Approaches and Strategies

Junior secondary Geography curriculum is focused on both geographical knowledge and skills for students going into further study. Of equal importance is the cultivation of positive values and attitudes in students. Besides those disciplinary skills, the curriculum also helps students to develop various generic skills and the general intellectual capacity for lifelong learning.

Although there are various common and intertwining pedagogical approaches (e.g. teaching as direct instruction, enquiry and co-construction) that can be employed to facilitate the delivery of this curriculum, teachers are highly recommended to choose the enquiry approach with some of its advantages described below.

All modules in this curriculum are either issues or problems related to Hong Kong, our country (China), our region (Asia-Pacific) and the world. They are best delivered to students with the enquiry approach. Enquiry enables students to master geographical concepts and knowledge during the course of investigation. Contrary to the traditional, spoon-fed didactic approach, enquiry allows students acquire knowledge via solving problems, analyzing different viewpoints or information and making judgments based on a wide range of information from various sources (e.g. books, newspaper articles, video clips and information on the Internet). Moreover, this approach allows students to practice frequently a number of generic skills, as well as the development of positive values and inquisitive attitudes in them.

As current issues or problems often have strong relevance to the daily life of students, another advantage of this approach is that it enhances students’ motivation by making learning more interesting and meaningful. This is especially the case for students who are academically less able.

By providing various “specific examples” with different scales in each module of this curriculum, teachers may further differentiate their instructions based on their findings on the readiness, interests and learning profiles of students.

4.2.1 Learning through enquiry

Enquiry learning can provide students with the capacity and motivation to become active learners, team workers, critical and creative thinkers, problem-solvers and decision makers. Through enquiry, students can construct knowledge about the world in a challenging and authentic way. In the process, students are encouraged to ask geographical questions and to seek answers independently.

The information and experience they gain enable them to look at issues or problems from different perspectives. Students are also taking increasing responsibility for their learning as they actively involve in investigating issues. Being more self-directed in their learning, differentiated instructional strategies can be adopted easily by teachers to solve problems related to learner diversity.

Geographical enquiry usually starts with identifying an issue, a problem or an interesting phenomenon / pattern with a strong spatial and/or ecological perspective. Through using the five

“W”s of geography — “What”, “Where”, “How”, “Why” and “What if” — to examine issues, students can establish a strong geographical perspective; and key geographical concepts and knowledge are then introduced to help them understand, interpret and analyse the issue. The following route of geographical enquiry is commonly found in many enquiry-based geography lessons:

Step Examples of Key Questions (1)

Observation

and “What?”

perception

(2) “What?” and

Definition

“Where?”

and description

(3)

Analysis “How?” and

and “Why?”

explanation

(4) Evaluation,

prediction “What might?”, and “What will?” and decision “What decision?”

making

(5)

Personal “What do I evaluation think?”, “Why?”

and and “What shall I do?”

judgment

Details

• Aware of an issue / a problem arising from people-environment interactions

• Outline and define the issue / problem

• Find out the linkages with existing knowledge

• Ask geographical questions (i.e. five “W”s)

• Suggest appropriate sequence of enquiry / investigation

• For fieldwork enquiry, decide on data and evidence to be collected

• Collect data and information relevant to the enquiry

• Describe / present the data, information or evidence

• Distinguish between relevant and irrelevant data

• Sort and analyse the data and evidence

• Give explanations

• Decide whether additional or different data / information / evidence is required

• Evaluate the results of the enquiry

• Make generalizations or predictions (if any)

• Propose alternative action (if any)

• Make decision based on the evidence and information collected

• Draw and justify conclusions

• Determine the values that are important to oneself

• Make personal judgment on the issue (including values)

• Decide whether to take action so as to change one’s personal lifestyle

In the learning and teaching of junior secondary Geography through enquiry, teachers extend their role from knowledge transmitters to learning facilitators. As facilitators, geography teachers should:

• help students to formulate learning goals and identify the most appropriate means of achieving them;

• assist students to develop positive learning habits, master learning strategies and develop metacognitive skills to steer their learning;

• create a stimulating and motivating learning context so that students are intellectually curious;

• provide a framework for students, especially those struggling learners, to organise their study in a systematic way; and

• develop a supportive, tolerant and mutually accepting learning community to allow students to participate actively in learning without the fear of being criticised.

Instead of being passive receivers of knowledge in didactic approach, students should:

• set meaningful and realistic goals for their own learning;

• take the initiative to consult teachers, to collaborate closely with others and to share learning experiences with peers;

• develop a positive attitude towards learning geography by engaging actively and confidently in learning, despite the risks of making mistakes or encountering difficulties; and

• reflect on their learning experiences, and monitor and evaluate their own learning progress.

4.2.2 Learning through maps

Being an important tool of geographers, maps (in the forms of paper and digital ones) are the most effective medium for recording, displaying, analyzing and communicating information about people and places. By overlaying layers of map information with Geographic Information System (GIS), maps can even be used to solve many real world problems, such as finding out the spreading pattern of a type of infectious disease and analyzing its probable impacts on people and the environment. Besides being used in academic studies, maps can also be used in our daily lives, such as using “Google Map” and “Google Earth” on the Internet to find routes, location and planning for our holidays. In other words, map skills are crucial life skills that should be learnt by all students.

As such, geography teachers should pay considerable effort to ensure that their students are able to master a reasonable level of map skills after finishing their junior secondary studies.

The teaching of map skills should not be treated as a separate topic in geography, but should be integrated into the learning and teaching of geographical issues and problems in the curriculum.

Teachers should develop a planned and structured program to familiarise their students with the following 4 essential properties of maps:

• Plan view (perspective and relief)

• Arrangement (location, direction and orientation)

• Proportion (scale, distance and selection)

• Map language (signs, symbols, words and numbers)

Map skills should be developed through a well-planned schedule, starting from elementary map skills (such as drawing simple sketch maps of students’ familiar surroundings). It can be extended to calculation and transformation (such as drawing of cross-section), and then to more complex skills like generalization and identification of patterns and relationships on maps. Students should be encouraged to familiarise with different varieties of maps of different scales and contexts. After three-year study of junior secondary geography, students should be well-equipped with the map skills which are essential for the study of higher level geography as well as for practical use in their lives. For details about such essential map skills in junior secondary level, teachers should refer to

“2.5 Essential Learning Elements” and the part “Skills” included in each module of this curriculum.

4.2.3 Learning in the field

Fieldwork is a distinctive attribute of geography and has a long tradition as an established component of geographical education. It can be considered as any activity which takes place outside the confinement of classroom. It provides students the opportunities to apply the knowledge/

concepts learned in the classrooms to the real world, and through this to acquire new knowledge/

concepts. In addition to knowledge acquisition and application, different subject-specific skills (such as field sketching and land use plotting) and generic skills (like problem-solving and critical thinking) can be developed through fieldwork. As such, fieldwork has important contributions to make geography real and enjoyable, and every geography student of S1-3 should be entitled to have a reasonable amount of fieldwork experience throughout their three-year junior secondary studies.

Teachers may refer to “2.5 Essential Learning Elements” and the part “Skills” included in each module for details of various fieldwork skills that should be included in the learning and teaching of this curriculum.

Fieldwork activities in junior secondary level should involve students in applying a range of knowledge and skills to a “real world” problem or issue. Fieldwork should not be limited to be purely “field excursions” and “guided tours”, in which the teacher dominates most of the talking and students concentrate solely on listening, observing, note-taking and photo-taking. Fieldwork should be based as this aligns with the aims and objectives of this curriculum. Such enquiry-based fieldwork experience also helps students to build up a good foundation for their fieldwork investigations in senior secondary level. The starting point for such an approach is the identification of an issue or a problem related to the interaction of people and their environment in a specific locality, and then leading to appropriate data collection, data presentation and analysis, as well as identification of possible solutions or management strategies. Examples of enquiry-based fieldwork for junior secondary students and further suggestions on this type of fieldwork can be found in the CD-ROM “Enquiry-based Fieldwork in Geography (Part 1)” published by the Education Bureau.

Fieldwork should not be confined to large-scale, whole-day activities in distant locations.

Small-scale fieldwork conducted near the school premises (such as conducting local fieldwork on urban problems or slope stability near a school) should also be considered. In addition to low cost, this kind of fieldwork is easier to manage and it can be completed within a short period of time. Teachers should note that value of fieldwork lies on whether it can help students learn how to identify, to observe, to collect, to apply and to analyze, not on how long it takes or how much work the students have to complete.

4.2.4 Using information technology in learning

With rapid development of information technology (IT) in the past decade, IT can be used to promote interactive learning both inside and outside classrooms. The use of IT does not only make lessons more lively and enjoyable, thus enhancing students’ learning motivation, but it can also reduce the heavy workload of teachers by making it easier for resource production or allowing teachers to access rich reserves of teaching resources all over the world.

Geography teachers should use IT in their teaching whenever appropriate and should also provide adequate opportunities for their students to apply IT in the learning of this curriculum.

With multimedia-enriched presentations, abstract concepts, such as those about plate tectonics, as well as weather and climate, can be explained more clearly and easily. IT also links students to the vast network of knowledge and information outside their classrooms (e.g. through the Internet).

Information in various websites provides updated data for discussion and research, which facilitates enquiry learning and self-learning. Through school intranet systems, e-mail and Web 2.0 technology

(including social networking tools, such as “Facebook” and “Twitter”), students can also share ideas and learning resources, discuss various geographical issues and even communicate with their teachers.

Learning thus is no longer confined by time and space. A list of websites suitable for the learning and teaching of this curriculum is included in the Appendix 2 for teachers’ reference.

Of the many IT tools available, Geographic Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) are two which are highly related to geography. GIS is a powerful IT tool which connects geographical information to location, so as to bring out various spatial patterns. Through layering, GIS gives understanding of how all such spatial information interrelates, which in turn facilitates decision-making and answering “What-if” questions in geographical enquiry. GIS also allows learners to handle spatial data faster and more efficient than before. Lesson time can be spent on higher-order analysis of spatial patterns. Every student taking junior secondary geography should be given opportunities to use GIS in their geographical enquiry (e.g. using GIS and GPS for collecting, recording, handling and analyzing fieldwork data). Besides using those commercial GIS software programmes which may be too complicated for beginners / junior form students, teachers may consider to use those GIS freeware on the Internet. The use of “Google Earth” in geographical learning and teaching is a good example of this. Further suggestions on how to integrate GIS in the learning and teaching of this curriculum can be found in the part “Skills” included in each module.

In order to integrate IT into their lessons successfully, geography teachers should consider the following points carefully before employing the IT tools they choose:

• The IT background (including skills and experiences) and interests of your students;

• Learning styles (e.g. directed or open) and organization of your classes (e.g. individual, group or whole-class);

• The IT tools chosen should further your students’ geographical understanding and skills (both geographical and IT skills);

• They should match with the objectives, as well as intended and unintended outcomes of the lessons;

• Venues of the geography lessons and the availability and applicability of the IT tools in such venues;

• Efficiency of using them in terms of time; and

• The availability of IT supporting staff in your school (e.g. technicians, IT helpers, IT teachers and librarians).