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University Place, The University of Manchester – Thursday 7-Saturday 9 April 2016
From 7–9 April 2016 we welcomed more than 750 delegates from all over the world to take part in a range of lectures, workshops, field visits and social events and find out about the latest ideas, resources and support in primary and secondary geography. Many of the session presentations/handouts will be posted on this page over the coming weeks.
Find out which publishers, schools and individuals won GA Awards at the 2016 event.
We have a fantastic set of Conference photographs courtesy of Bryan Ledgard. View a selection on Flickr.
“This conference has been invaluable – can’t wait to get back to school!”
“Best value CPD around”
“GA Conference is the highlight of my professional year”
Links
Blog post by Catherine Owen
Blog post by Rayburn Tours
Session downloads
PowerPoint Presentations and workshop handouts for many of the sessions at the 2016 Annual Conference are available to download below. Please note that some materials may have had images removed for copyright reasons.
Lectures
Workshops
Teacher-to-teacher sessions
TeachMeet
Research papers
Download the full Conference Handbook
Lectures
Public lecture – Bumpy Road to Zero: Tackling Ebola in Sierra Leone
All KS
John Raine, Head of Ebola command centre
John was on the frontline dealing with the Ebola epidemic. As part of the UK Joint Inter-Agency Task Force, he was running an operations command centre in Sierra Leone responsible for identifying the sick, burying the dead, quarantining affected communities and facilitating treatment. He will explore how a variety of agencies and strategies combined to tackle the outbreak and thereafter develop hostnation capacity to maintain a ‘resilient zero’.
Sponsored by OCR
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Presidential lecture – Making geographical connections
All KS
Steve Rawlinson, GA President 2015–16
By its very nature geography is a ‘connected subject’, and this lecture will celebrate and explore some of the links that give geography its dynamism and relevance to the lives of our students, whatever their age and ambition. In addition it will ask important questions about the nature, development and future of our subject.
Download: Presentation with annotations (PPT)
Lecture 6 – The International Year of Global Understanding
P16
Professor Benno Werlen, Chair Social Geography, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany, and Professor Peter Jackson, Department of Geography, The University of Sheffield
This lecture will outline the International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU), a programme of research and education that aims to increase public awareness of the local significance of global processes and the challenges of sustainable living. The session will also summarise the IYGU briefing on eating, drinking and surviving.
Download: Presentation (PDF)
Lecture 7 – Enquiring into logistics: a new resource
All KS
Alan Parkinson, Head of Geography, King’s Ely Junior, Cambridgeshire
This lecture will introduce a new resource produced in association with the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) containing innovative units of work using mapping and data. It will outline the thinkinbehind units on the work of Shelterbox following natural disasters, on using road census data, and on the story of Pret-aManger sandwiches.
In partnership with the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport
Download: Presentation (PDF)
Lecture Plus 9 – Planning and delivering the new Edexcel GCSE geography A and B specifications
KS4
Andrea Wood, Geography Subject Advisor, Pearson
This interactive session will provide practical guidance on how to plan and deliver Pearson’s new Edexcel GCSE geography specifications, and an introduction to our free Edexcel GCSE geography qualification support for teaching new subject content, the new fieldwork requirements and understanding the new assessment requirements.
Sponsored by Pearson
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Lecture 11 – Ten tips for using social media effectively in the geography classroom
KS3-P16
Richard Allaway, Technology for Learning Coordinator, International School of Geneva, Switzerland
Social media is everywhere, but how could you be using it efficiently and effectively in your geography classroom? What is social media? Why would you want to use it? What are your students using? How could it be used as part of an enquiry outcome? How big is your digital tattoo? All these questions (and more) will be explored in this lecture.
Sponsored by geographyalltheway.com
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Lecture 14 – 80 thought-provoking resources in 40 jam-packed minutes
KS3-P16
James Riley, Head of Geography, The Perse School, Cambridge
This lecture will provide a quick-fire run through of the 80 most thought-provoking and interesting photographs, maps, infographics, graphs, models, quotes, websites and more that I use most frequently in teaching KS3-5 geography, plus simple ideas and free resources for you to use in the classroom.
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Download: Handout – iPhone cover template lesson (PDF)
Download: Handout – Photo analysis (Doc)
Download: Handout – Poland to UK migration (Doc)
Download: Handout – Riley trading co price list (Doc)
Download: Handout – The Guardian view on geography (Doc)
Download: Handout – The impossible (Doc)
Download: Handout – Visit Britain poster template (PPT)
Download: Volcanic hazards chessboard (PPT)
Lecture 17 – Students as partners, not just stakeholders
KS3-4
Steven Rackley, Director of Geography, Framingham Earl High School, Norwich
‘Students as stakeholders’ is not new, but embedding them into the fabric of the department through leadership, decision making and peer support can breed creativity and energy. This lecture will report on a case study from a high school in Norfolk that shows that, from leading lessons and fieldwork groups to steering department policy, all that is needed is trust in your students.
Link: Presentation
Lecture 18 – Enhancing lessons with ArcGIS Online
KS3-P16
Raphael Heath, Head of Geography, Royal High School, Bath
This lecture will show how ArcGIS Online can enhance lessons for the new syllabuses across a range of topics and fieldwork. It will demonstrate the rich data available, along with powerful analytical tools that get students thinking and making connections, and report on GIS Day events, such as the 2014 World Record and 2015 Ashcloud Apocalypse.
Link: Presentation
Link: Interactive storymap of my presentation
Link: GIS Day top ten ideas presentation (Youtube video)
Download: Links referred to in the video on the GIS Day top ten ideas (PDF)
Link: Map Off event website
Lecture 20 – AQA: Meeting the challenge of GCSE geography reform
KS4
Steve Durman, AQA Senior Associate, and Brian Taylor, GCSE Geography Chair of Examiners
This lecture will focus on approaches to delivering the new AQA GCSE geography specification, including ways of delivering the UK element, selection of case studies and examples, issue evaluation and fieldwork practicalities.
Sponsored by AQA
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Lecture 21 – Cambridge’s alternatives to geography A level
P16
Peter Monteath, Regional Director, UK and Ireland, Cambridge International Examinations, and Peter Price, Head of Geography, Charterhouse School, Godalming
As we near first-teaching of the new geography A levels, many schools are considering Cambridge’s tried-and-tested qualifications as alternatives to the new syllabus. This lecture presents the Cambridge Pre-U and the Cambridge International A levegeography syllabuses, with support from a geography assessment specialist and a head of department teaching Cambridge in the sixth form.
Sponsored by Cambridge International Examinations
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Download: Presentation 2 (PPT)
Lecture 24 – Connecting students’ lives and disciplinary knowledge
KS4
Elina Särkelä, Teacher educator, Viikki Teacher Training School of Helsinki University, Finland
This lecture will explore Finnish perspectives on geography education and social justice, school and teacher education, the importance of education and participation, and the possibilities for connecting students’ lives with disciplinary knowledge in geography teaching.
Supported by a bequest from the late Professor William R Mead
Download: Presentation (PDF)
Workshops
Workshop 2 – Critical thinking in geography
KS2-4
Dr Paula Owens, Consultant to the GA, and John Hopkin, Head of Accreditation, Geographical Association
What does critical thinking look like in geography? And what is the difference compared with other thinking? This workshop will explore what we mean by critical thinking through hands-on activities and examples of practice, and consider the support offered British Council’s Connecting Classrooms Programme.
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Workshop 4 – Writing with confidence: purposeful assessment questions
KS3-P16
Erica Pilkinton, Geography Teacher, Sir Harry Smith Community College, Peterborough
In this time of evolving curriculum change, teacher assessment will be more pivotal, particularly without the bank of past examination papers to utilise. This workshop will equip teachers with confidence in setting their own assessment questions at key stages 3, 4 and 5.
Presented by GA Assessment and Examinations Special Interest Group
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Workshop 6 – The WOW factor: national parks and the geography curriculum
KS2-3
Pete Feetham, Learning and Discovery Officer, Peak District National Park Learning and Discovery
How do you make the most of your trip to one of our iconic landscapes? Join us to experience a range of hands-on activities and practical classroom ideas, which will promote discussion and thinking skills; explore the value of National Parks as learning resources for visits and case studies; and discover the range of free resources available.
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Workshop 8 – Let WorldWise work for you
All KS
Sue Lomas and Mark Higginbottom, CoChairs, Worldwise, Geographical Association
Worldwise is the GA’s suite of activities for young people. This workshop will give practical advice on how you can grow your students’ enthusiasm for geography through a variety of quizzes and other strategies, such as essays and photo competitions, including the ever-popular Worldwise Week.
Download: WorldWise at a glance (PPT)
Download: WorldWise challenge – What the judges will be looking for (Doc)
Link: WorldWise website page
Workshop 15 – Quality criteria for geography ITE
KS1-P16
Dr Charles Rawding, Chair, and Andrea Tapsfield, Member, GA Teacher Education Special Interest Group
In light of recent changes to ITE, the GA Teacher Education Special Interest Group is aiming to develop quality criteria for geography teacher education. This workshop will take the form of a forum to consider the Group’s proposals and to suggest how such proposals might be further developed to secure the future of high-quality, geography specific initial teacher education.
Presented by GA Teacher Education Special Interest Group
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Workshop 16 – Refreshing your curriculum: a new KS3 Toolkit
KS3
Garry Simmons, Head of Geography, Wilmington Grammar School for Girls, Dartford
This workshop will provide an overview of the latest GA KS3 toolkit on extreme weather and climate, and outline the curriculum-making process underpinning it. Delegates will discuss how to use the toolkit to refresh their curriculum and get a taste of some of the lessons.
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Workshop 20 – Cross-phase connections: transition in fieldwork
KS2-3
Stephen Schwab, Consultant to the GA and Co-Chair, GA Secondary Phase Committee
This workshop explored how fieldwork experiences and skills can be connected across the KS2-3 phases. Delegates shared ideas and good practice, and helped to set an agenda for GA Special Interest Groups to do further planning and then sharing of connected fieldwork.
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Download: 5-minute fieldwork plan (PDF)
Workshop 31 – Growing connections: do childrens’ perceptions of interconnectedness change?
EY-KS2
Joyce Hallam, Head teacher, Hawkshead Esthwaite Primary School, Hawkshead
This session will question whether the way young children perceive connections with the world changes between early years and KS2. How are they learning geography, interpreting their world and connecting to everyday events? Is this relevant to the way we teach at different stages and, if so, if pupils see the connections globally, are we capitalising on this in the way we teach?
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Workshop 32 – Europe and Africa talking: young people on the global stage
KS3-P16
Elly Lengthorn, Geography Teacher, Nunnery Wood High School, Worcester and GLP/EcoSchools Co-ordinator, and Ben Ballin, Project Co-ordinator, Tide global learning
For the past two years young people and teachers from Kenya, The Gambia, UK, Spain and Germany have been exchanging questions and ideas about international development as part of an EU-funded projecThis workshop shares some of what has beelearnt, the intercultural processes involved, and reflects on the young people’s emerging ideas and concerns.
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Download: Global lenses activity (PDF)
Workshop 35 – Co-teaching the new Edexcel AS and A level geography specifications
P16
Daniel Mace, Geography Subject Advisor, Pearson
This workshop will provide practical guidance on Pearson’s new Edexcel AS and A level geography assessment requirements and advice on how to co-teach the new Edexcel AS and A level specifications. Delegates will create and share teaching strategies that develop the higher order thinking skills needed.
Sponsored by Pearson
Download: Presentation (PDF)
Workshop 37 – Where did that thing come from? Understanding global trade
KS2
Ben Ballin, Consultant to the GA
Where did my mobile phone get made? If Tesco were a country, what would it be like? Asking these and many other questions, this interactive session, based on a new GA SuperScheme book, enquires into global trade and makes critical connections to pupils’ lives in an era of globalisation.
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Workshop 39 – From quick to very, very slow: Earth’s surface activity
KS3-KS4
Chris King, Director of Earth Science Education Unit, Keele University
This workshop provided a series of hands on activities to investigate key processes in physical geography relating to geological timescales; rocks and weathering; landscape formation; glaciation and hydrology. The activities promote discussion about key Earth processes in practical, investigative ways, while addressing common misconceptions.
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Workshop 41 – In the company of pigeons: meaningful geographical connections
EY-KS2
Dr Helen Clarke, Academic Head of Department BEd/MEd Primary Education, University of Winchester and Association for Science Education, and Sharon Witt, Senior Lecturer in Education, University of Winchester
This This workshop explored themes of perspectives, journeys, local knowledge, homes and belonging through a variety of practical ideas, including experiential and multisensory activities. It exemplified how teachers might engage pupils in the skills of questioning, data collection and communication – all in the company of our feathered friends – pigeons!
Download: Presentation (PDF)
Workshop 45 – Making the field work using GIS online
KS3-P16
Jason Sawle, GIS in Education consultant, Esri UK
From using a simple spreadsheet to creating a bespoke Web App (no coding required) to using the Collector for ArcGIS app, in this workshop you will get practical ideas for using the latest GIS technology for fieldwork.
Sponsored by Esri UK
Link: Conference app, map and storymap collection
Student/NQT: Workshop 50 – Using imaginative play to teach river long profiles
KS3-P16
Helen Gadsby, Academic Lead ITE Geography, Liverpool Hope University
This hands-on workshop demonstrated how to teach quite complex subject knowledge through the use of creative techniques. Delegates used marble runs and ‘rivers in a box’ techniques to understand the features and processes of a river long profile from source to mouth.
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Workshop 52 – An individual investigation: how to get it right
KS3-P16
Philip Monk, Member, and Nick Lapthorn, Chair, GA Fieldwork and Outdoor Learning Special Interest Group
The new A level specifications place emphasis on the individual enquiry and independent study. Preparing students from KS3 onwards is essential to meet this new challenge. The workshop will offer guidance on how this can be developed in practical fieldwork activities and provide delegates with the opportunity to share good practice and develop new ideas.
Presented by GA Fieldwork and Outdoor Learning Special Interest Group
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Download: Session material (PDF)
Download: Session material (PDF)
Student/NQT: Workshop 54 – Stories of place: connecting geography and English
KS1-KS2
Sharon Witt, Senior Lecturer in Education, University of Winchester
Places are made up of many stories. This workshop will provide practical teaching strategies for exploring connections between geography and English through story-telling. The power of narrative will be considered as a stimulus to enhance fieldwork, promote enquiry skills and develop geographical vocabulary.
Download: Presentation (PDF)
Download: Session handout (PDF)
Student/NQT: Workshop 55 – You might as well face it, you’re addicted to maps
KS3
Paul Berry, Head of Geography/Assistant Vice Principal, South Molton Community College, Devon
Maps are perhaps the core tool of the geographer, adding context and depth to learning. This workshop will examine how to source different types of map, and also explore a range of creative and practical ideas on how to use both paper and digital maps to support learning in the classroom.
Link: Presentation and information
Teacher-to-teacher sessions
Educating our young people to be environmentalists and conservationists
All KS
Mya-Rose Craig, 13-year-old writer, blogger and speaker
13-year-old Mya-Rose Craig is a writer, blogger and speaker. She is passionate about saving our planet and everything on it but realises that most teenagers don’t know or care about these issues. She believes that as young people are the future, unless we can interest them, we have no hope. Hear her thoughts on essential topics to teach such as re-wilding, fracking and palm oil plantations and on engaging your students so that they care.
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Computerised connection: using GIS in the classroom
KS4-P16
Alice Baker, PGCE Student, University College London, Institute of Education
This session will provide participants with suggestions for the application of GIS in lessons in a variety of ways and using examples of using GIS software such as ARC GIS, Google Earth and PowerPoint.
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Using webquests in schools
KS3-P16
Harriet Herbst, Student teacher, Technical University Dresden, Germany
This session will give a brief introduction to webquests using an example on plastic and pollution. It will share the experiences of using webquests in school and discuss how they can be used to motivate and engage students in learning.
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Tweeting techniques
KS3-P16
Mark Coombs, PGCE Student, University College London, Institute of Education
This session will consider how to harness Twitter during fieldwork, especially in a world where students and technology are intertwined. It will discuss the benefits and limitations of using social networking during fieldwork, and focus on Twitter’s potential role in fieldwork techniques.
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Download: Emergency Mapping (PDF)
TeachMeet
An informal gathering of those curious about teaching and learning.
TeachMeet is not about presenting a new product or theory, rather it is a chance for teachers from all types of establishments to hear ideas from each other – real narratives of practice that make a difference. It is about being engaged and inspired by our immediate colleagues with a bucket-load of networking to boot!
Youtube video of TeachMeet:
James Riley Geography Debating Competition presentation materials:
Presentation (PPT)
Debating timings (PDF)
Research papers
Exploring routes to understanding geography learning: just how is it students learn geography?
Juliet Mackenzie, Doctoral Student, UWE, Bristol
This paper presents eight years’ of my professional academic research in education, concerning the learning of geography by key stage 3 students. I use a case study methodology, underpinned by narration (students’ voices), to explore students’ learning. This is positioned within the context of one secondary school and contemporary literature on geography education. Working within the qualitative framework, data has been collected and analysed using multiple methods. This paper succeeds my first GA presentation last year, and focuses on what I have learned about students’ learning of geography to date. As this is doctoral research in progress, current data interpretation and analysis should be ready to present in outline. My research is specifically relevant to geography students, teachers and educators. It is disseminated with the view that it will positively impact on the learning of geography.
Download: Presentation (PPT)
How useful is the concept of geocapability for geography teachers?
Richard Bustin, Head of Geography, City of London Freemen’s School
Geocapability can provide a framework for teachers to conceptualise the geography curriculum and link the aims of education with the powerful knowledge that the discipline of geography can offer young people. It has student outcomes at its heart; it questions what students are able to ‘do’ and to ‘think’ and to ‘be’ as a result of their geography education. Understanding this can aid teachers in their curriculum making, to ensure a rigorous geographical knowledge component is embedded within a broad curricular ideological framework. This session presents the initial results from Doctoral level research into Geocapability. The concept of geocapability will be explained and the empirical elements of the research briefly outlined. The main focus will be on the initial outcomes of the research: questioning how, and in what ways, the concept of geocapability could be a useful concept for geography teachers.
Download: Presentation (PPT)
Official 2016 Conference Sponsors
