Thursday, March 27, 2014

Geography crusaders: Why Geography matters



Image above: A talk by a US Geography 'crusader', about 'Why Geography matters"
As Seth Dixon says on his Geography Education Scoop.it:
"Harm de Blij (author of many school texts in the US ) passed away early this week.  He was a tireless advocate for geography and geography education.  He understood that without geographic expertise, our foreign policy would suffer and our collective ability to thrive in an era of globalization would be curtailed.  I was always captivated by his presentations and was continually astounded by the depth and breadth of his knowledge.  Rest in peace."

Related links to Spatialworlds 
Geogaction
Spatialworlds website
GeogSpace

Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
'Towards a National Geography Curriculum' project website
Humsteach blog


Where am I??  
Adelaide, Australia: S: 34º 55' E: 138º 36'


A great new addition from Alaric Maude: Understanding Australian Curriculum for primary schools






Alaric Maude, an Australian geography 'crusader'.


A recent worthy addition to the support materials for the Australian Curriculum: Geography is Associate Professor Alaric Maude's new book titled:
Understanding and Teaching the Australian Curriculum: Geography for Primary Schools.  
Alaric was the ACARA Lead Writer for the geography curriculum and has a great knowledge of why the curriculum was structured and written the way it was and what the content descriptions and elaborations mean. 


The scope of the book is to discuss every content description and almost every content elaboration in the Australian Curriculum: Geography. Extracts from the book can be found on the Hawker Brownlow site.


In reference to the structure of the book, Alaric writes:

Chapter 1 explains geography as a subject, discussing why it is in the curriculum and highlighting concepts and ways of thinking relevant to the primary school years. It also outlines what geography contributes to a primary school education. Chapters 2 and 3 address each of the two strands in the Australian Curriculum: Geography – Knowledge and Understanding, and Inquiry and Skills – and show how the strands are structured. These chapters also identify the key progressions from Foundation to Year 6 that teachers and curriculum planners should be aware of and provide suggestions on how to link geography content with related material in mathematics, science and history. Finally, Chapter 3 also explains how the Australian Curriculum: Geography develops its three cross-curriculum priorities: the Asia region, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, and sustainability.

No comments: