How does the global dimension enhance geographical understanding?
Planning for the global dimension should enable pupils to explore the complexity of a place or an issue. Opportunities can be created so that, by studying in depth, learners can then transfer their understandings to other people, and to other places. We cannot, and indeed should not, look to replicate this in-depth study throughout a course, but pupils should on occasions be exposed to this approach. The quality of data sources now available ensures that pupils can directly access genuine geographical issues and we don't have to go into the realms of 'unreality' or 'pretend geography'. Indeed, typified or unreal people and places can present barriers to learning.
Using scaffolds is one way of helping support pupils' thinking. Look at The activity on the right. Here the GeoVisions group explores the use of scaffolds to support pupils' thinking in a geographical enquiry. The first of the pages you will be asked to look at in Part 2 of the activity shows the structure of a scaffold, the second suggests some possible detail for each section of the model, and the third page shows a full example of the model being used to investigate how people live in other parts of the world.
Activity Resources:
- Images
- Interactive
- Sound
- Text
- Video
Activity
- Start by considering the planning perspective of the GeoVisions group by visiting the 'GeoVisions' section of the Geographical Association's website. GeoVisions
- Now click on the Text icon and look at the three pages developed by Chris Durbin, Staffordshire's geography inspector. How do the approaches illustrated by the pages support teaching and learning for the global dimension?
