Learning from sharing by other Geography teachers

I was very impressed with the sharing by the other geography teachers.

ICT in fieldwork: Trick or treat?

Ng Eu Khim, Aletheia Tan, Daphne Ang and Shanthini Rathakrishnan

St. Andrew's Secondary School

Interesting to do a live demo on the use of easymeasure  app in the classroom. I must try out one day. Need to buy the connector to the VGA cable.

What impressed me - analysis of how students response to the use of phone apps in fieldwork. 

I have also gotten my students to make use of the phone apps in fieldwork but I have not checked upon the students responses. 

Did not cross my mind to use a ziplock bag to put my tablet or phones when doing the coastal studies... indeed this is a much safer method than just placing my tablet or the phones on paper.  The clinometer app is useful to check against the reliability of the measurement using the traditional method.

My coastal GI in 2016 - https://sites.google.com/a/moe.edu.sg/sec3geog/geographical-investigation/gi---coast/gi-coast-2016

Some of the phone apps which I have shared in my earlier posts: 

http://geogshare.blogspot.sg/search/label/Smart%20phone%20app

with the latest addition of sim earthquake app which shows the impact of the different magnitude earthquakes - they love shaking the phone.

As mentioned to the group, the use of ICT tools can help to enhance learning but will not replace classroom learning. 

‘Geography or General Paper?’ – Teaching Geographical Concepts in the Classroom

Wee Guoyuan and Alvin Yeo

Fairfield Methodist School (Secondary) & Chung Cheng High School (Yishun)

Appreciate the two teachers sharing on how to craft and use a vignette to teach geographical concepts in classrooms. Indeed the students will not learn how to appreciate the geographical issues if they do not understand how the geographical concepts such as places, space and scale are applied to it.  

Great effort creating the videos to finding out what the students understand about the learning of Geography.

Much efforts in creating the vignette on the various topics e.g. the ones on the Monsoon winds and tsunamis shared. 

7 AFL strategies for Effective Learning

Oh Boon Teck,  ACS (Barker Road)

Another impressive sharing - just realised that there are many  strategies which I have actually used  but did not know the terms. Love the self-less sharing of what he did with the students. Starting with a checklist using the learning objectives from the syllabus,  he gotten the students to write on what they have learned.

He has also shown sample of the students' work and gotten the students to evaluate their own work.

Interesting to know the different types of prompt in marking the students' work - reminder, example, scaffold and closing the gap prompts.

Update on 13 April 2017:
As the Geography sharing was divided into two groups - missed the one on storymaps using arcgis.
http://storymaps.arcgis.com/en/

Inquiry Approach Using Arcgis In The Geography Classroom

Tafran Angullia and Tanny Koh from Hai Sing Catholic and St. Gabriel's Secondary

Look interesting - will compare this with the use of Google Earth as both can make use of layered information on the maps.

Both engage students through authentic and inquiry-based learning. 
Is the use of one easier than the other? Is there room for more creativity or collaboration than the other?
I will update once I have time to explore the use of story maps!

Sharing Google Earth @ Humanities Network 2017

Shared on the use of Google Earth in inquiry-based learning with my colleagues June and Kelly. The slides which we used for the sharing.

Humanities google earth from Lily Teo Hp

Making use of what I had learned from Paul Cornish in the Humanities Conference. You can also click on the link below to see how to create kmz files for geographical inquiry:
http://ezitnew.blogspot.sg/2012/06/using-google-earth-for-geographical.html

You can download Google Earth free here: http://www.google.com/earth/download/ge/agree.html

This is how the screen will look when you open up Google Earth app or plugin.

Perform searches from the search box at the top left side of the program. Let's visit Machu Picchu! 
This was very useful when I get the students to take a virtual trip there and explore the area as a place with rich heritage... some were debating that it is a place with scenic beauty as it is high up in the mountain! This virtual trip get them to relate better to the issues mentioned in the textbook such as erosion of the footpath etc. They learn better through authentic learning.

You can type a place name, zipcode or postcode, a town/city name, an airport or you can even try to type in a latitude-longitude location (in decimal format). Once you press the ↵ Enter key, you'll be "flown" to that destination.  You can take a virtual holiday!

You can also drag the little yellow man icon to the map and you will get to see street view. I do this before I visit a place so that I can navigate the place easily when I am there!

Use the zoom out and zoom in options from the buttons on the right hand side of the screen.

Turn the wheel in the top right corner to spin the item to a better understood angle. 

Click on Exit Street view to go back to the map.

Look for the date the picture was taken from the bottom left hand corner of the screen.

My colleague, June, shared on how she use Google Earth to prepare the students for their GI in Chinatown. Indeed the tool is useful for them to take a virtual visit before the actual field investigation so that they will not be lost. The students can also be shown how to do the landuse survey, marking the main landuse on both sides of the streets.

Use of Google Earth for Physical Geography https://sites.google.com/a/moe.edu.sg/sec3geog/google-earth

I have attached some of the kmz files below which you can explore. There are also many kmz or kml files which you can use with Google Earth online.

2 of the kmz files attached below were created by me - one on map reading which is the coastal area south of UK. The map was from one of the N level papers. 

The other file is the Earth Tectonic plates. I have place marked the features or the plate boundaries you see the actual locations on Google Earth. 

Earthquake around the world kmz - WWeqANSS.kml  attached - Have you wondered where and when did earthquakes of magnitude 8 or 9 occurred? Open up the file and find out!

Open the earthquake focus file attached to see whether there is a relationship between the depth of focus and the plate boundaries.

Use the 4degrees file to investigate the areas where there are higher increase in temperatures.

Open up the Hurricane Katrina file to see the historical images on how the hurricane formed and moved over New Orleans. Scroll through the dates to see all the satellite images from different days of the year. 

Drag the location of the toggle slider switch in the top left corner to a different date and see what the area was like. e.g. you can see what New Orleans was like after Hurricane Katrina, or one of the many famous historical times that date back to 1990! 

Google Earth for Sec 2 https://sites.google.com/a/moe.edu.sg/sec-2-geog/using-google-earth presented by my colleague, Kelly.

You can also drag the yellow man button on the left to any of the blue line and you can see the street view.

This is one of the street view of Tokyo. Look at the high rise buildings and more developed infrastructure e.g. flyover, wider roads congested with cars etc.

The second file is on the Favela in Brazil (slum).  

Open the file with Google Earth. You will see the Favela area marked by a yellow line. 

To see the street view, drag the yellow man icon on the right to any point on the blue line.

You will able to virtually walk down the street by clicking on the road. Click on Exit Street View on top right hand corner to go back to the aerial view of the Favela zone in Brazil.

Look at the living conditions of the people in the favela by taking a virtual walk in the area using street view.

Google Earth for Sec 1  https://sites.google.com/a/moe.edu.sg/sec-1-geog/google-earth

Look for the date the picture was taken from the bottom corner of the screen.

Scroll through the dates to see all the satellite images from different days of the year. 

Zoom to a place on the map where the satellite image has a date, click the "View" menu from the menu bar and click the "Historical Imagery" button to enable the feature. 

Drag the location of the toggle slider switch in the top left corner to a different date and see what the area was like. e.g. you can see how the Serangoon River mouth was like before the dam was built in 2010 in 2005, 2008 and 2010.

Click on the attached file below 'Forest' and then click on the pie charts in the various countries and find out which countries experience high rate of deforestation.

How much forest cover has Singapore lost?

Amazing effort by a teacher on enhancing the use of Google Earth through coding and design of app - something which I have yet to learn ( I just know how to use html with help of designer code in dreamweaver) https://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2011/12/using_google_earth_in_the_classroom.html
The app online he created: http://www.geteach.com/ Love how you can analyse the maps side by side e.g. the population density versus the topography  etc

Humanities Network sharing 2016 - Google sites

My sharing with the teachers in the humanities teachers on the use of Google Site for self-directed and collaborative learning. 

The use of google site allow students to be self-directed in their learning as they can select, manage, and assess their own learning activities any time beyond their curriculum time. To further engage the students in their learning, interactive resources such as Zaption interactive videos and Quizlet can be embedded into the Google site. 

Physical Geography Lessons http://tinyurl.com/sec3geog  
Human Geography Lessons tinyurl.com/sec4geog

Inquiry-based learning is infused through geographical investigation using the Google Site. The use of Google site helps the groups direct their geographical inquiry collaboratively as well as allowing them to review the steps needed in the geographical investigation to encourage self-directed learning. An example will be an inquiry on water quality by the Secondary 1 students from Edgefield Secondary School. I have also used Google sites to guide the students for GI on Coastal Studies and Tourism

Sec 1 GI on Water Resources 2015 http://tinyurl.com/watergi2015
Sec 3 GI on Coastal studies @East Coast Park   tinyurl.com/gicoast
Sec 4 GI on Tourism @ Chinatown tinyurl.com/gitourism

I have created two more google sites in 2017 - 
Sec 1 https://sites.google.com/a/moe.edu.sg/sec-1-geog/home
Sec 2 https://sites.google.com/a/moe.edu.sg/sec-2-geog/

Its also great for sharing resources among the department teachers as it is a secured platform which access permission can be controlled - only share with a certain group of people - intranet.

Google site from Lily Teo Hp

As I learn, I share. As I share, I learn.

I am happy that I have learned from the sharing of other teachers too. I would like to highlight in particular two of the sharing which I personally would like to try out.

Enhancing Students’ Subject Literacy for Open-ended 
Dayan Tan Ying Peng from Juying Secondary School
Dayan showed us how the school use the SMRT (Samples, Marking & Modelling, Rubrics, Template & Techniques) strategy to train students to become more competent writers in open-ended questions (level descriptor question).

From creating a writing framework for the students to designing a rubrics for them to see how they can attain the various level of competency. I also love how modelling is done using process writing and how the the teacher allows the student to see their competency level in their writing by indication it in the marking.

Love the techniques using acronym 123 - 1 stand, 2 sides, 3 points  as we had been using PEEL - point, explain, example and link.

Literacy Support for Students Interpretation of Visual Data in Geography
Linda Ng, Yvonne Poh, Nohani, Yamin, Leong Shu Jun from Jurongville Secondary School.

The teachers designed lesson activities to provide more literacy support and scaffolding with the hope that students can better make use of content vocabulary to express their thoughts more clearly and confidently when interpreting visual data.

Humanities Network Sharing 8 March 2013

Quite glad that a few teachers I met @ the humanities network sharing have already made use of the resources I put up on my Geography Blog. My presentation slides below:

Blog humanities sharing from Lily Lee

Love some of the ideas shared by the others today - overwhelming so I am highlighting a few here:
Dealing With Challenges In A Globalising World by CHIJ (Toa Payoh) (SS) - though the focus is on SS - the team integrated the various discipline including Geog and even Chemistry!
I love the way they integrated the Geog component -esp the graphic mindmap on Global warming - one of the negative impacts of globalisation which we could apply for the topic on climatic changes. 

SS E-learning: Borderless@GESS by Gan Eng Seng School (SS)

Though the focus is on SS - the team has also uploaded topic on Geog for the students' weekly e-learning on current issues related to the subject syllabus. The students are then quiz on the 1st lesson of the following week. 

I love the idea from Annie (Queensway Sec) -Making a Curriculum Artefact – Where’s the Geography? 

She  made use of  a photo essay on "What the world eats, part 1" from Time Magazine online in 2007  (http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373664,00.html) and got the students to compare the expenditure made on food in different parts of the world as well as work on the data (calculating average) as well as mapwork based on the photos shown. I like the idea of getting the students to create the map based on the data they have generated. In doing the mapwork, the students will have a better concept of space as well as being able to see the difference in food consumption when they complete the legend for the map.

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373664,00.html

Extract of the worksheet below: