VCE Geography Conference - Unit 1 Fieldwork - Coasts

This was the first time I had taught VCE Geography (in comparison to Senior Geography in QLD). Therefore it was very much a case of trial and error! However, luckily for me I found that the fieldwork I put together on coasts, plus the tasks associated with it worked really well. This session will provide an overview of the coastal fieldwork, but also how I incorporated Google Maps as an assessment task for my students.

Unit 1 VCE Geography includes the following outcomes:

Outcome One
On the completion of this unit the student should be able to describe the geographic characteristics of at least two natural environments, and explain how they are developed by natural processes, including extreme natural events.

Outcome Two
On the completion of this unit the student should be able to analyse and explain the the changes in natural environments due to natural processes and human activity.

When planning the unit of work, I decided that it we would definitely look at coasts as an example of a natural environment. This is where the important fieldwork component would exist. From this, we would then look at two other environments of student choice. They chose Mountains and Rainforests.

I then used the key knowledge and skills within the outcomes to put together my coastal unit and fieldwork assessment task. The key knowledge and skills associated with the fieldtrip included:

Key Knowledge

• Geographic characteristics of natural environments (O1)
• Natural processes and factors that create natural environments (O1)
• Types of changes to natural environments produced by natural processes and by human activity
• Nature, rate and scale of interactions between natural environments and human activity (O2)
• The impact of change on natural environments and on human activity (o2)
• The importance of the interactions between natural processes and human activity in influencing changes to natural environments, including the management of change (O2)

Key Skills

• Conduct fieldwork at a local site and collect data (O1&2)
• Collect, sort, process and represent spatial data related to formation of natural environments using a range of geographic techniques and media, that may include fieldwork data (O1&2)
• Describe and analyse data about changes to natural processes produced by the interaction between natural processes and human activity (O2)

Field Trip Preparation
The following blog post provides an overview of the work we did on coastal processes before going on a field trip - Understanding Coasts. We also practiced field sketches and observations in the field around the school. A great tip is to use Google Earth or Google Maps to show the students where they would be going on the field trip, and specific characteristics to look out for at each location. The satellite imagery on these sites is great for this (including Street View)

Coastal Field Trip - Northshore Coast

During the Fieldtrip

Students completed a number of tasks as outlined in the fieldtrip booklet. They also knew to take photos and videos as they would need these when we returned to school.

Coastal Fieldwork Booklet

View more documents from Rebecca Nicholas.

The Assessment Task

Coastal Fieldwork Assessment Task

View more documents from Rebecca Nicholas.

The following link provides access to my classroom blog, that provided more detail on completing the assessment tasks - Coastal Fieldwork - Your Assignment

Task two of the four tasks required the students to create a Google Map of the field trip, that also provided an overview of the geographic characteristics and natural characteristics at each of the beaches. Diagrams of the processes (eg. Longshore Drift, Wave Refraction, Dune building) plus images needed to be included.

Before I launched into the Google Maps task, I introduced students to the idea of spatial technologies and GIS, plus how a Google My Maps works in different contexts. This gave them some idea of why I wanted them to present their assignment in this way. You could look at a number of sites such as the CSIRO Sentinal Bushfire site, Mapzone or Reefbase. I found this youtube was a funny way to present an overall view of what we were doing!



Rather than teaching the students step-by-step instructions, I simply posted a 'How To' You Tube like the one below, and the students used this. I also had a paper 'How To' copy uploaded to the school network. This way, students could work in their own time on completing tasks.

How to Create a 'My Map' in Google Maps



Some Helpful Hints

1. You will need to consider the following when getting students to use Google Maps as a task:
2. Students need to sign up to Gmail so you will need to ensure that this is done prior to the lesson as they need to confirm their accounts. You will also need to check with the IT department to see if Gmail is blocked at school, and the possibility of this being open for your class.
3. Images need a url or web address to be linked to the various locations. Therefore, either you or your students will need to upload the images you take on the fieldtrip to an image hosting site, eg. Flickr, Photobucket etc. This can be problematic if these sites are blocked at school. The other option is to get the IT department to create a website and upload your images to this, so that these can be put into and viewed on each of the maps.
   

Example of a Student's Coastal Fieldwork Map


View Coastal Field Trip in a larger map

To submit the Google Map, students can invite you as a collaborator to look at the map or they can email you a link. This will allow you to view the maps.

Overall, this task was great as it really indicated those students who understood the coastal processes in relation to the location of each of the coastal areas we visited. It also helped them work out where we actually went following the field trip.

This task can be a little bit tricky in terms of management of access to maps, but sitting with each student and ensuring that they send you the link to the map makes this fool proof.

GTAV Conference 2009 - Using Spatial Technologies without a Fuss!

Spatial technologies have been the buzz word in Geography for a number of years now. We have all tried at some stage to attempt to implement some form of spatial technologies in our classroom with varying degrees of success. The main impediments to the introduction of these technologies have previously been issues with time and cost.

However, this is no longer the case. The importance of spatial information has meant that there are a large number of free, online sites available for use to access and use. The wonderful thing about these sites is that there is minimal preparation needed, and they are generally easy to use (as long as you have the internet!).

This presentation will provide an overview of what spatial technologies are, why you should use them and how they can be used in the Geography classroom. Specific time will be spent on various sites, including Google maps. I will also show you some maps my students have created following a coastal field trip.

So, why are spatial technologies needed in the classroom?

Improving spatial literacy among our students is important. The National Geographic-roper Public Affairs (NG-RPA) 2006 Literacy Study found that six in ten young Americans aged 18 to 24 could not find Iraq on a map of the Middle East; one-third could not find Louisiana on a map of the United States; and most incredibly, when given a hypothetical map and told they could escape an approaching hurricane by evacuating north-west, one-third would travel in the wrong direction.

The image below may provide humorous (but not really!) evidence of this.



Or there is always an oldie but a goody - Miss Carolina 2007.



And her second attempt...



Before we start looking at sites, we must understand what spatial technologies are. The slideshow below was one that I have put together and uploaded to slideshare.

Using Spatial Technologies in the Geography Classroom

View more presentations from becnic.

Funny Movies about GPS





Google Maps and Streetview




Examples of Online Spatial Technologies

The following link will allow you to view and download a document that contains heaps of online resources that you can use in the classroom. We will look at some in more detail today.

Spatial Technology Resources for Teachers

View more documents from becnic.

MapZone
This would have to be the best online GIS site that is available free for students. The activities are clear and engaging, and introduce the students the idea of what GIS is and how it works. The following link - Creating Our Own Digital Landscape - is an example of how I used Mapzone in the classroom.

Sentinel Hotspots
Sentinel is a national bushfire monitoring system that provides timely information about hotspots to emergency services managers across Australia. The mapping system allows users to identify fire locations with a potential risk to communities and properties.

FluTracker
This map and the data behind it were compiled by Dr. Henry Niman, a biomedical researcher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, using technology provided by Rhiza Labs and Google. The map is compiled using data from official sources, news reports and user-contributions and updated multiple times per day. A great tool to track the outbreak of swine flu.

US Crime Reports.com
This map provides detailed crime statistic data for cities in the US. A great tool to look at patterns and the prevalence of differing types of crime. A pity Australia hasn't put something like this together.

Google Maps

Google Maps is developing into one of the most amazing and accessible sites for Geography teachers to utilise. Using Google Maps you are able to create your own maps using My Maps, add text and images to a point, and then email this tour to someone else.

The following link will take you to a task I created for my Unit 1 (equivalent to Year 11) Geography class - Bec's Classes - Coastal Fieldwork: Your Assessment Task. Using images and data collected from the fieldtrip, my students created their own map. An example of a student's assessment task can be viewed by clicking here - Coastal Fieldtrip Google Map by Stephanie Kosth.

A new Google Map application is the Scribble Map. This allows the user to draw on a google map, place markers and text, create a custom widget, save the file and then send it to friends. The application of spatial brainstorming and sketching in class, saving the file and then uploading it to a blog or the intranet is real.

Your Task

Create a Google Maps 'My Map' of a trip around your local area. As you will not have any photos, use Flickr and the url of these images to practice linking images to a point. The following You Tube movie provides a step-by-step overview of how to create your map. Thanks to Mick Law from Contour Education for creating this.



As an alternative, you could create your own 'Love Map'. See below.



Google Earth also provides a number of opportunities for your class, including the creation of tours. Any maps you create with Google Maps are interchangeable with Google Earth. Mick Law from Contour Education has also put together resources on how to use Google Earth in the Geography classroom. Google Earth Resources for Geography Teachers provides a multitude of resources for Geography teachers on how to use Google Earth in the classroom. This site was established and maintained by a UK Geography teacher.

Other Resources

Mapping Worlds
This site allows you to view various interesting pieces of data (death penalty, women in parliament, cattle etc) with a slightly different perspective. You will be shown a map that changes the size of each country according to its value of that data.

Twittervision 3d
This site is spatial technologies meets Web 2.0. It displays the real time location of tweets from around the world. Very interesting to use if you are looking at the spread of news on geographical issues.

Other resources can also be found on previous blog posts of this blog.