the past;• How our sense of identity develops;• How we make decisions within communities;• ‘How people, communities and places are connected and can

be interdependent’;• Using enquiry and investigation;• Debating alternative viewpoints in order to take informed and

responsible action;• Using fieldwork, maps, GIS, the internet, databases.


Breadth of geographical learning

• Encompass local, national and global contexts;• Ways people, communities, places and environments change

and are interconnected;• Find out about issues and take actions to improve things in their

communities, making a positive contribution;• Use fieldwork, first-hand experience and primary/secondary

sources to make enquiries;• Investigate a range of environments: own locality, contrasting

UK locality, locality in a different country;• Explore views and opinions about identity, community and local

and global issues, including sustainability, climate change, poverty, resource use (eg water, food) and recycling;

• Develop local and global links through communication.

INTERLINKING GEOGRAPHY AND CITIZENSHIP.


Developing primary geography 1

Foundation Stage• Investigates places using all

senses, as appropriate;• Shows curiosity and interest in

exploring surroundings;• Identifies some features and talks

about those liked and disliked;• Asks questions;• Identifies and looks closely at some

similarities, differences, patterns and change;

• Begins to know about own and other cultures;

• Explores idea of belonging to groups and communities.

Early Primary• Finds out about own locality and

change over time;• Explores others’ ways of life, and

how they change with location;• Notes links between own locality

and elsewhere, in UK and beyond;• Investigates issues, expresses

views and participates in decision-making activities to improve local environment or community;

• Uses internet to explore ‘remote and imaginary locations’;

• Recognises difference between fair and unfair.



Early Primary• Finds out about own locality and

change over time;• Explores others’ ways of life, and

how they change with location;• Notes links between own locality

and elsewhere, in UK and beyond;• Investigates issues, expresses

views and participates in decision-making activities to improve local environment or community;

• Uses internet to explore ‘remote and imaginary locations’;

• Recognises difference between fair and unfair.

Middle Primary• Notices how identities, communities

and cultures change;• Identifies patterns in communities

and places;• Knows location of significant places;• Identifies similarities and differences

between places and environments, and how they are linked;

• Notes relationship between physical, built and economic environments;

• Aware of how the ways people live sometimes has consequences for the environment and others’ lives;

• Considers issues and the impact of people’s actions on communities and the environment.



Middle Primary• Notices how identities, communities

and cultures change;• Identifies patterns in communities

and places;• Knows location of significant places;• Identifies similarities and differences

between places and environments, and how they are linked;

• Notes relationship between physical, built and economic environments;

• Aware of how ways people live sometimes has consequences for the environment and others’ lives;

• Considers issues and the impact of people’s actions on communities and the environment.

Upper Primary• Distinguishes fact and opinion;• Investigates local and global issues

using ICT;• Understands a range of factors that

cause change in the physical and human world in different places;

• Recognises the influence of human and physical geography on human distributions and patterns;

• Knows about factors affecting weather and climate;

• Knows why it is important and about ways to manage environments sustainably now and in the future;

• Appreciates that communities and people in them are diverse, changing and interconnected;

• Realises how we can live and work together to benefit communities.


Supporting geographical learning

• Geography remains a key aspect of the primary curriculum because it is an essential element of our lives and is central to understanding the current and future world, locally and globally – the citizenship links.

• Children’s lives are inherently geographical through:1. Their curiosity and explorations, of the real and imagined worlds;2. Their encounters with places, directly and through second-hand

sources and imagination;3. The role that their ‘sense of place’ has in fostering their self-esteem;4. The way in which they live their lives in our communities;5. The decisions that are made that affect the people, places and

environments where they and others live;6. Their interconnectedness and interdependence with others, known

and never to be known;7. The impacts of others on their lives and futures;8. Their concern for quality environments and lives, for themselves

and others, today and in/for the future;9. Their sense of right and fairness, social justice and equity.


Curriculum making

• Curriculum making, apparently, is novel: it involves choices and decision making about studies, creativity, engaging children in planning and activities, open-mindedness, debate, flexibility, risk, fallibility, opportunity, divergence, reflective learning through what did and did not work…..

• It requires focus and careful planning in a partial way – planning with ‘gaps’ and for adaption and a change of direction/emphasis.

• It involves knowledge of and confidence in your children.• It requires the capacity to harness and channel enthusiasm.• It involves a level of confidence in yourself as a learner, with the

skills of listening and observing, and of responding and leading.• Curriculum making is about experiential learning in and outside

the classroom, connected teachers and children, high levels of motivation, and practical engagement with geographical topics that have meaning for and impact on all involved.


Involved together“It is so important to give even the youngest children a real voice within a

school.• What adults deem to be of importance to younger children may not actually be

the case. For example, a lot of time and effort had been spent in our newly sited Library area, making it bright and attractive, with visually stimulating objects and work areas. However, for many pupils, the effect was overpowering and gave the feeling of claustrophobia. As a result, furniture has been removed and the layout reorganised.

• Would you have expected the little ‘ego-centric’ 5 year olds to think about the needs of the ‘big children’? One of their recommendations was for larger goalposts on the Playground for the Y5/6 pupils.

• Do children accept vandalism to school property as just a fact of life? No – they were horrified at scratches and scribbles on classroom furniture and thought that punishment (a school jail) was wholly appropriate!

• Do younger children value their environment? Absolutely, but not only this, they can also see links between actions and consequences. – They dislike muddy carpets and appreciate plant life and grassy areas and can accept that sliding down the bank to reach the classroom may no longer be acceptable.

• The fact that all pupils were involved in creating our school Eco-Code hopefully will mean that it will be adhered to, become second nature to them and develop a lifelong set of values to guide them in later life.”

Sue Parsons, Years 1/2 teacher


Influencing colleagues does not have to be too direct

• “Leading by example in a non threatening way can be extremely effective. I gave the class teachers a copy of the detailed Medium Term Plans so that they could see the sorts of activities that their pupils had been engaged with.

• Putting up a display as a sort of ‘Working Wall’ in a shared area is an easy way of showing what is happening in your classroom and making it easy for others to replicate. By ensuring that stimulus materials, key questions, subject-specific vocabulary, pupil work, instructional text, maps & photographic images are all included in the display, colleagues can quickly get the feel of the approach taken.

• Make a presentation to the rest of the school, with the pupils themselves describing what they had been involved with and explaining the outcomes of their work.”

Sue Parsons


Improving the Environment: Teacher evaluation

“The children thoroughly enjoyed engaging with all aspects of this topic. It worked well, beginning with the local school environment and identifying small things to improve based on an environmental survey.

The children began to see the outdoor environment as an important part of their learning, appreciating the out-of-doors, and made thoughtful suggestions as to how it can be used to further enhance the teaching and learning across a variety of curriculum areas. It was possible to take the children on a short trip around the village to continue to think about how to improve the environment on a local scale.

As the children developed there own understanding, it was possible to extend the study outwards to look at the global implications and sustainability – thinking about how to meet our current needs without comprising the needs of future generations. This aspect of the project was given great purpose by all the children thinking about the issues around recycling for our link school in Ghana, looking at how materials can be used to create souvenirs and provide income.

I have learnt the value of fieldwork for all children for giving them first-hand experience from which they can become active and informed decision makers, supporting their ideas with a secure understanding. The children’s own attitudes have changed and they now see real purpose in learning about the local environment and have developed an appreciation for the local area and wider world. They have seen their initial ideas developed into a working plan.”

Lisa Wright, Year 4 teacher


Our School – A view for a school in another country

A child-led topic• “We have just established links with a school in Tanzania and the children are

keen to find out about school life and the life of the children in Tanzania. Based on this we decided that it would be nice to send a book to Tanzania that tells them about our school and our lives. This was a very child-led project with the children choosing the location visited as places that were important to them and their lives. We did map work and field work, both in and outside the school. This was a project that was thoroughly enjoyed by the children.”

Our evaluation• “The children were very enthusiastic from the outset and the project was led by

them and their enthusiasm. I was surprised by how interested they were in their local area and the perceptions they have of it. I was surprised by the children’s ability to sequence photographs and identify areas from photographs that they have visited and then locate them on a map. Most of the children needed a starting point (the school) highlighting on the map and they were able to find the streets they lived on, the park, plan a route to the shops and the main high street. They proved to be very critical thinkers and this project promoted the use of geographical vocabulary.”

Jemma Leach, Year 3 teacher


Sidmouth – the nature and power of places


And sustainability

Environments matter to children – to all of us.• How we treat places matters. Places can and should be

improved, kept clean and in decent repair – appear looked after and be cared for. These are urban children’s views.

• Children’s views are that if they are involved in activities to improve their environment, they value making a contribution, and they feel that there may be progress in creating positive rather than negative environmental impacts.

• Sustainability matters. Children want the world to be a better place for their futures. Positive attitudes and values matter.

• This can mean moving into controversial areas, since it may not just be about consideration and viewpoints, but also about actions and making voices heard.

• Young geographers are not averse to controversy and issues – or action!


Everyone’s geographies matter

• Geography is commonplace.• Geography is our daily round.• Young geographers are involved.• Geography is lived and practiced,

from the playground, to the holiday,

to the global issue.• All our living geographies matter.• But, perhaps, our Young Geographers matter most.

Documents

Westminster Institute of Education Young Geographers Matter Professor Simon Catling