LIVING GEOGRAPHY: 8 WAYS FIELDWORK

1. LIVING GEOGRAPHY:8 WAYS FIELDWORK Steve Rawlinson Principal Lecturer Northumbria University Cath White Senior Lecturer Northumbria University Ian Barnes NQT

2. Aims • Report on a GA living geographies project based in the Ouseburn Regeneration area Newcastle • Consider a pedagogical approach – 8 Way Thinking – and how it may be applied in a specific location • Consider how materials may be developed for children to use and its value • Consider how the area/approach can be used with a variety of students and its impact upon them

3. 8 Way Thinking • Devised by Ian Gilbert • Derived from Around Deeply Project • Multi-dimensional snapshot of the people, places, history, sights, sounds and nature of locations on a voyage round Britain. • Thinking skills project encouraging participant to: • Think • Reflect • Look more closely

4. Derived from Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory (MI) Philosophy for Children (P4C)

5. MI • Linguistic intelligence – words and language • Logical-mathematical intelligence - logic and numbers • Spatial intelligence - images and space • Bodily-Kinaesthetic intelligence – body movement control • Musical intelligence – music, sound, rhythm • Interpersonal intelligence – other people's feelings • Intrapersonal intelligence - self awareness • Naturalist intelligence – natural environment

6. P4C • Encourages children to ask questions • Develops natural curiosity • Gives ownership to their learning • Relates closely to Geography’s Enquiry Approach

7. 8 Way Thinking Gilbert’s 8 Way Thinking challenges and supports learning by engaging the learner with the 8 intelligences, which we all possess, but in which we have different preferences and strengths.

8. Terminology simplified • People • Numbers • Words • Nature • Sounds • Feelings • Sights • Actions

10. Example – Grimsby dock • People – sorts of jobs/daily life – history/geography • Numbers – how many workers – maths • Words – accents and dialogues - language • Nature – species – science, geography, maths • Sounds – now and hundred years ago – history/DT – different jobs create different sounds/it – recording current sounds/music – songs associated with the past • Feelings – what does it feel like to see this place now knowing what it was like? Language/ geography –empathy/ art – draw how you feel • Sights – what did it look like/ what makes it beautiful today. Language/ art – paintings/photos • Actions – physical process of trawling – DT –fishing boats/geography – way of life

11. It is a model for • Asking questions across subjects • Arousing and harnessing curiosity • Seeing with new eyes

12. What we did • Collaboration between Newcastle and Northumbria university • Newcastle Secondary geography PGCE students spent 2 days devising lessons • In groups each took 1 way and developed lesson plans and materials from fieldwork • Utilised the education officer and the resources of the education centre

13. Why? Advantages/value • End of their course – they needed a summative activity • Provided a clear focus for final activity • Drew together all their skills –summative, collaborative event • Offered an opportunity to explore a potential teaching area they might use • Developed materials that would be useful to them • Enabled them to try out a new pedagogical approach • Offered a relaxed final activity

14. What they produced • Approaches/Lesson plans and materials • Aimed at year 7 • Activities that could possibly be used from a distance – basis of a web based resource • A bank of resources for future development

15. The Ouseburn Valley: Background Information

16. Location The Ouseburn Valley is just a stone's throw away from Newcastle's bustling quayside. Steeped in a rich industrial past the Ouseburn has a unique character enriched by a diverse collection of old and new.

17. History For over 200 years the Valley hosted iron foundries, glass bottle works, potteries, paintworks, flax and flour mills and warehouses.

18. A tour of the Ouseburn • hyperlinks.ppt

19. 8 ways at Ouseburn – initial thoughts People • Nature of employment. How are these changing? • How do people use the area for leisure? Numbers • Numbers using the area for different purposes e.g. work, living and socialising. • Land use survey

20. 8 ways at Ouseburn… Nature • Changes in the environment. Caused by? • Species found? What affects this? Sounds • Sounds in the Valley today. Comparison of sounds with the past. • Soundscapes

21. 8 ways at Ouseburn… Feelings • Use pictures, information and video clips to create a sense of place. • How does the Valley make you feel and why? Sights • How have sights in the Valley changed and why? • How might the valley look in the future?

22. 8 ways at Ouseburn… Actions • What actions have created change? Who took them? • What future actions could take place to improve the area? • Who should decided which actions are the most suitable for the area? Words • Create a bank of key or buzz words which will enable you to describe the sights/sounds etc that the other groups devise • Have these words changed over time?

23. Examples of lesson plans Having got a focus they then devised lesson plans/activities ensuring: • Active/collaborative learning • An enquiry approach • Cross curricular approach • Thematic planning • Resources were provided

24. Turning Theory Into Reality Aims… • To develop a scheme of work based around the theme of 8 way thinking that is informative about the Ouseburn Valley. • To give a strong base in terms of lesson planning, resources, and teacher instructions that is editable and easy to develop to suit the needs of different teaching environments • To make the activities realistic to ‘real life’ teaching, in terms of time scale and flexibility within the scheme of work. E.g. The material has to be valuable as individual lessons as well as it making sense as a terms worth of work.

25. Full Scheme of Work

26. Lesson Plan Template

28. Actions Lesson Plan

29. Actions Resources

30. Action Teacher Notes

31. Sounds • An exciting idea in terms of lesson content • Plot a map around different areas of the Ouseburn Valley using soundscape approach to find your way. • Resources are finished but needs to be developed from an IT perspective so it can be online /on DVD and interactive. • Work in progress...

33. Where are we?

34. Future Developments • Develop these lesson plans over time… • Teacher feedback • Teacher lesson development • New lessons • Lesson evaluation forum

35. Future Developments • Potentially end up with a number of lessons and resources for each 8 way strategy • Why stop at the Ouseburn Valley and 8 way thinking? • Teacher resource sharing network with ‘real life’ teaching feedback and development.

36. Value of Approach Offers a Framework for Learning for use with: 1. Children (primary/secondary) either in • Short term – different groups working on one of the 8 ways • Longer term – with each 8 way offering focus for a lesson

37. Value of Approach… 2. ITE Students – lends itself to cross curricular activities/learning & thematic planning, whilst retaining a geographical emphasis 3. Undergraduate geography students -offers an effective way of developing a sense of place

38. Value of Approach… 4. Field studies/outdoor education teachers etc – offers a fresh and different way of viewing an area 5. Community groups – may offer a new perspective on issues developing in an area

39. Value of Approach… For all users • Very interactive – really engages and enthuses users • Each group that does it sees things differently – fresh for them and the teacher/tutor • Different approaches have value to different learners • Raises awareness of issues in local area • Stimulates working with local community

40. User reaction “This Eight Way of Thinking provides you with an easier way to understand an area, in this case the past, present and future of the Ouseburn. It allows you to think in many ways and from different angles and then lets you put these things together to form a broader view of the area.

41. User reaction… • “This has made me think about Ouseburn in a way I wouldn’t otherwise have done. This method is an extremely good way of perceiving a place as it makes it become almost 3 dimensional so that you can look at an area in a different way, a way which you wouldn’t have seen before.” Yr 1 Undergrad geography students

42. Issues • Time – took far longer than we supposed • Technical problems • Getting a consistent approach to presentation • Working on developing the materials • Need to adapt to different ages

43. Where next? • Become a focus for Northumbria’s primary ITE students • Teachers from the local GA branch trialling the materials and refine • Northumbria’s Yr1 Undergrad geographers using the approach to study the area • Web based resource? Funding?

44. Acknowledgements Rachel Lofthouse Newcastle University Cath White Northumbria University Richard Kotter Northumbria University Kye Askins Northumbria University Alison Stancliffe Ouseburn Valley Newcastle PGCE Geography Students 2005/6 & 2006/7 Tyne & Wear Branch of the Geographical Association Geographical Association

45. References 8 Way thinking Gilbert, Ian 2006 www.teachingexpertise.com issue 12 summer 2006

46. Refs Ouseburn Valley http://www.ouseburntrust.org.uk/ http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/hadrianswall/uploads/The%20Lower%20Ouseburn%20Valley.pdf http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/norwich/local/TRA23497.html?ixsid= http://www.victoriatunnel.info/Index.html My Walks http://nuweb.northumbria.ac.uk/mywalks/intro.php