Map Men: teaching geography through comedy

From www.youtube.com - June 9, 2020 10:00 AM

Jeremy Hansen's curator insight, August 29, 2016 12:43 PM

Holy heck these guys are good! I'd like to see more of these Map Men videos. I'm sure at least some of my 8th graders can appreciate some British wit.

Colleen Blankenship's curator insight, January 22, 2018 1:21 PM

Funny and full of information!

Laurie Ruggiero's curator insight, May 29, 2018 5:29 PM

Unit 1

bari.forde@cqumail.com's comment, May 26, 2021 6:08 PM

@Brianna Brett I really like this resource. What a great way of implementing digital technologies into the classroom and better yet making learning relevant to students through various apps to use. What a wonderful way to transform learning and engage students! No longer sitting in a classroom reading and writing.

Karen Zhou's curator insight, April 12, 2016 8:17 AM

This is a great geographical tool that develops knowledge and understanding of past human actions and impacts of these on the environment. Students examine photographs that show how environments have been transformed by humans to suit their interests and needs. Many of these practices have been detrimental to the environment in the long-term. Emphasise to students that without proper care, the environment cannot sustain itself into the future. This is thus useful for introducing students to the idea of sustainability, and would act as an apt introductory activity to the unit. It useful for getting students to ask the key inquiry question: how can people use environments and place more sustainably? Teachers may consider using “See Think Wonder” during photograph observations. (More details on this thinking routine here: http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03c_Core_routines/SeeThinkWonder/SeeThinkWonder_Routine.html)

This may be a large or small group activity. Teachers may wish to structure this activity in two stages:

1) Observation of photographs (encourage students to note down the details that are useful for later discussion, e.g. blurred background of urban landscape) Depending on how the discussion is run, the photographs may be shown on an interactive whiteboard or printed and laid out on the table for viewing

2) Web task as students visit the Powerhouse Museum page and read the descriptions provided. Students should be encouraged to think about the What, Where, Why and Impact (Kriewaldt and Boon, 2012)

When evaluating the data, students can rank the photographs by degree of harm the described action has caused the environment. Ask students why they chose to order the photographs in that way, and allow students to freely offer their views and disagree. As a closure to this inquiry process, teachers may wish to use the Connect Extend Challenge VisibleThinking routine to gauge students’ prior knowledge, and help them communicate the new understandings and questions that have emerged from this activity.

References:

-Kriewaldt, J. & Boon, D. (2012) Geographical inquiry. In Tony et al. (ed) Place and Time – Explorations in Teaching Geography and History (pp.129-142). Frenchs Forest: Pearson Australia.

Amy Cohn's curator insight, April 7, 2016 4:02 AM

Google Earth is a great teacher and student resource.

Aligning with the Stage 2 syllabus outcome to

"examine features and characteristics of places and environments" the multi-dimensional aspect of this mapping program allows the students to explore the different characteristics of the Australian landscape, looking out for changes in terrain or identifying iconic buildings and natural phenomena specific to different areas around Australia. You can explore the differences between states and their climates and the iconic features that are individual to each.

This program could be used as a teacher run activity where the whole class examines the same map on a projector or interactive smart board and the teacher is able to navigate students around the map.

This could also be used by students on either a computer or tablet, getting them to explore different states and territories and come up with a list of characteristics and features for different parts of Australia whether in terrain view, or 3D view etc. This task could be an individual task or one where students are divided up into groups for a particular area.

This sort of individual, independent task allows students to take a self directed inquiry based approach to their own learning. According to Kriewaldt and Boon it important for students to be progressively working towards designing their own investigations to collect geographical data and draw their own conclusions (2012, p.132).

BOSTES NSW. (2016). New NSW Syllabus: Geography K-10. Retrieved from http://syllabus.bostes.nsw.edu.au/hsie/geography-k10/ ;

Kriewaldt, J. & Boon, D. (2012). Geographic Inquiry (Chapter 9). In Taylor, Fahey, Kriewaldt & Boon. Place and Time. Explorations in Teaching Geography and History. Frenchs Forest: Pearson Australia

Brianna Brett's curator insight, May 13, 2021 6:22 AM

The article by ISTE provides four explicit examples of applications that allow for digital pedagogy, specifically in their applicability to geography as a subject area. Upon exploration of the potential apps listed, including WeVideo, Shadow Puppet, Story Creator and ThingLink, it seems ThingLink could have the potential to allow learners to form creative responses to tasks/assessments/archiving of information and data that will support their learning and allow for autonomy in decision making regarding their learning. Learners could use the app to create interactive images and videos by "layering elements such as web links, sound, text, images and video clips."

For instance, learners may photograph their physical surrounding on an excursion, then use layering of text on the interactive tool to provide detailed descriptions of the geographical findings. This process allows for redefinition of learning which supports learners in engaging with the SAMR model.

Tiana's comment, May 24, 2021 10:12 PM

Brianna, you have done a great job relating the information to your geography classroom. In considering how technology can be used within the classroom, I particularly enjoyed your idea of incorporating the outside world, i.e. nature, into a digital lesson. Good Work

Elizabeth Walker's curator insight, March 28, 2016 11:59 PM

GE2-1: A student examines features and characteristics of places and environments by investigating the origin of the food they eat. Students will investigate the climates of different places, for example how weather contributes to climate and the production of different foods and different times of the year, and the definition of 'in season'.

GE2-4: A student acquires and communicates geographical information using geographical tools for inquiry.

This inquiry-based activity provides a valuable context for Stage 2 students to acquire, clarify, and apply an understanding relating back to personal reference points (Edelson, 1999). Students investigate familiar food from their own home or canteen, and research the food origin that may be within or outside Australia.

The New Children's Museum (California) has a great series of lesson plans that can be easily adapted for the NSW curriculum.

1. Use mapping skills to identify countries on a world map and trace them back to Australia.

2. Learn about the concept of food miles

3. Use map key to calculate distances (scale)

4. Use ICT to research additional distances www.foodmiles.com

To localise the content, seasonal produce tables are available from www.sustainabletable.org.au An additional mapping exercise is available at www.localharvest.org.au whereby students can enter their postcodes to see what local producers/suppliers are in their area.

An extension activity could be the Pantry Audit from Eco Friendly Food - http://www.ecofriendlyfood.org.au/media/pdf/Week%203%20Food%20Challenge%202012.pdf ;

Reference

Board of Studies Syllabus, NSW (2006). Human Society and Its Environment K-6 Syllabus. Sydney: B.O.S. Retrieved from http://k6.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/go/hsie

Edelson, D. C., Gordin, D. N., & Pea, R. D. (1999). Addressing the challenges of inquiry-based learning through technology and curriculum design. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 8(3/4), 391-450. doi:10.1207/s15327809jls0803&4_3

Primary geography

GeogSpace home page

Activity: Drawing a Sound Map

Spatialworlds

War on Waste Classroom Resources

25 educational resources to help kids with the war on waste - Ara Sarafian - ABC Splash - http://education.abc.net.au/newsandarticles/blog/-/b/2535555/25-educational-resources-to-help-kids-with-the...

Map Skills for Elementary Students - National Geographic Society

Documentary making for primary geography

Apps for geography

Aquation: The Freshwater Access Game

Map Men: teaching geography through comedy

23 Maps to represent Australia

Changing landscapes-historic photos Powerhouse Museum

Google Earth

Home

Geography

Using picture books to teach geographical understanding

Project Planet

Our Focus: War on Waste - ABC

You decide Australia's population, we'll show you how it looks - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Primary geography- Field of Mars

How Access to Nature During The School Year Can Help Students Thrive | MindShift | KQED News

4 apps for digital storytelling in the great outdoors

Digital Library - Cool Australia

Heritage sites in NSW

1. How far has my food travelled? Research + Mapping