teaching and learning.
8.4 Conceptions in action: Teaching episode 2.
8.4.1 Conception of geography in action.
The lesson observed was the second in the planned sequence of six and the learning objectives identified were:
T [ ]
features
To develop enquiry skills
The first lesson had been fieldwork, David had taken the class on a walk round the vicinity of the school up to the high street, passing several key features along the way. They had taken a camera to record these features, and the photographs were now available to use as a resource in the lesson. David had made three copies of all of the photos and the class worked in three groups, each group having a set of photos and a large-scale map showing the area walked and its surroundings.
Chapter 8: David
171 As with the previous lesson observed, there was a strong relationship between the
conception evident in his teaching and that shown on his concept map. David related his lesson to that part of his concept map that was about:
Sca e, ca b a I oking at this link here environment, people, places. Trying to get them to link the people that use places in a particular environment. (lines 4-7)
In addition there was a strong focus on geographical patterns and processes where things are located, how they are used and why leading to the beginnings of an understanding of land use and spatial distribution. In contrast to the previous lesson observed, David chose a narrow focus to act as the stimulus for this discussion.
T e e a a ab e at the [photo of] toilets by the Abbey, so then we worked out where the toilets were and from there we worked out who used those
e , a d a e e b d P [name of town], it was people who park opposite, waiting for fish and chips, they might use it and people who use the Abbey and people who use the playground. So it was just a kind of, something to focus on
c e e eac e (lines 153-158)
This selection of a relatively narrow focus, along with other changes in his ideas about teaching and learning explored below, seem to have enabled David to be more successful in putting his conception of geography into practice. There is more evidence of a
tanding of the
relationship between geographical features in their town. The ability to break his
knowledge down into smaller, more manageable parts also appears to have helped him to plan a logical sequence to his lessons. This lesson built on features discussed during the previous fieldwork lesson, and the end of the lesson prepared the way for the next stage:
Interviewer: The last question what s the most important place, do ou think, on your map? What is the thinking behind your asking that question?
Chapter 8: David
172 I suppose just kind of moving on to the next stage and still thinking about the uses
e ace a be de e ed, W a e e e. Y . (lines 583-589)
although he was unable to identify that this amounted to building a foundation for the understanding of settlement.
In terms of the geographical persuasion evident in the lesson both the researcher and David agreed that it was humanistic / welfare because:
I c [pause] e a e e a d a a I
suppose, who uses what, why is the town organised in such a way (lines 692-693) and David expanded on his understanding of what a humanistic/welfare persuasion mean by adding:
And the subjective experience e e a d e e e e e ce P [name of town], e e d e e e, e e c e e e c
e e a a d e e ee a d e e bab e e d e e ace (lines 694-697)
Indicating that his own conception was becoming finer-grained, possibly as a result of having to reconceptualise it for teaching.
8.4.2 Conception of teaching and learning in action.
As with his conception of geography, there was evidence that David was beginning to be successful at putting his ideal of the growing theory into practice.
T e e a b , M, e a e d a d e e e e d e d
a e ed e e e a d e a d ed e a a
Chapter 8: David 173 Ye , I ea e e d e d e a I e , I e e a e ed a b d e . I e e e a e ed a b d e , ed e a d a e e d bac d , a d e d a d a d e d a e , b I e e ac a a e ed e e .. I e e a eed d a eed, I a d M , a be . I a de e e e to think on their own. (lines 256-267)
The contrast with his teaching 6 months previously was quite pronounced and David was asked to reflect on this.
I e e e ea e b a a e , I e a a ed
a e e dea e e eed e a , ca d I e word. (lines 304-308)
This suggests that David thinks it is only younger children who need their ideas organising for them, however there was also evidence that he was beginning to recognise that creative thinking strategies could be appropriate for all age groups, even Y6. He reflected on his teaching with the Y6 class six months before:
Ye , I d c e a c a e da e d e
a [ a e]
Interviewer: the framework for that thinking
Ye , a d a bee a d e get the framework and I still
d I e (lines 329-335)
D
. D following
conversation was recorded (T=teacher, P=pupil):
T: Le a e e eac ab e a d e ca e e e e a
detectives now who uses it and what is it used for T: Which one will you choose blues?
P: The bank
Chapter 8: David
174 T: If you look at your map, the bank is on Broad Street. Find Broad Street on your map
D
going to be detectives :
Interviewer: Is that something that you use a lot?
Yes, I do in science and stuff like that and it gets them thinking and once they, sort , a d I , e e a a d e d e a e e (lines 377- 382)
This strategy of making the thinking process more explicit was something that had not been observed before and is evidence, perhaps, of his growing awareness of the range of strategies that might be employed. However, this does not extend, yet, to making it explicit what the subject of geography is about.
Interviewer: look at our map find Broad Street do they know this is what geographers do?
P bab , . I d e d a e a e d I e e e
ac a a d a e a e d . (lines 401-406)
B I d a , e a e a d I d a e e c ,
which is what I intended to do at the start and I never did it for some reason (lines 429-431)
As the discussion continued David became aware that this was a reflection of what he himself was thinking during the lessons:
b e a a e a e d e a beca e I
e e e a e . I e e , a , a a
geographers do, do you see what I mea . S I eed a e Interviewer: What are you thinking?
Good question. [laughter]. S I eed , I d , I eed
Chapter 8: David
175 , a a ec ca explicitly geography I need to make that
obvious. As I would if I was doing numeracy. (lines 453-465)
T D .
While there were occasions when he drew on other theories of teaching, such as shaping I was going to go back into groupwork and say, right look at your things, and I was
c e c a e a a d e a a d e
d de e a de e a P [name of town]
(lines 206-211) and travelling
Perhaps taking them on the walk is the exploring together [travelling] and just
b e a a d e e ca e, , a d be e e
side, (lines 721-726).
He did not feel this was at odds with his ideal because he could see how these approaches led the way for a more experiential, growing approach to teaching:
b e c ce e e a e e a e d
be some of this growing I think, would ? (lines 729-731). 8.4.3 Values evident in action
The most striking examples of his attempt to teach in a way that was more reflective of the growing theory was in the way he structured the lesson, using specific tasks supported by photographic resources to scaffold their learning. For example, the lesson started straight away with a paired activity (in groups) that had a clear set of instructions: to consider the
? .
This was followed by some whole class discussion and then some further, focussed groupwork and finally the plenary. Although he was not entirely successful in putting this
Chapter 8: David
176 into practice, he recognised why this was the case. The time spent in discussion as a whole
.
Interviewer: The first example went on for about quarter of an hour That one?
Interviewer: Yes, because I kept time 1.50 and then the bank example finished at 2.05
T a a bab a bad e a e a , a ? Interviewer: No, you let them choose their examples which
W d d I e e c e ? J beca e e ad e . b a means that the lesson is unpredictable. (lines 487-506)
This is an indication that David is trying to put his socially critical ideology into practice in the sense that he is reflecting, through his teaching, that knowledge is socially constructed and that the children can construct their own individual meaning while at the same time generating a shared, class meaning:
I think everyone does construct their own knowledge differently but at the same time how they are constructing it is socially, if that makes sense. (lines 738-740) 8.4.4 Summary of teaching episode 2.
D J 2000 respects:
He is beginning to provide a more explicit framework for thinking, both in terms of key concepts and the enquiry process (being detectives)
His understanding of his geographical persuasion is becoming finer-grained and this beginning to have a positive impact on his teaching. For example he seems better able to deconstruct, or break down, his knowledge into smaller parts that are more manageable for children (although his rather
this). He
, ,
Chapter 8: David
177 Not only is he clearer about how children might progress in the unit as a
whole, he is clearer about their progression during the lesson and had attempted to plan for this in the sequence of activities (greater awareness of range of strategies)
He provides a better match between learning intentions and activities He focuses on teaching during groupwork, rather than management
Overall he seems better able to put his conceptions and values into practice However, there are elements of his practice that have remained the same:
H
eptual framework
H , ,
responses and therefore the direction of the discussion
T ,
attention begins to wander
All of which could still be due to lack of experience.
8.5 Conceptions in action: Teaching Episode 3
The third lesson observed, on June 28th 2000, followed some fieldwork during which the
children had done a traffic survey in and around the school. The purpose of this particular lesson was to link traffic that parks outside the school and in the school car park with people who have a legitimate reason to visit the school. Following this lesson the children would go on to consider the issue of car use, visitors to the school and traffic congestion. 8.5.1 Conception of geography in action
The learning objectives for the lesson were:
To distinguish between visitors to, and users of, the school To build a sense of community around the school
Chapter 8: David
178
I D ,
mixture of human and environmental with an emphasis on the interaction between these. This afternoon was very specifically looking at people and, a a a explicit to them, it was people in a particular place and we are looking at an
e e a e, a I a e d ced a e . (lines 5-8)
a e e e a d c e a d, , looking at the
interaction between different elements (lines 610-611)
W D
phenomena
I wanted to focus them on the sorting [of the photographs]. I actually wanted them
to d a b e , I a ed e c e e c e a
e e c e e e e e da , e e d , , e e a e
a d e e a e (lines 408-410, 417-418)
And to begin to think about how these things might be affected by scale
a a a ca ca e, a e e d ced e de a
being from the local area or not, so we could have introduced some of that and also why they might visit the school, and that would be part of the processes and the
c a a d ec c , a e e . S e b e ed .(lines 20- 23)
While the conceptual framework for the lesson was clear it was also evident that David was much clearer about how the lesson fitted into the sequence of lessons as a whole.
da e , e ee e e a , e e e e e come every day, what are the implications of that, where do they stop? Do they all use a car, do they come on bikes? What are the implications for the school which is going to lead on to the environmental issue how can we make the school safer? (lines 51-55)
Chapter 8: David
179 The development of enquiry skills was evident in his whole approach to the lesson which focused on encouraging the children to make deductions for themselves based on the evidence (photographs) available to them.
T: T da e e ab e e e c . W a a
special word we use? P: Identify.
T: Yes. I was going to write investigate but identify is better.
T: W a I a d I e e a d a ee a I e c
c e a e e e . I d e d e e a e can sort these pictures / people out
And his justification for this was:
I either a e e e a e, e e de , I e e d d I ea I e e a e ed a . I I d a a, c
e a e e d , I e a . We e e a , e
d ece a a e d b e a e d a a d , a e bringing it together at the end have we identified people? Have we identified what a visitor is? And there was still some debate, which is fair enough. (lines 69- 71, 77-84)
Not only this, he was beginning to see how, even though it is important for him, as teacher, to be aware of the individual knowledge, skills and concepts he hopes to develop, these things might be more effectively taught in an integrated way.
So for the e a I a , d a d , e a
c e , I c de e a . We e a e a a ,
a plan rather, of the school and look at the routes of the traffic into the school and that sor . T a I d e a . (lines 170-173)
Chapter 8: David
180
T D environment, people and places
and how they are affect by, and in turn affect, physical and social processes at a variety of scales all seem to be present here. This has, to some extent, been the case in all the geography lessons observed. The difference here is that David seems better able to break the whole down into manageable parts that are of a suitable scale for young children to understand without losing the essence of his conception. This, as it relates to his developing pedagogical content knowledge, is discussed under the following chapter. Interestingly David characterised the lesson and unit as reflecting a humanistic-welfare persuasion: I d a , a c a e a c-welfare persuasion (lines 600-601) beca e a ce e , a e e e a d c e a d , a e e ac be ee d e e e e e . I a a d e e ca e e a c e , a a ba ca e, e c - society, depending on what the focus is. And the humanistic-welfare bit is, I feel, the challenging stereotypes and the subjective nature of the whole thing, that just because one book or one person says such and such, your experience might be
a d e e a d e e e ea ab e e a e
challenge your own stereotypes, of the experience you find yourself in. Does that make sense? (lines 612-623)
because, to the observer, it although the lesson itself had a predominantly humanistic focus, the unit as a whole seemed to be about an environmental issue. Is this a case of
D interprets the geography curriculum and
geography schemes such as that produced by the QCA (1998)? When asked to expand on why he thought is was more humanistic than scientific or environmental, his response was:
T [ c e c] a b a ab e. Te e e a d ea
a d d e ea e e e e e c a d c a d b
not like that. And I suppose this [environmental] is perhaps a bit too much of an environmental persuasion I suppose, some of the e a I e c ce ed
Chapter 8: David
181
a e ece a e e a , e e e c a c a e de
or whatever. Not just the physical environment. (lines 650, 662-667)
T . F , D
environmental issues is more in line with the concept of sustainable development in that it incorporates social and economic elements into consideration of environmental issues. Secondly, it also seems to be a matter of interpretation. David appears to be equating environmental with the physical environment. When it is pointed out to him that there is a human element to environments he responded:
T a e, I d a a . S d e e b [environmental persuasion] (lines 675, 679)
Apparently agreeing, but not relinquishing his notion that the unit overall reflected a humanistic-welfare persuasion. Overall it is evident that David continues to hold a conception of geography that is value laden and that the scientific persuasion, with its
, , .