The use of enquiry-based learning in Geography by Divisha Patel

One of the main overarching features of effective geographical pedagogy that I learnt about during my initial teacher training in 2015, was enquiry-based learning. 

Geographical enquiry has been firmly established in the geography curriculum for the past few decades, however it has become even more prominent in the past couple of years, since the increased use of technology in classrooms. Ofsted (2018) stated that too much learning in Geography was based around content as opposed to the development of skills such as interpreting data, and that there was a need for students to be actively engaged in making sense of the world around them. 

Geographical enquiry is an approach to learning values pupils' own knowledge and unlocks what Allen and Massey (1995) refer to as individual 'geographical imagination'. Current knowledge is presented as contingent to be questioned and scrutinised rather than accepted as absolute reality. Geographical enquiry engages students in the development of a wide range of skills involved in the collection, analysis, interpretation and evaluation of information from a wide variety of sources, allowing for the development of literacy and numeracy. 

As a result, from 2015-2019, we as a Geography department embarked on a period of transition, whereby we reconsidered how we planned our curriculum, and adapted our offer to best suit the skills that students need to know to be lifelong geographers. Using Roberts’ (2013) enquiry-based learning framework, we adapted our lessons and unit plans to reflect the 4 main principles. The screenshots are from a Y9 lesson, as part of the Economic World/Development GCSE unit. 

1)  Creating a need to know: what is the purpose of what students are learning? How do we raise interest, and provoke geographical questions?

2)  Using data: use of primary data from fieldwork, or using their research skills and critiquing the author, purpose, motive and audience. 

3)  Making sense: This is arguably where the learning happens, how do they use the source to develop their geographical knowledge?

4)  Reflection: This allows students time to consider what they learnt, and how they learnt. 

             

The impact of development an enquiry-based approach has been that geography students are now a lot more independent in their learning, which has not only increased their engagement but also awareness of the wider world. We don’t want students to become top-performing students, we want them to become well-informed geographers. As they have been scaffolded through the stages of enquiry and supported to develop their independence from as early as Year 7, by the time students get to Sixth Form, and embark on the IB course, they understand how geographical data impacts what we know and understand about the processes that affect human and physical geography. 

Bibliography

Roberts, M (2013) Geography Through Enquiry: Approaches to teaching and learning in the secondary school

Allen, J. & Massey, D. (1995) Geographical Worlds