Geography teaches an understanding of places and environments. Through their work in geography, children learn about their local area and compare their life in this area with that in other regions in the United Kingdom and in the rest of the world. They learn how to draw and interpret maps and they develop the skills of research, investigation, analysis and problem solving. Through their growing knowledge and understanding of human geography, children gain and appreciation of life in other cultures. Geography teaching also motivates children to find out about the physical world and enables them to recognise importance of sustainable development for the future of mankind.
The aims of Geography are:
o To enable children to gain knowledge and understanding of places in the world
o To allow children to learn graphic skills, including how to use, draw and interpret maps
o To enable children to know and understand the environmental problems at a local, regional and global level
o To develop a variety of other skills, including those of inquiry, problem solving, ICT, investigation and how to present their conclusions in the most appropriate way.
Teaching and learning style
We use a variety of teaching and learning styles in our Geography lessons. We believe in whole class teaching methods and we combine these with inquiry based research activities. We encourage children to ask as well as answer Geographical questions. We offer them the opportunity to use a variety of data, such as maps, statistics, graphs, pictures and aerial photographs. We enable children to use I.C.T in Geography lessons where this serves to enhance their learning. Children take part in role-play and discussions and they present reports to the rest of the class. They engage in a wide variety of problem solving activities. Wherever possible we involve the children in ‘real’ geographical activities e.g researching a local environmental problem or use of the internet to investigate a current issue.
We recognise that there are many children of widely different geographical abilities in all classes and we provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child.
We achieve this by :
o Setting common open ended tasks which can have a variety of responses.
o Grouping children by ability and setting different tasks for each ability group.
o Providing resources of different complexity according to the ability of the child.
o Using classroom assistance to support the work of individual children or groups of children.
Geography Curriculum Planning
We use the QCA scheme of work for Geography as the basis of curriculum planning. We have adapted the National scheme to the local circumstances of our school i.e. we make use of the local environment in our field- work and we also choose a locality where the human activities and physical features provide a contrast to those that predominate our area.
Our curriculum planning is in three phases (long term, medium term and short term).
Our long- term plan maps the Geography topic studied in each term during each key stage. Each class teacher works this out in conjunction with other colleagues in their year groups. In some cases we combine the geographical study with work in other subject areas, thus creating curriculum links. At other times we arrange for the children to carry out a geographical study independently.
Our medium term plans follow the QCA scheme of work and give details of each unit of work for each term. The senior teacher reviews these plans on a regular basis. In this way we ensure that children have complete coverage of the National Curriculum.
We plan the topics in Geography so that they build on prior learning. Children of all abilities have the opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge in each unit an through planned progression built into the scheme of work, we offer them increasing challenges as they move up the school.
Reviewed February 2009
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