Image above: The classroom response system called Poll Everywhere
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
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Poll Everywhere has a place in the modern geography classroom to support discussion on
contestable topics.
"A curriculum is not
value-free, as values and attitudes cannot be divorced from content."
The
Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Geography January 2011
Geography and geography
teaching is indeed not value free. It is almost impossible not to be political
in some way when discussing geographical topics.
As Robert Butler was quoted
as saying in the Economist in 2010:
“It is getting harder and
harder in conversation to raise one or other of the most basic subjects in
geography—agriculture, glaciation, rivers and population—without a flicker of
panic crossing the other person’s face. You are no longer talking about a
neutral subject.”
Geography as a subject has the
potential to be relevant, dynamic and challenging for students in the classroom
through providing the opportunity to develop a political frame around what is
taught. How can we teach about water, population, migration and climate change
for example without challenging students to place the discussion in a political
context – that is, what do you believe is right and what are the justice and
ethical beliefs that guide ones opinion on an issue. A digital tool that is a
wonderful way to get students involved (all students, not just the vocal and
uninhibited) in discussion of a contestable nature is Poll
Everywhere. The brilliant aspect of this program is that it is easy to use,
is anonymous and inclusive of all, can be used and developed in real time in
the classroom and provides instant feedback (graphs, word walls etc). The
program gives all students a voice so that they can express their opinion
without ridicule or embarrassment. The resulting graphs and graphics provide
data for class research and discussion and can be archived for comparison over
time presentations. As a tool it is a great interactive way to involve the
geography class in some high order thinking and discussion.
The brief video on the Poll
Everywhere Home page gives an introduction to this free digital tool which
can be used not only in the geography classroom but also with teachers in their
professional learning in geography. Here is a Poll Everywhere document I recently
used with a group of teachers working on the concepts in history and geography.
All they had to do was type the URL http://www.pollev.com
and start submitting their response to the questions in the document by using
the codes (each code is unique and can be used only
once specifically for the question - called a poll) generated by the
teacher/facilitator of the question. Poll Everywhere is a great way to get
discussion started in any gathering. It is certainly worth the 30 minutes
to get acquainted with the tool and make the learning more interactive for
participants and create some inclusive and comprehensive data for contestable
discussions.
