The Goldsmiths’ Company Science for Society Course #geogsotons4s

The image above was taken by a rather cool laser scanner just after the final picnic lunch of The Goldsmiths’ Company Science for Society course put together by the lovely people at Southampton University's Geography Department. The course is supported by Ordnance Survey and The Goldsmiths’ Company, one of the ‘old school’ livery companies within the City of London.

Rather than give you a full rundown of the content, you can head over to the Earth Surface Dynamics Blog here for a list of resources and links. I wonder how many geography departments could rebrand some of their Geography as ‘Earth Surface Dynamics’…..?

The week long course was an excellent opportunity given to me as a result of this. First, the week long course is well worth the effort, although those that are rather ‘out of touch’ with current developments in geography would benefit more than those either new to the profession or fairly active geographers. I went along to a similar course in 2007 (!!!) linked to sustainability. I enjoyed talking to geography academics and finding out about their research before reflecting ways in which we can link to Key Stage 3 and 4 geography.

In addition, it was great to have some ‘hands-on’ fieldwork to see how the fundamental skills of fieldwork link into the high tech versions using total stations and laser scanners.

The main message that I would like to give to geography teachers in the UK is that geography is a science. Therefore, it can be part of STEM. Furthermore, we are doing a disservice to the young people we come in to contact with if we don’t expose them to the maths and science (especially Physics for climatology and Biology) of geography. If you want to work at the Met Office or climate change, you need a firm grasp of maths and physics for example. Geography teachers, whilst banging the geography drum, often forget this.

So, get involved in the STEM activities that are available and I would recommend getting on to any future courses.

Comments

High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge. I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post. I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff. If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been ...

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey. As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others. Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up. I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions. From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment. From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die. How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach? Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment i...

Banned Word Board

Today I want to share some simple ideas that I have found to be very effective in the classroom. I can't say that they are my own original ideas, although I have played around with them. The first is the Banned word Board. This is a simple display in the classroom that lists a number of words that are not allowed to be used by pupils in their written or oral answers. The effect has been an increase in the quality of written work, and I have almost made comments such as 'Sir it's simple, the stuff just affects the thing and causes people problems'. Pupils are now more able to use specific language, something that is vital especially at GCSE. I have had to make a few modifications, such as the introduction of 'Heavenly Words' This is an additional display placed on the ceiling. I found this necessary as pupils needed some stimulus in finding replacement words. After advice received after posting the idea on the SLN forum , I have also introduced semi-banned words...

David Rogers

Search This Blog