Trigger for lesson on tourism

Gotten my students to share their ideal holiday. To make it more immersive, I gotten them to take a picture of themselves and then superimposed their picture over a holiday destination of their choice using remove.bg

Instruction for the photo.

a. Download the background of a tourist destination you dream to be at.

b. Take a picture of yourself and goto https://www.remove.bg/ and remove the background of your picture.

c. Add the background of the picture you have downloaded. 

Instruction for the description of the ideal holiday on Padlet with the photo

a)state the country/city 

b)Reasons for choice 

c)Activities which you would like to do at the tourist destination 

https://padlet.com/teaching27/2024-3c1-tourism-va6dvyf9zsg7as8o

The students looked at the posts on the padlet after they have posted theirs. They were more engaged in the lesson and I was able to get them to relate to the tourism system and they could understand the concepts of push and pull factors via authentic examples given by their peers.

Voyager in Google Earth

Voyager in Google Earth has moved. It's no longer available in the main app but showcased on the website.

Explore the stories on the gallery here. Love the one on sea level rise and changing forests.

https://www.google.com/earth/about/gallery/

https://www.google.com/earth/education/

Game creation

Gotten my students to create the sorting game. Purpose is for them to apply what they have learned under the roles of different stakeholders and the different approaches in sustainable development. 

The game Vortex from classtool is easy to use and free with no need for login. 

1. Click on create game @ https://www.classtools.net/vortex/
2. Create the first game on how effective are stakeholders in sustainable tourism development.
3. Input the title of the game e.g. How effective are Stakeholders in sustainable tourism development?
4. Category title: Government, International Organisations, Businesses, Community, Tourist (Any 4)
5. Key in the main points associated with the stakeholder including the strengths, limitations and examples - remember only essential key points (short phrase) which the player can sort into the different categories (stakeholders)
6. Save the game with a password so that you can edit it again. Copy the url of your game to the spreadsheet 
7. Create the second game on how effective are the different approaches in sustainable tourism development. Input the title of the game e.g. How effective are the approaches in sustainable tourism development?
8. Category title: Ecotourism, Pro-poor, Community-based Tourism
9. Key in the main points associated with the approaches including the strengths, limitations and examples - remember only essential key points (short phrase) which the player can sort into the different categories (approaches)
10. Save the game with a password so that you can edit it again. Copy the url of your game to the spreadsheet.

 

Pros - 
1. It directed the students to read and understand before they can extract the main points and categorize them.

2. It is more engaging as they are creating a game rather than just reading from their notes or playing it. To create is highest level in bloom learning taxonomy.

Cons -
1. Some students are able to create the game fast but some are lagging behind.
Area for improvement: To get those who have completed the games to play the games created and add in some comments. 

2. Some of the clues/points are relevant to not only one category so it is difficult to sort.
Area for improvement: This can also be a teachable moment that even if a point is relevant, they must clearly show how different it is applied e.g. who participated in decision making. 

Example of game created by students:
JH on stakeholders https://www.classtools.net/vortex/202403-CWeQ8f#google_vignette

Exploring Historical Maps of Singapore

• Access the historical maps of Singapore on https://libmaps.nus.edu.sg/
• Get the students to zoom into a section of the Singapore Map. 
• Enable the view of the selected historical map.
• Use the slider to control the level of transparency of the historical map over the present map. 
• Students can observe the changes in their neighbourhood - observing the spatial association, distribution and interconnection.

21CC learning in Geography

Do check out Master Teacher Kah Mun's post on facilitating the use of dynamic geographical knowledge for 21CC learning in Geography:
https://geoconnectors.blogspot.com/2024/03/to-unlock-21cc-we-need-powerful.html?m=1

Maude's typology is a useful tool for identifying specifically how the disciplinary knowledge of geography is powerful. 

A lot of emphasis had been placed in 1 and 2 in our curriculum. For 3, I have always reminded the students they already have some geography knowledge in them and with the lessons in geography they will be able to awaken the dormant knowledge and see them through the geographical lens. 

4 is something which I would like to develop. A good resource for Geography in upper sec Singapore and climate clusters on building up our resilience against the challenges we are facing. A short quiz followed by a short debate based on solution cards to the challenges Singapore faces in water, energy and food. 

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/watch/resilience-quest/resources-critical-4202141

5 is something I have been advocating through my geography blog which I update current geographical issues. They need to be a concerned global citizen as they learn that geography is alive!
https://olevelgeog.blogspot.com/

Interactive on housing and GEL

 Interesting interactive for housing and GEL

 https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2023/12/hdb-flat-design-evolution/index.html

The interactive traced the development of HDB flats

In the 1980s and 1990s, there were greater emphasis placed on strengthening town identity. Refer to the interactive on how place identity is developed and how it created the sense of place for the people.

Play-based Learning in Geography

Play-based Learning provides opportunities for students to develop a sense of the world around them through inquiry, exploration, interaction and problem solving. As they explore their environment and connect what they already know with new knowledge, perspectives and skills.

In my earlier post on inquiry-based learning, there was element of play-based learning. I did not dictate the learning, but to sparkle their curiosity to ask questions. They learned through exploration, in the process collecting data to answer their questions, they generated even more questions. They learned, not only connecting them with what they have already known, but also with those which they didn't. There are many aspects of the learning which I am not in full control and they do make mistakes. But I felt that the play-based learning experience have allowed them to make greater sense of their learning than if I were to just teach the content from the slides or from the content from SLS (Student Learning space) and they were definitely more engaged.

Other than the use of inquiry through Geographical Investigation, there are also role-playing games which give students the experience of a play-based learning. In another lesson on tourism, the students role-played as the local tribe in the Amazon and made choices with regards to development of ecotourism.

1. Students play the game on sustainable tourism 

http://www.eduweb.com/ecotourism/eco1.html

As the game is based on choose your own adventure, the experience which each student acquire differs based on their choice. However, as you can see from the response of the students in the padlet that they do get to learn to take perspectives as well as learning for themselves more about the development of ecotourism in an authentic environment in the Amazon.

2. Students evaluate whether Rio Pangayachu (Amazon) should be developed for tourism on a padlet. They have to present both argument for and against. 

https://padlet.com/teaching27/psnt4j77m6pobs7g