Fieldwork is a core requirement of the Australian Curriculum: Geography and considered essential in order to provide authentic geographical thinking and learning experiences (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2011). Fieldwork allows students to create their own understandings and views of the world, enabling them to participate meaningfully and productively in the world around them (Department for Education and Skills [DfES], 2006). Fieldwork affords many benefits to students; it allows them to apply concepts in a realistic, holistic, and authentic manner. Students who do not engage in field work may have difficulty connecting classroom learning to the real world. Fieldwork supports students to develop skills …show more content…
Engaging students in fieldwork in their local area improves student participation and gives students a sense of empowerment. Furthermore, it provides students with the opportunity for metacognition and reflection on how they see their environment and how their environment affects them (Reynolds, 2012). In addition, the Australian Curriculum: Geography recommends visits to local areas to provide students with a sound geographical understanding of their local area (ACARA, 2011). Reynolds (2012) also recommend using local sites for fieldwork to ensure that the learning experience is relevant to the students and their …show more content…
Research indicates students tend to have better retention and develop a deeper understanding of the concepts taught when qualitative fieldwork is included (Caton, 2006). The fieldwork in Huonville was designed to strengthen students’ understanding of place, interconnection, environment, sustainability and space; the concepts that are required to be covered in Year 5 (ACARA, 2016). In addition, the fieldwork enabled students to further develop a strong real world conceptual understanding of change (Australian Geography Teachers Association, 2013). Engaging students in experiential learning centred around how places change over time supports students in realising how things have become the way they are in their world (Ministerial Council on Education Employment Training and Youth Affairs, 2008). The overarching concept explored in the Australian Curriculum: Geography Year 5 is “Australian Communities – their past, present and possible futures” (ACARA, 2016, June 30, p. 1). Consequently exploring the interconnections between environment and urban development is one of the topics recommended for Year 5 in the Australian Curriculum: Geography (ACARA,
I believe that geography is a significant subject in the primary national curriculum because it supports children to develop an understanding of the places in the world and the diverse range of people who live in it. For me, this is an important aspect to learning because it enables children to be globally aware. According to the DFES (Great Britain. Department for Education and Skills, 2005a) education plays a vital role in helping children to recognise their contribution and responsibilities as citizens of the global community and equips them with skills to make informed decisions and take responsible actions. In a recent geography seminar, I collaboratively planned a lesson for KS2, involving children taking a visit to Seaton, a local beach in Cornwall to compare and contrast the area through photographs after recent storm damage. The Royal Geographical Society (2014) suggests through the use of enquiry-based fieldwork, children can gain first hand experiences of physical processes. Having planned this activity I now realise that the use of first hand experiences will support children to develop attitudes and opinions. This is important because in my future geography teaching I can challenge children by using t...
The Australian curriculum has been designed for children in their schooling years from foundation to year twelve. Currently the curriculum has covered four learning areas (English, Mathematics, Science and History) from kindergarten to year ten. “The Australian Curriculum describes knowledge, skills and understanding organised by learning areas.” (ACARA, 2010 d). Each learning area contains a: rationale – describing the nature of learning, aims – the intended result of learning from the curriculum, year level description, strands – interrelated broad organisers for the content in each learning area, content descriptions – describe what teachers are expected to teach, content elaborations – content description sup...
Field work is the hands on component to anthropology. The person will immerse themselves in the culture that they will study. These people must pay attention to every little thing that happens while there. It is important for the ethnographer to stay a little over a year in order to experience things they missed while they were in culture shock (page 42). They must adapt to the natives way of life and stop see the thing they do as something alien and see it as a part of their culture. Although the studier will be an alien in the culture they are in, they must try to live and immerse themselves in the way the locals live. Anthropologist Marjorie Shostak formed personal relationships with their cultural consultants. Shostak worked with the !Kung San in the Dobe region of southwest Africa, on the border between Botswana and South Africa (page 41). Field work must be done in order to really study the culture that is of
It took a visit to England for me to understand how the Australian landscape actually formed the ground of my own consciousness, shaped what I saw, and influenced the way a scene was organized in my mental imagery.
An integrated holistic approach to teaching and learning should allow children to make connections to the natural world. Practitioners should adapt to children’s ability of learning and their understanding of the natural environment and the connections they have between
Places can have multiple meaning and value depending on the perspective it is viewed from (Massey as cited in Kaplan & Recoquillon, 2014). It can be valued for its’ mythical and historical background, its’ physical and architectural state, and the environmental role it plays in the lives of most people. According to Margaret Somerville (2013) the continent of Australia was created and shaped by two sisters who travelled around its’ perimeters. These mythical stories were established to fit the landscape and to create a visual narrative of Australia. In addition to these mythical
The Department for Education (2012) states that “a high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Teaching should equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key
In "Geography and Everyday" Life Reginald Golledge argues "This geographic knowledge enables us to understand the things we do on a daily or other episodic basis, and how everyday actions (like traveling to work) affect the world around us (e.g. auto pollution contributing to global warming)". This explains how being knowledgeable on how geography is a part of our lives can lead to having a better understanding on how things we do affect ourselves and the world. Things that we do such as choosing vacation destinations to as simple as deciding which route to travel to work are all
In the book “Why Geography Matters More Than Ever”, the author, Harm de Blij, discusses the importance of geography, how it can affect us in any place or any time, and why it matters. But most importantly, he succeeds to advance our perception of the world’s geography. Throughout the book de Blij highlights the many benefits of being educated about geography. He explains that it is important that we are informed about this topic so we can be more prepared for the events happening around the world. This book illustrates just how essential it is to be well-educated when it comes to geography.
Fieldwork is a term that refers to the “anthropologist’s personal, long-term experience with a specific group of people and their way of life” (LS:5). Fieldword is important in anthropological studies. Why? This is due to many reasons. First, the main advantage of fieldwork is it 's ability to get a more in- depth study of a culture. But within these studies, anthropologists face many challenges. Anthropologists must be cautious not to change the normal state of the society they are studying because any significant change in the regular everyday actions of that culture are less valuable in explaining the culture itself and how they work as a society. Second, anthropologists must make sure who they 're speaking with are reliable sources, and represent the population as a whole. If the data is not reliable, the population is not represented correctly, and their data is not completely true. One of the last main challenges is processing the data that anthropologists collect. Their facts must be organized, and must be allowable to be interpreted by others of the culture. Although fieldwork may seem more challenging than beneficial, fieldword is one of the best paths for studying culture and obtaining
One-way my time spent during my fieldwork has improved my own learning is how I manage the way I learn. During my fieldwork, I observed many ways the teacher adjusted her lessons to accommodate different learning styles for her students to enhance their learning. This made me think of my own cognitive learning style and how I learned and processed information. These types of adjustments made by the teacher to improve learning, helped me better understand
Groundwater-Smith, S., Ewing, R., & Le Cornu, R. (2007). Teaching challenges & dilemmas (3rd .ed). South Melbourne: Thompson.