“One of the challenging and exciting aspects of geography is its unusually broad base…You might sometimes wonder therefore, where it begins and ends: what exactly is geography?” (The Geographical Association and Royal Geographical Society, 2008)

The context of the research Ofsted judgement that quality of teaching at KS3 is ‘mediocre’. Numbers of students taking GCSE Geography has declined. Populist factual knowledge vs knowledge of the world. Importance of the voice of the child. Stalling of geography education research. The White Paper.

My context Interest in ‘others’. ‘A different view’ manifesto. Secondary Geography Quality Mark. Hopwood (2004, 2009) and Hopwood et al (2005) ‘How does the Department gather…and use the views of learners to inform the continuous improvement of Geography teaching and learning?’

What is Geography?: How do Year 7 perceptions of Geography change as a result of teaching?

“People, culture, world…pretty much everything I mentioned [in the discussion of the poster]…energy and life generally.” (Beth) “It’s kind of the world and things in it.” (Dani) “Geography is about place and people of planet earth. It is about the way of life from different people’s eyes.” (Ellie – written statement) “Geography is a different point from everyone…but it’s how you think of it that counts…people may say flags to count, one people friendship, one people trees…it just depends how you look at Geography.” (Ellie – first interview)

Unit 1: Tools of the trade What is Geography? Aylesbury past (photo analysis), present (map skills, my patch, Google Earth) and future (sustainable futures) Unit 2: Energy and Resources What are resources? Water as a resource (scarcity and bottled water), Renewable resources (sustainable house, wind farm debate), Non-renewable resources (oil) Unit 3: Weather and Climate Horrible Geography, explaining temperatures, different types of rainfall, the climate of the UK, monsoons, climate change.

What do students’ perceive to be geographical knowledge? Written statements reflect previous studies with maps and place as key foci. Secondary foci are people and culture and weather and climate. Global rather than local. Lack of global issues e.g. climate change. Physical rather than Human.

What do students’ perceive to be geographical knowledge? Posters generally supported this although there was more a focus on place rather than maps. Only 1 out of the 6 posters moved away from a globe and ideas of place and focused instead on environmental issues. All posters suggest a ‘traditional’ view of Geography (Dowgill, 1998). Interviews broaden out to cover ‘applied’ and ‘idealistic’ views. Narratives between tasks are not cohesive. Discourses are confused particularly when trying to unpick beyond the superficial ‘world’.

What has an influence on these perceptions? Written statements showed that Primary School had the greatest impact (24 students) This was supported by interviews with case study students - 3 students studying more Geography at Primary School than now at secondary school. Other aspects which had an impact at varying levels, were parents, television and holidays.

What impact do I, as the teacher, have on these perceptions? Activities which particularly resonated with students had the greatest impact on perceptions. Resonance could be determined by the choice of activity e.g. wind farm debate. Resonance could be determined by the choice of subject matter e.g. water as a resource. Teacher has control over what is taught and how it’s taught but can’t control the resonance it has. Resonance is determined by many factors e.g. experience at primary school, family, friends, television etc. and is different for each student.

Teacher Content Activity Student View of Geography Primary school Family Television Content determined by the teacher is more likely to resonate with the student and therefore affect their perception of Geography if they have previous experience of this aspect of Geography. The activity determined by the teacher is more likely to resonate with the student and therefore affect their perception of Geography if they are engaged.

What next? For the curriculum to resonate with students, they have to have some input. Investigate changes in perception from Year 7 through to Year 9 as a longitudinal study. Does this research have something to say within the context of the White Paper and the debate on what geographical knowledge students should have?

“…we must face up to the fact that conceptions of geography education cannot be straightforwardly re(shaped) by simply changing what is taught or how. Young people lie at the heart of geography’s future and must play a role in shaping it…” (Hopwood, 2011: 40)

References Hopwood, N. (2004) Pupils’ Conceptions of Geography: Towards an Improved Understanding. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 13 (4), Hopwood, N. (2009) UK high school pupils’ conceptions of geography: research findings and methodological implications. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 18 (3), Hopwood, N. (2011) Young People’s Conceptions of Geography and Education, in Butt, G. (ed) Geography, Education and the Future, London: Continuum. Hopwood, N., Courtley-Green, C., and Chambers, T. (2005) Year 9 students' conceptions of geography. Teaching Geography, 30 (2), 91–93.