Teaching Geography through books (Part 2)
An update in July 2023:
This is one of two schemes of work based on a book that I have shared widely and frequently spoken about using. Whilst elements of this scheme of work are certainly still of value, I think it’s important to recognise that (particularly post-Covid) many elements are now outdated and so, personally, I would no longer teach it in its entirety as shared in this blog.
July 2020
In a recent paper (available here), Danny Dorling is unashamedly honest about the relevance of failure in geography. The exert from the evocative abstract is below:
“If you work in the academic discipline of Geography, you largely work on the subject of failure. The failure of political leaders worldwide to avert disastrous climate change. The need to prevent the continuation of the fastest species extinction the world has ever known. The social and personal repercussions of enormous global income, wealth and power inequalities. We describe all this, usually, as if it were just an interesting set of observations. Then we tell students to write an essay about it. If they cogently analyse our collective failure, we give them a high mark.” (Dorling, 2019, p.1)
Whilst the paper is focused on academic geography, if we are critical, perhaps the same can be said for much of the geography curriculum. How often do we teach about failure? How often are we teaching about global problems? How often are we discussing the major failings of humanity as a species?
Now of course, we must teach about the unparalleled impact of mankind on our planet however to what extent is there balance in your curriculum? For me, the addition of a scheme of work based around the book Factfulness has enabled exactly that: the explicit discussion of progress that has been made in recent decades. That’s not to say that we pretend anything is all hunky dory. Indeed, Lesson 7 looks at whether climate change is the ‘elephant in the room’ with regards to the book. However, this scheme of work gives space for the discussion of progress with regards to global poverty- something somewhat lacking previously.
Why use Factfulness in Year 8?
We teach this scheme of work in Year 8 to enable us to make the abstract question of ‘how do we see the world?’ somewhat more concrete. With our fertile question of ‘Is Our understanding of the World wrong?’, we take a critical look at many elements of development and quality of life around the world and challenge our students to really think like a geographer.
Thus, in using the book Factfulness as a scheme of work in Year 8, I think it:
forces students to ‘think geographically’ about the world around them- questioning what they see in the media.
helps student develop an awareness of the ‘danger of single story’ where a place and the people who inhabit it are only seen through one lens.
builds essential knowledge of the key geographical concepts of development, inequality, globalisation and risk.
The resources below were very much inspired by the work of Matt Podbury, Paul Turner and Alan Parkinson; three stalwarts of the geography teacher community!
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts, comments or reflections via email or through Twitter.
Finally, please remember to credit if the resources below are used.