Skip to main content

Simple teaching idea: Using Gapminder to structure research [@gapminder]

image

At the moment I’m teaching development to Year 9.  I’m without the kit required to produce the RSA Style Animations but still wanted to allow students to explore a country in depth, specifically working out reasons for it’s position in the LDC-MEDC continuum.  So, armed with access to an ICT suite (something I haven’t had to worry about for five years) I decided to use Gapminder to start the process.  Follow these steps:

  1. Students select a country to look at. Tick the Box.
  2. Take the country back to 1800, ensure that the ‘Trails’ box is ticked and press ‘Play.’
  3. Watch the pattern.
  4. Grab the screen and import into PowerPoint.
  5. Annotate the trail, picking up key changes in the GDP and Life Expectancy.

I found that this provides a really useful guide to targeting the research – so some quick work on valid search terms allowed the classes to quickly find useful information and data.  Furthermore, time spent on pointless research because of a poor country choice is minimised. For example, the USA doesn’t really have that interesting a track.  I also like Greece’s track below, with the recent decline in GDP:

image

Labels:

Comments

  1. Tim Jefferis12 October 2013 at 20:21

    Thanks nice idea. Hitherto I've only used gap minder as a whole class ' look see' this is a much better way of getting kids to really think.

    ReplyDelete
  2. David Rogers12 October 2013 at 20:27

    Thanks Tim - it works really well. Good to print out the graph too at A3 and laminate

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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 ...
5 comments
Read more

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...
4 comments
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more