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UNSETTLING SETTLEMENT: Thirdspace in Las Vegas

UNSETTLING SETTLEMENT: Thirdspace in Las Vegas. Richard Bustin, Geography teacher, Bancroft’s school. © Old Shoe Woman/ Flickr. Background to the research:.

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UNSETTLING SETTLEMENT: Thirdspace in Las Vegas

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  1. UNSETTLING SETTLEMENT: Thirdspace in Las Vegas Richard Bustin, Geography teacher, Bancroft’s school. © Old Shoe Woman/ Flickr

  2. Background to the research: • “The Great Divide” between school and university geography (Goudie 1993), “without engagement with academic geography, school geography ‘is in danger of becoming epistemologically and socially irrelevant’” (Fein 1999, quoted in Firth and Biddulph 2008). • Numbers of pupils choosing geography at GCSE has been in decline. • Geography as a subject was branded ‘boring and irrelevant’ by Ofsted (2008). - September 2008: Teachers regain control as ‘curriculum makers’. “There is now for the first time in a generation, opportunity and encouragement for teachers of geography to think about what they are doing in conceptual terms” (Lambert 2008 p209). • Curriculum planning now around ‘key concepts’- Place, Space, Scale, Interdependence, Physical and Human processes, Cultural understanding and diversity. © Christopher Chan/ Flickr

  3. University geography: Ed Soja’s ‘Thirdspace’ Postmodern urban geography ‘Out of Place’: Homeless Men in Las Vegas • Research aims: • 1. To develop and refine a teaching unit on ‘Thirdspace’. • 2. To engage with the nature and potential of ‘Thirdspace’ in the geography curriculum. • 3. To enter in to a holistic discussion about the nature of what constitutes a modern geography curriculum.

  4. “Thirdspace” FIRSTSPACE: The physical built environment. SECONDSPACE: The ‘representational’ space. THIRDSPACE: The “lived space”- the experience in Firstspace mediated through Secondspace expectations.

  5. Research methodology: Four ‘Action research’ cycles over 3 years. Research topic Focus group Plan lessons Pupil work: success? Teach lessons • Limitations: • One school setting (only)- academically selective boys school. • Mixture of year groups • Focus groups were self selecting • Had to ‘splice in’ to existing schemes of work. Focus group Re plan lessons Re teach Work scrutiny (Diagram based on Kemmis and McTaggart 1982)

  6. The research outcomes: Pupil work (years 9 and 13) Year 9 pupils exploring the Secondspace of Las Vegas, and exploring where their geographical imaginations about the place come from. Worksheet explores how the varying spaces affect the homeless

  7. So what? Lambert and Machon (2001) argue “geography’s success will depend on how successfully it speaks to young people and can entice them into a struggle with ideas, with argument, with uncertainty” (p207). - “Thinking geographically” (Jackson 2006): Geography’s “vocabulary, (an apparently endless list of place names) and its grammar (the concepts and theories that help us make sense of those places)” (p199). Thirdspace alters the ‘grammar’ through which urban space can be studied. Cresswell (2008) asserts “I see no reason why students should not arrive at university with a basic understanding of philosophy of place... I would like to see students arrive at (university entrance) interview with an interest in ‘place’ and not simply ‘places’” (p137). - Challenge is for teachers to stay current with university geography and new concepts, ideas and approaches. - Should teachers be delving into university geography at all? - What sorts of geography should we be teaching?

  8. Further reading: Borchard, K., 2005, The Word on the Street Homeless men in Las Vegas. Nevada: University Press. Soja, E., 1996, Thirdspace. Oxford: Blackwell. Soja, E., 2000, Postmetropolis. Oxford: Blackwell. References Cresswell, T., 2008, ‘Place: encountering geography as philosophy’, Geography 93 (3) pp 132- 139. Firth, R. and Biddulph, M., 2008, GTIP Think Piece- ‘Fantastic Geographies: Geography Teaching and the issue of Knowledge’. Available online: http://www.geography.org.uk/gtip/thinkpieces/fantasticgeographies. Accessed 11/08. Jackson P. 2006 Thinking Geographically, Geography 91 (3), 199-204. Kemmis, S. & McTaggart, R., 1982, The Action Research Planner. Victoria, Deakin: University Press. Lambert, D. and Machon, P., 2001, ‘Conclusion: Citizens in a risky world’. In Lambert, D. and Machon P. (eds), Citizenship through secondary education. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Lambert, D., 2008, Why are school subjects important? FORUM 50 (2). Goudie, A., 1993, ‘Schools and universities- the great divide’. Geography 78 (4) pp 338-9. Ofsted, 2008, ‘Geography in schools- changing practice’. Press release. Available at www.ofsted.gov.uk. Accessed 1.09

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