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Making Geographical Connections. Steve Rawlinson President Geographical Association Formerly Principal Lecturer in Primary Geography Education & Senior Admissions Tutor Northumbria University Geographical Association Annual Conference Manchester, 2016. Doreen Massey. GA Honorary VP
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Making Geographical Connections Steve Rawlinson President Geographical Association Formerly Principal Lecturer in Primary Geography Education & Senior Admissions Tutor Northumbria University Geographical Association Annual Conference Manchester, 2016
Doreen Massey • GA Honorary VP • Emeritus Prof at OU • Place, Space and Power • Highly influential • Mancunian but supporter of Liverpool FC!
Making Geographical Connections The theme offers many areas for consideration e.g. • Emotional connections • Age phase connections - transitions • Spatial Connections • Connecting with other subjects • Technology of connections • Temporal connections • HE/ITE connections • Connecting with the future • Connecting with the wider world • Connections with other professions • Disconnections Do look at the Peter Jackson video on the GA website: http://www.geography.org.uk/resources/videocasts/geographicalconnections/#top
The Connections… • Part 1 - personal connections that influence our own geographies • Part 2 - curriculum connections - subjects • Part 3 Future geographical connections • Conclusion sets three challenges
Part 1 – personal connections Influenced by • Places • People • Disconnects
Aberystwyth and the GA • Aber, Fleure and the GA • 1907 takes charge of training teachers in geography at Aber • 1917 Fleure becomes Prof at Aber and as secretary of GA moves HQ there • 1930 – 1946 Fleure becomes prof at Manchester and the GA comes here
Cadair Idris Mudstone Volcanics Volcanics
E G Bowen • Prof at Aber • Legendary teacher and academic • Medical geography • Celtic Saints • Influence of culture on the landscape • Expeditions • Story teller • Teaching as acting
Teaching Journey From Watford to Andover
An innovative charity, exploring ways dogs can help people overcome specific challenges and enrich and improve lives and communities. • Assistance dog • Community dog • Family dog
Liz Essex-Cater • Team teaching • Passion for fieldwork • Writing together • Teacher supply
Spiral of decline Identified in… Rawlinson, S. et al (2003) Have Geographers Lost Their Way? Issues relating to the recruitment of geographers into school teachingJGHE 27(1) Unfortunately a similar situation now developing.
Positive Feedback Model Negative Feedback Model 4. Inspired & committed Geography teachers in both Primary & Secondary schools 1. Few well-qualified & inspiring Geography teachers in both Primary & Secondary schools 3. Large number of students opt for Higher education courses in Geography 2. Disenchanted students reject Geography at GCSE & A-level standard 2. Healthy numbers of students move onto GSCE & A-level standard 3. Problems filling undergraduate Geography & subsequent ITT places 1.Inspired & committed Geography teachers in both Primary & Secondary schools 4. Few well-qualified & aspiring Geography teachers in both Primary & Secondary schools
Theoretical underpinning ... • Discovery fieldwork (Job 1996; Ellis 1993), the ‘possibilities of place’ (Payne and Wattchow,2009), risky fieldwork ( House, Lapthorn, Moncrieff, Owen-Jones and Turney, 2012); emergent curriculum (Osberg and Biesta,2008) • People centred – fieldwork is relational and recognises the importance of not only cognitive and affective learning, but embodied and sensory experiences too( Woodyer 2008; Pink, 2009). • Immersive and intuitive – the landscape invited participation (Gibson’s – affordance theory in Matthews,1992); • Opportunity for silence and solitude (WWF, 2009); • Explore links between fieldwork journeys and transformation (Morgan, 2010) Putting the Meanders back into Teaching Rawlinson, S. et al (2013) Wildthink: Staff development with a difference! GA Magazine, 25, p17
Sensuous geography… • Exploring a sense of place using the senses • Understanding the sense of place your children and young people have – a factor that deserves more attention • Leads into the realm of emotional geography which has long interested me.
Developing a Sense of Place… Relationship between individuals and a place – attachments • Your Special Place? • What makes it special? • Can you relate it to any of your senses – a special sight/taste/sound etc.... • What would you change? Why? • Different values/attitudes colour personal geographies
Place in a box... • Sensory geography can be overwhelming • Useful to summarise sense of place – put it in a box – thanks to Howard Lisle • Ideally have a box of sensory materials to engage all the senses e.g. Photos/maps/food/artefacts etc. • Enables sensory exploration...Catling (2012) • Morpeth in a box…
Review… • Each item chosen for specific personal reason – Tanner (2012) • Explaining why item chosen is as important as the actual item – very personal • Reveals the sensual geography of difference...
Activity… • What images would you put in your box of your home area? Why those things? • What artefacts could you bring to add to the box? • Try and involve all the senses – what is the smell of your place, what is the taste etc.? • Shows your connection with your home place • What questions would you ask about each item? • Very individual – connect with your students
Part 2 Curriculum Connections ‘…more than any other subject, geography serves to bridge and unify different curriculum areas’ (Catling, 2010). Geography brings a sense of location, a context and a means of explaining the underlying processes. Place, scale and process…
The geographical lens… • Our geographical lens views the contributions of other subjects • Skill of geographer is to draw on the best of a wide variety of disciplines • Use this knowledge to advance geographical thinking • How we use the lens influences our impact on our pupils
Integration…. • The integrated nature of the subject is at its core (Rawding, 2014) has identified several examples to show the value of the holistic approach - Chernobyl. • Our HVP Iain Stewart identified a very real danger two years ago when he warned us about the separation of the subject into human and physical geography – losing the integration of the subject will diminish its identity and utility. ‘…the real essence of geography isn’t “the facts”, but the ability to join them together to create something greater than the sum of the parts. Geography is about feeding the imagination that is required to join up all the disciplinary dots and to survey the planet that is our only home in the round: to reveal what our actions are doing to it – and to us as part of it’ Lee & Dorling (2016)
Blaneau Ffestiniog • Slate mining • World connections • Consequences of its decline • Left out of the national park • Re-evaluated – centre of tourism
