Plenary
The approach to learning about a distant place taken in this unit, beginning in the children's here and now and then moving outwards, is infinitely adaptable. It gives children real personal access to, and the possibility of empathising and feeling wider emotional engagement with, life in places they visit really or virtually.
There are many other ways you could use this approach other then the comparison of school journeys across the world. Try the following activity for some ideas...
Activity: Where next?
Look up one of the following references, all of which contain suggestions for further activities using children's sense impressions as the starting point, and choose an activity to adopt and adapt and trial with your children as part of a session in an integrated unit or a teaching/learning session.
- Understanding and exploring commonality is discussed in Section 3 of the inspiring book, Global Learning in Primary Schools, published by Tide~ global learning (2008) Online materials can also be found on the Tide~ website.
- Explore this teachers' pack designed for Sandal Castle, Wakefield. The activity described here uses the collection of sense impressions at a historic sight to gather, re-enforce and create with learning.
- The GA's Valuing Places project includes some more ideas for encouraging children to start to build their understanding of place (real or virtual) with their own sense impressions, thoughts and feelings. See also the following related articles:
Rogers, J. (2005) 'Sensing Places', Teaching Geography, Vol. 30, 1, p.38.
Jeffries, K. and Rogers, J. (2005) 'Sensing Places', Primary Geography, Number 58, Autumn, p.34-5.
Get recognition for your learning
You have reached the final page of this unit. If you are committed to the ideas shared here and have used the unit as a distant learning CPD opportunity you might want to gain personal validation for the learning that you have undertaken. It is now possible to do this through the General Teaching Council's Teacher Learning Academy (TLA).
The GA is a TLA Support Partner which means that if you are working towards TLA Stage One or Two verification you can use one or more of these courses to provide the focus for your learning journey.
Get recognition for your school
Alternatively you may be a geography subject leader who has been working through this unit in order to provide support for other members of staff. Perhaps you have used some of the ideas on a staff training day. If so you might be interested in gaining recognition for your school through working towards the Primary Geography Quality Mark.
Course Units
 Introduction |
 Getting Started |
 Going to school here and now |
 Going to school in India |
 Let's pull it all together! |
 Pedagogy and Thinking |
 Plenary |
Comment on this page
Comments made by GA members appear instantly - make sure you're logged in! Guest comments will be sent to a moderator for approval.
Current conversations
What our website visitors are talking about.