I am always keen to read, learn new knowledge and hopefully better understand the world around us. I guess that is why I decided way back in 1991 to undertake a university degree at what was then called QMW, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. Thank you @QMULGeography
After graduating, I decided to train to become a teacher, and 22 years later I am still a geography teacher! How time flies!
As a teacher, my main task is to develop students knowledge and understanding, and so personally it is important that I also have the same focus. I want to keep on learning and exploring new ideas, it is what drives my passion for teaching and for geography.
So back in May, I came across a Tweet from Ben King, @benking01, explaining that he was undertaking a UN course on climate change. Now as with many things on twitter, a few clicks later and almost an hour had passed, as I explored what the UN course was and how it might have an impact on my teacher.
Here is what I discovered…
The course is free CPD
- There are 5 modules to complete these are:
- UN CC:Learn “Children & Climate Change” Course
- UN CC:Learn “Cities and Climate Change” Course
- UN CC:Learn “Human Health and Climate Change” Course
- UN CC:Learn “Gender & Environment” Course
- UN CC:Learn “International Legal Regime of Climate Change
Each course has a range of materials for you to use and learn from. This ranges from interactive powerpoints, PDF handouts videos and then to check your learning a quiz for each module. The quizzes are multiple choice generally, but do relate to quite specific detail, so they require time to think about the answer. Each quiz is allowed to be taken up to 3 times, and you need to achieve a score of 70% to pass.
The detail in each course is excellent and for a geography teacher very helpful in bringing the subject of climate change to life, with the modern and up to date case studies which when I use them in the classroom will bring further depth and relevance to the subject.
For example, I use tropical storm Haiyan as a case study of a tropical storm at GCSE. Within the gender module, the course highlights how women were affected by the tropical storm compared to the men. Really eye opening stuff and something I shall ensure I use next year when teaching it next.
The module that I found the most interesting was the gender module, as it really highlighted differences that geography and climate change can have on men and women, something that is perhaps overlooked in my classroom. The International Legal Regime of Climate Change was the hardest module, as there was a lot of legal technical information to remember. However, it also highlighted why global governance is now taught at A Level Geography.
I look forward to developing resources further as I develop my climate change scheme of work at GCSE and the Global Governance SOW at A Level.
Now time for a Parkrun.
Paul
Geographical reflections 