More than meets the eye… There is more to our local area than first meets the eye! Sharon Witt April 2010

Session outline This session provides ideas for looking at a locality from different perspectives and aims to encourage teachers and pupils to explore and deepen their existing local geographies through a range of creative and sensory activities.

Why teach children about the local area? Fosters childrens curiosity and fascination with places Widens childrens horizons Develops spatial awareness Helps develop their sense of scale Helps children recognise the relevance of the rest of the world to themselves Opportunities to develop knowledge, understanding and skills of key geographical concepts Challenges bias, stereotyping and emphasises commonality and diversity of human experience Supports and develops childrens own sense of place and sense of identity Catling, S. (2002) Placing Places, Sheffield: Geographical Association,p. 7.

Local area studies can contribute to: Community Cohesion Learning Outside the Classroom Primary Review Personalised learning Sustainable Schools Climate Change Childrens Geographies Futures perspectives Active, informed local/global citizens Place and community based education

Why place based education in the local community ? Relevant Authentic Based on real life A vehicle for making connections and linking learning. Purposeful Meaningful Enjoyable Exciting Engaging Sobel, D. ( 2005) Place based Education Connecting classrooms and communities, Great Barrington:MA,The Orion Society

Exploring childrens personal geographies Aim: To recognise and celebrate childrens personal geographies; To explore childrens individual responses and attachment to local places; Martin calls for the use of childrens everyday experiences or personal geographies as a basis for curriculum development The pupils in your classrooms will all have their own experiences to draw upon and it is important to elicit these for use as starting points Martin, F. ( 2006) Everyday Geography Primary Geographer Autumn 2006,p.7.

Scrapbooking happy spots This is Ben Cruachan and there is a lovely view of Ben Cruachan from my Grans house and she only lives a few miles away from the mountain.I like to watch the clouds move over the top of the mountain – it is very calming.

Geodoodling! Geo-doodle prompts included: Photos from the local area GoogleWorld views World music Landscape art Webcam streaming Sound clips from the local area Newspaper articles relating to global issues Artefacts Scents Visits to the locality - observing / smelling / listening Reflecting on stories/picture books with a geographical theme. With thanks to Jo Sudbury and the children of Bishops Waltham Junior School

With thanks to Jo Sudbury and the children of Bishops Waltham Junior School

What places are you connected to ? Past Friends Places visited locally Holidays Activities Friends Places visited with school

Make those links! Paper Chain Geography Exploring childrens geographies- local to global / Past, present and future

Geographical Detection in the local area - includes: Raising Questions Enquiry Investigation Problem-solving decision making analysing / synthesising SENSORY EXPERIENCES

"Christopher Robin Leads an Expotition to the North Pole" Christopher Robin, Pooh, and their friends head out in search of the North Pole. When Pooh finds a long pole lying beside a stream, Christopher Robin announces that their quest is over. Another potential source for map making

What do Geographers do?- Provide a context for the childrens work Map- makerExplorer Route FinderTraveller Village / Town PlannerAdventurer DetectiveConservationists RamblerWeather man/ woman PhotographerManager of floods Climber of mountainsPuzzle Solver PresenterInvestigator Carer News Reporter

Hooking the childrens interest Mobile phone message… Local are mystery to solve Adventures… Quests… In search of … Journeys… Voyages of discovery… Treasure hunts… Location Scout in the area for film producer Working on behalf of the local tourist board

Good geographical detective work could include: Pictures / Photographs Sound maps Childrens Feelings Local peoples feelings Writing Sketches Collecting noises via a Dictaphone Collecting textures Field sketches Surveys e.g. carrier bag survey, traffic, land use Counting Measuring Maps – journey sticks, journey strings, messy maps, my walks Questionnaire

Travel with a different view … To look through rose – tinted specs To see the area with a glass half empty attitude To consider the area from the perspective of another person: Pensioner, Mum with a push chair, Person in a wheel chair, Teenager Visitor Toddler

Activity 2 – What is this place like? Look at the photographs in groups and try to imagine what it would be like to be in this place? What would you be able to hear, see, touch and smell? What is this place like? Do you like this place ? Would you like to live in this area? How do you feel about this place? Collect data using an environmental quality survey

Local Area Top Trumps Use data generated by environmental quality survey to create own Top Trumps game Based on first hand multi sensory experiences of the local area. Categories negotiated with the children Ownership of a game and their learning

Take a walk Take photographs Upload photographs for your local area to Geograph

Class 3W s cool wall ! Categories : Sub- zero! Cool! Uncool! Seriously Uncool ! Place your local place photographs on the wall ! What places would impress…? The class can decide the categories … Idea from workshop run by Solent Architecture and Design Centre

From a creative Biodiversity course run by Gordon McClellan at East Meon Sustainability Centre on 13 th March 2009

The way the work is presented makes the subject engaging to the children

From a creative Biodiversity course run by Gordon McClellan at East Meon Sustainability Centre on 13 th March 2009 Create a story board about an event in the locality Celebrate the childrens experiences in their local area.

From a creative Biodiversity course run by Gordon McClellan at East Meon Sustainability Centre on 13 th March 2009 Making plate puppets of features in the locality so children can relate/ recall events from their point of view. This puppet is of a dry stone wall !

Local focus has the power to engage students academically, pairing real- world relationships with intellectual rigor( sic), while promoting genuine citizenship and preparing people to respect and live well in any community they choose Rural School and Community Trust 2005 in Smith and Sobel (2010) p. 23.

Bibliography Catling, S. (2002) Placing Places, Sheffield: Geographical Association; Martin, F. ( 2006) Everyday Geography Primary Geographer, Autumn 2006,pp4-7; Smith, G.A. and Sobel, D. (2010) Place and Community – Based Education, New York: Routledge Sobel, D. ( 2005) Place based Education Connecting classrooms and communities, Great Barrington: MA The Orion Society.