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Congratulations

You belong to a group of teachers who want students to know the answers to more challenging geography questions (“Why?” questions).

You enjoy solving geographical problems that pupils have to deal with. In your classes, students often work as real geographers. You create opportunities to work with text and other information sources, students independently collect data and then analyze it and draw conclusions.

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Your teaching often leads students to recognize and discover the interactions between people and the environment, or you deal with the causes and effects of geographical phenomena.

In addition to doing geographical research with your pupils, you are also interested in studying more general geographical topics, including in the teaching of regional geography. You and the pupils also spend more time studying selected places or regions in more detail, even at the cost of not having time to discuss other places or regions.

Example:

When information about a volcanic eruption appears in the media, you can immediately prepare a lesson about the processes that lead to the emergence of volcanic activity. In geography lessons, pupils deepen their knowledge of how volcanoes are formed and, above all, what are the consequences of volcanic activity for people’s lives and the surrounding environment . Using examples of specific places affected by volcanic activity, students demonstrate the relationships between the natural and social components of the landscape . In addition, students explain the pros and cons of living in places affected or threatened by volcanic activity. Pupils have the opportunity to think about it, why people live in the immediate vicinity of volcanoes, why, for example, there are fertile soils around volcanoes, how volcanoes can be used in terms of tourism and how people deal with the various consequences of volcanic activity on a local and global level. 

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Teachers focus on scientific reasoning and making connections

Assessment ?

In order to verify knowledge, skills and, above all, attitudes, we use project formats in which we can also observe pupils’ behavior and experiences.

An environmentalist focuses on the development of attitudes and values, so we must carefully consider how we translate what we expect from students into an observable or measurable form. It is important for him that pupils experience a protected environment when expressing their opinions. It is better to conduct feedback interviews with pupils than to lean towards direct classification.

For this reason, we use rather analytical descriptive feedback based on the following criteria:

  • geographical in content : the correctness of the terms used; richness of concepts; the number of geographical points of view on the topic considered; analysis and synthesis of sources; etc.
  • competent: expressing a strong point in the topic that influenced his opinion, position or argument; support for arguments; justifying one’s position; etc.

when presenting and arguing (fulfilling KK), we use evaluation criteria such as accuracy, clarity, structuring of ideas so that expression is understandable, accurate presentation of the problem, etc.

For formative feedback, we recommend asking questions based on the evaluation criteria for each of the topics:

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How did you choose the problem?

Why do you think the problem is a threat or challenge to humanity?

What sources did you use for your argument?

Where does your opinion come from?

How has it changed your attitude towards..?

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Teacher:

    • Develops environmental literacy
    • Connects the teaching of geography with environmental education
    • Focuses on values ​​and attitudes

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This conception aims to develop students’ environmental literacy and connect geography teaching with environmental education. Environmentalist teachers are mainly concerned with how to protect nature and the environment from the unwanted effects of human action. Teaching is mainly framed by the ideas of sustainability, environmental protection, ecological stability and responsibility. Teachers are happy that students appreciate nature and environmental protection as values, and they don’t worry too much that their students don’t know, for example, where Iowa is. The teachers strongly perceive the environmental perspective and values ​​and experience it in their hearts. The way of geographical thinking that is behind the environmentalist concept is very close to many geographers, and it should be respected. The teaching of geography is mainly oriented towards the development of environmental values ​​and attitudes of pupils. Pro-environmental teachers often argue that people should change their behavior, especially because they damage the environment through their activities and daily actions. Furthermore, they also tend to explain the effects of negative human impact on the environment and the landscape in almost all topics covered in the teaching of geography. An environmentalist has a deep relationship with nature and the planet, is interested in alternative energy sources, the ecological or carbon footprint and its minimization, or designing effective environmentally friendly solutions. The essence of the environmentalist concept can be successfully conveyed on the topic of soil: while teachers favoring other concepts will deal with the properties of soils and their division.

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Student:

  • Experiences project-based and interdisciplinary teaching
  • Is dedicated to ecological topics and sustainability
  • Solves dilemmas, defends his opinions, and discusses

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The student gets the opportunity to think, discuss, solve dilemmas, defend their opinions, and participate in interesting projects or environmentally oriented educational programs about rivers, urban planning, sustainability goals, feminism, poverty and natural disasters. Pupils appreciate these topics, which are not well represented in school education because teachers who are not environmentally oriented do not know much about them or do not consider them relevant. Environmental and ecological topics are mostly fun for pupils, so they can motivate some pupils to later study geography, environmental studies or other related fields.

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Teacher:

    • Lower emphasis on content accuracy
    • Absence of more demanding learning tasks
    • The danger of being accused of promoting “green ideology”

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The environmentalist conception does not suit every teacher. Teachers with this dominant view do not care much about students’ geographical knowledge. Environmentalists also have to reckon with complaints that “pupils will not learn anything” – mainly due to a lower emphasis on pupils’ factual knowledge, or the absence of more demanding analysis and interpretation of more complex geographical phenomena and processes. Building pro-environmental attitudes require a considerable amount of time and effort. From other teachers, parents, and sometimes even students, teachers favouring the conception of environmentalist may be criticized for promoting a “green ideology” in their teaching.

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Student:

    • May not always realize that they are learning
    • Does not recognize the geographical dimension of the curriculum
    • May consider geography as a recreational subject

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In the environmentalist conception, there is a risk of so-called hidden learning. In some cases, the student may not realize what he is actually learning, and especially why. In the event that students of projects with environmental themes or environmentally focused teaching programs, it may happen that in this way of teaching, the students will not perceive the “geographical dimension” of the subject matter discussed.

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Benefits of registered users

Exclusive access to a database and community of engaged geography teachers.
Draw inspiration for other conceptions.
Conveniently browse topics and think about your own teaching.
Know the connections between conceptions.
Experience GEOWHEEL or have instructions on how to comprehensively grasp geography education.
Archiving test results to monitor the development of one's own teacher identity.
Invitations to events with members of the project team and special events.
Access to the archive of worksheets for pupils and other teaching materials.
Detailed results with commentary and practical recommendations.
... Well, the students will simply love you, because they will enjoy your teaching!