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GA Citizenship Working Group - GeoCitizen Award
This is the group's latest project and is currently in its pilot phase. The project's objectives are:
- To instigate a new 'GeoCitizen' award as a focal point for geography teachers and pupils to explore the interdisciplinary links between citizenship and geography
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- To create a new CWG website aimed at schools, school-based activities, citizenship through geography resources and a showcase for pupils' work in learning citizenship through geography
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- The award will link the theme of the annual CWG workshop at the GA Annual Conference to a follow-up activity which can be carried out in schools.
- The annual themes will build up to provide a repository of citizenship through geography topics and issues.
- The work will be showcased here on the GeoCitizen webpage.
- The first theme is 'designing identity', and is based on the activity of designing an ID card to explore citizenship through geography issues.
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| GeoCitizen Pilot Project: Designing Identity |
Teachers participating in this pilot phase will help develop the GeoCitizen project - contributing to the criteria for the award, the detail of the activity itself and format of the work showcased on the website.
How can my school take part?
1. Trial a 'designing identity' activity with your class
- Introduce some of the background issues you want to explore during the activity, see CWG Workshop Slides and CWG Workshop Report 2008 for some ideas. The aim is to develop understanding of how identities are formed: "Who am I and why am I like that?" How do these questions relate to geography and citizenship?
- ID card group discussion. Consider some of the following questions:
- When and where would you need an ID card?
- What identity do you not have a card for?
- What does your card say about you?
- Who would not have the right to an ID card
- Where would your ID card exclude you from, as well as allow you to go?
- Design an ID card activity
- Students could decide what details/categories should go on the card
- Students could play a 'who's who' game, guessing whose identity belongs to whom
- Students could design ID cards signifying different 'scales, spaces and places' of identity; including how they identify themselves in a local, regional, national, global context; how an ID card would be used in different spaces; how their identity relates to particular places – through both how they define themselves, and what interconnections this makes (e.g. students may define themselves by a local fashion, but where are their clothes made?)
- Whole class discussion. Prompt questions:
- How do you see yourself and how do others define you?
- Can this be captured on an ID card?
- What controversial issues does the idea of identity raise?
- What are the pros and cons of ID cards? Consider different perspectives?
- How are geography, citizenship, identity and diversity connected?
- Who or what is a GeoCitizen?
2. Record the activity including:
- Brief narrative of the activity (max. 200 words)
- what you did,
- how you planned it,
- why you did it that way,
- how well it worked
- Photos of students' final piece of work (please get permissions for taking photos of students)
- Evidence of students' reflection on citizenship through geography issues
3. Send in your evidence by Monday 30 June 2008 to:
Jessica Pykett
Department of Geography
Faculty of Social Sciences
The Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA
4. The GA Citizenship Working Group will then use students' work to develop evaluation criteria for the GeoCitizen award, and post examples of work which shows reflection on citizenship through geography on the GeoCitizen website.
We look forward to hearing how you get on! Thank you for taking part.
Useful Links
The following external links may help you in developing your ideas for the activity:
BBC – Q and A on Identity Card Plans
Citizenship Foundation - Information, arguments, resources, facts and figures, teaching advice, further web links on ID cards
Department of Social Scrutiny – satirical website on ID card issue giving spoof ID cards and application forms and arguments against ID cards
Global Dimension – searchable database of geography resources on Identity
Home Office – Identity and Passport Service: government information on ID cards and National Identity Scheme
QCA – Identity and Diversity Curriculum
Open University – Free educational resources available on OpenLearn: Identity in Question
Who Do We Think We Are? (WDWTWA) – resources for teachers and students exploring Britishness, identity, diversity and citizenship
Real Histories Directory – online searchable database of resources on cultural diversity in the UK
The above information is also available to download as a Word document:
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