As we approach the exam seasion again, I have started to think about how the students access the materials we have at school. In a time when life for most of our students is multi-media and digital, it seems that I am still routed in the paper based society of the 20th century! For some students this focus on paper based materials will be very important, as not everyone has a smart phone, access to the internet or is confident to use online materials. I shall therefore not be replacing my paper based materials totally any time soon, but perhaps now is a good time to think about how I can embrace the 21th century digital age a little more.
Case studies and examples are important in geography, as they provide a contex to the knowledge and skills the students experience.
Images and perhaps videos that are used as case studies or examples are vitial in also developing student’s sense of place, which in turn will promote a much better understanding of the concepts that occur in these places. To this end, embracing a more digital media approach to case studies and examples should help to embed the theory and real life geography together.
Before I go any further, lets cosnider the differences between case studies and examples. From the AQA specification that I use the differences are stated as,
Case studies are broader in context and require greater breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding. Examples are more focused on a specific event or situation, are smaller in scale and do not cover the same degree of content.
AQA GCSE Speficiation
I remember someone once said on a CPD course that case studies were like a buse and examples are like a taxi.
The Bus, like the passengers has much more detail to remember, and like the bus route, will cover several concepts themes or cover a larger area. A taxi on the other hand will focus on one particular area (or destination) and will only include a handfull of details.
Here is my first attempt at producing a digital map of our case studies. You should be able to click on each circle to bring up the details.
My next stage is to develop a story map version that also highlights exam type questions.
Geographical reflections 