Getting out and about with spatial technologies - from Victoria

Image above: The Spatial Technologies and Fieldwork from the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA).

Related links to Spatialworlds
GeogSplace (a teaching blog for Year 12 geography)
Geogaction (geography professional learning blog)
Spatialworlds website
GeogSpace
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website

Geographical thinking Scoop.it

Spatial literacy Scoop.it

History and geography Scoop.it

Spatial Education and technology Scoop.it
Just real interesting Scoop.it

Follow Spatialworlds on Twitter

Email contact:

manning@chariot.net.au

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority Spatial Technology Resources

This really useful spatial technology and fieldwork resource is the product of a 2015 VCAA pilot project that trialed evidence-based practice of digital learning through the use of personal mobile devices and spatial technologies. Teachers and students from two Victorian schools, Werribee Secondary College and Bayside P-12 College participated in the pilot.

The site contains an application guide, and cases studies on Levels 7-8 Landforms and Landscapes and Levels 9-10 Geographies of Interconnections.

The case studies show how students used their personal mobile devices in the field with free apps utilising global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers, to collect their fieldwork data. This became the basis for post-fieldwork analysis tasks using cloud-based data sharing and mapping using a basic Geographic Information System (GIS).

Thanks to Stephen Matthews for this information - a great Australian based resource Stephen, congratulations.

Elucidating history through spatial technology

Image above:The South Australian RSL Virtual Memorial

Related links to Spatialworlds  
Geogaction
Spatialworlds website
GeogSpace
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website

Geographical thinking Scoop.it  

Spatial literacy Scoop.it  

History and geography Scoop.it 

Spatial Education and technology Scoop.it   
Just real interesting Scoop.it

Follow Spatialworlds on Twitter

Email contact:

manning@chariot.net.au    

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


Some history and geography entwinement examples from South Australia

 A previous Spatialworlds posting focussed on the entwinement of history and geography. This posting provides two excellent practical ways organisations have used spatial technology to elucidate history.

* History of the Port Adelaide and Enfield Council through an interactive map  

The site allows visitors to interact with the map, locating buildings of historical interest and providing some fascinating historical information. 

* The South Australian Virtual War Memorial

The RSL Virtual War Memorial is to be the definitive resource and repository for anyone wanting to research, study or contribute to the commemoration of  South Australia's and the Northern Territory's socio-military history. The site contains an interactive map section which allows visitors to locate Memorials around the world and to read the inscriptions.

  * The war journey via letters of an Irish World War 1 soldier mapped.

The spatial war story of John Adams - his story.

* Interactive map of Europe border changes over time

* The greatest journeys: Whilst on about exploration, here is an interesting interactive site which maps history's greatest journeys. This site is a great connecting history and geography resource. 

* HistGeog workshop

Whilst talking about the connection between geography and history, I thought it might be worthwhile directing you to Geogaction, my professional learning blog. This morning I conducted a workshop titled 'HistGeog' where I presented ideas on how to connect the Australian Curriculum for geography and history. The powerpoint and the links to resources on the posting may be a help to those thinking about how we can entwine the two learning areas in the curriculum and in turn, the classroom.

A different look at weather

Image above:  The Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) Indigenous Weather Knowledge (IWK) Website Project site.

Related links to Spatialworlds 
Geogaction
Spatialworlds website
GeogSpace
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website

Geographical thinking Scoop.it  

Spatial literacy Scoop.it  

History and geography Scoop.it 

Spatial Education and technology Scoop.it   
Just real interesting Scoop.it

Follow Spatialworlds on Twitter

Email contact:

manning@chariot.net.au    

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


Looking at weather through the Indigenous lens

A very useful website for geography students to engage with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Culture Cross curriculum priority is the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) Indigenous Weather Knowledge (IWK) Website Project.

The site showcases the seasonal weather calendars  developed over thousands of years by Indigenous communities in Australia. The site is in its early stages of development and will be progressively expanded to include information for additional areas, as well as other facets of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander interactions with, and knowledge of, weather and climate. Follow the sign posts on the IWK website to access the seasonal calendars. The site goes on to say that ..

"The project recognises the knowledge of weather and climate developed over countless generations by Australia's Indigenous communities, nicely complementing science and statistically based approaches. It provides an opportunity for communities to showcase their knowledge and for other Australians to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life and culture.

The calendars recognise the complexity and diversity of weather over the Australian continent and are finely tuned to local conditions and natural events. Unlike the European spring, summer, autumn and winter, the Indigenous versions include often five, and sometimes seven, distinct seasons."  from the BOM Indigenous Weather Knowledge website

The BOM IWK site is a fantastic resource for student to engage with the Australian Curriculum: Geography Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Culture cross-curriculum priority through the study of weather. 

In short, the site is a great way to: 

... emphasise the relationships people have with place and their interconnection with the environments in which they live. The Australian Curriculum: Geography curriculum also enables students to learn that there are different ways of thinking about and interacting with the environment. It integrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples' use of the land, governed by a holistic, spiritually-based connection to Country and Place, with the continuing influence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples on Australian places, and in environmental management and regional economies. 

from the 2013 Australian Curriculum: Geography curriculum document.

Australian Curriculum and a focus on Asia

 Image above: Resources for the Australian Curriculum on the Asia Education Foundation site.


Related links
Geogaction
Spatialworlds website
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
'Towards a National Geography Curriculum' project website
Humsteach blog
GeogSplace blog  

Geographical thinking Scoop.it  

Spatial literacy Scoop.it  

History and geography Scoop.it 

Spatial Education and technology Scoop.it   

Follow Spatialworlds on Twitter

Email contact:

manning@chariot.net.au  

Australian Curriculum Geography with a focus on Asia

As a priority in the development of the Australian Curriculum, the cross curriculum priority of Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia was given a focus. As stated in the online materials the Australian Curriculum: Geography provide students with "rich contexts to investigate the interrelationships between diverse places, environments and peoples in the Asia region.

The Australian Curriculum: Geography also enables students to study Asia as an important region of the world. Students can explore groups of countries, individual countries, or specific regions and locations within countries. In doing so, they develop knowledge and skills that help foster intercultural understanding as they come to appreciate the diversity that exists between and within the countries of Asia, and how this diversity influences the way people perceive and interact with places and environments.

Students also learn about the ways in which Australia and Asia are interconnected, both environmentally and socially, and how transnational collaboration supports the notion of shared and sustainable futures within the Asia region."

To support the teaching of this Cross-Curriculum priority the Asia Education Foundation (AEF) has developed a suite of excellent resources for teaching and learning with the Australian Curriculum: Geography. From F-10,  resources include:

* Foundation: Special places
* Year 3: Images of Indonesia
* Year 5: Life in a floating village
* Year 6: Connecting to Asia
* Year 6: Seeing beyond Asia
* Years 7: Damming the Yangtze at Three Gorges
* Years 7-8: Jakarta faces
* Year 7-8: Why dam the Mekong River
* Year 8: Urban growth in China
* Year 9: Shanghai: A city on the move
* Year 9: South Korea: Creating a sustainable giant
* Year 10: Measuring well-being

The following two units of work relevant to the Australian Curriculum: Geography are also worth a look:

The AEF have also 'sample mapped' all the opportunities to case study Asia across the Australian Curriculum: Geography.