An Holistic Approach to Curriculum Development in Geography.
Geography is the study of the Earth, looking at the relationship between people, place and the environment. In Geography pupils study topics that are separated into either human or physical areas. However, what students fail to release is that every topic is connected to one another and should not been seen or revised as a separate idea and/or topic. The word 'Holistic' is used as a way of embedding the idea of interconnecting topics into one planetary earth system. For example, the famous hydrological cycle will include elements of the Earth’s atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere and anthrosphere (human life e.g. settlement, money, health, development, etc), but pupils will only see it was the hydrological cycle associated with the topic rivers. Those pupils that are able to incorporate an holistic approach in lessons and in their exams are working and thinking at high levels. One reason pupils fail to fully grasp this holistic approach at GCSE, A-level and even at degree is because pupils have not been taught nor identified the key concepts (and topics) of Geography and incorporated them into their studies properly. The key Concepts of Geography, as identified in the National Curriculum (2007/2014) are:
- Time
- Space
- Scale
- Place
- Interdependence
- Physical and Human Processes
- Environmental Interaction & Sustainable Development
- Cultural Understanding & Diversity.
These key Geographical concepts need to be identified and explain in all topics and lessons, so pupils can see and understand the holistic nature of the subject. This is of course not without its challenges, with confusion, misunderstanding and lack of freedom and time to fully include concepts throughout programs of study. This is challenging for curriculum development in schools (especially Geography Departments), with schemes of work and lesson planning needing careful attention and thought. This online curriculum development site aims to incorporate an holistic and conceptual approach to teaching and learning in Secondary Schools and Higher Education. The image below is from the Geographical Association, which suggests a curriculum design that encourages a broad, balanced, concept rich curriculum, which includes learners in the design. There is a concept grid attached (below) created by myself, which can be used in lessons with either words or pictures in the center. Learners have to add details around the word(s)/image explaining how they are related to the geographical concepts/other topics (geographies), to develop pupils holistic and concept understanding of geography, which is key to developing geographers.
- Time
- Space
- Scale
- Place
- Interdependence
- Physical and Human Processes
- Environmental Interaction & Sustainable Development
- Cultural Understanding & Diversity.
These key Geographical concepts need to be identified and explain in all topics and lessons, so pupils can see and understand the holistic nature of the subject. This is of course not without its challenges, with confusion, misunderstanding and lack of freedom and time to fully include concepts throughout programs of study. This is challenging for curriculum development in schools (especially Geography Departments), with schemes of work and lesson planning needing careful attention and thought. This online curriculum development site aims to incorporate an holistic and conceptual approach to teaching and learning in Secondary Schools and Higher Education. The image below is from the Geographical Association, which suggests a curriculum design that encourages a broad, balanced, concept rich curriculum, which includes learners in the design. There is a concept grid attached (below) created by myself, which can be used in lessons with either words or pictures in the center. Learners have to add details around the word(s)/image explaining how they are related to the geographical concepts/other topics (geographies), to develop pupils holistic and concept understanding of geography, which is key to developing geographers.
concept_grid.docx | |
File Size: | 17 kb |
File Type: | docx |