buzzMICA (P) 063/03/2012

2012

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GEObuzz MICA (P) 063/03/2012 is published annually by the Geography Teacher’s Association of Singapore P.O. Box 212, Farrer Road Post Office, Singapore 912808 www.gta.org.sg | ISSN 2010-3514 | Vol. 2 Issue 1

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the publisher.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFElissa Goh

Foreword

GTA Annual Seminar

5 6Photo Essay

Geographical Research

16

11Geographical

Education

Geography in Schools

Redesigning Pedagogy

Geography Fieldwork in

SingaporeSEAGA

Education Forum 2011

GeographyInquiry

through Fieldwork!

Magaret Roberts

Fun with Geography

@ Marina Barrage in 60 minutes

SUB - EDITORSEbenezer JebamoneyJosef TanWu Bing Sheng

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For enquiries, please contact admin@gta.org.sg

The Not-so-Amazing

Race- Really local fieldwork for Geography

The Last Page

Development Geographies

and Indicators

Guru’s Bag O’ Tricks

Often when I ask my students, ‘Why Geography…really?’, they reply with a glazed look, with a shrug of their shoulders and because ‘there was nothing else to choose’.

In this second issue of GEObuzz, we explore the compelling arena of fieldwork, its potential for inquiry and personal discovery. Participation is an essential ingredient for the creation of lived experiences and the formative construction of self-knowledge.

Let us begin with the self. A simple experiment would be to ask, ‘What did you observe on the cover of this issue?’ Could it be the telltale breakwater icon or the sketch-like quality of Singapore’s East Coast Park? If you

were at the scene, ‘Who would you be?’, ‘What would you be doing?’, ‘and Why?’

In this issue, the tripartite focus on Fieldwork, Tourism and Development underpin the manifold experiences shared by geographers and educators. Come on board and engage in one lecturer’s stream of consciousness at Changi Spit, enhance your teaching competencies through two methods of ‘redesigning pedagogy’, examine fieldwork through the lenses of school teachers, and explore the multiple ways of measuring development.

So, why Geography…really? Because it is clearly a choice, which makes sense to us. Create your own GEO buzz.

Chief Editor Elissa Goh

Article VIII Section (a) of the GTA Constitution states that “[g]ambling of any kind such as the playing of paikow and mah-jong whether for stake or not are forbidden on the Association’s premises. Also “[t]he introduction of materials for gambling or opium smoking and of bad characters into the premises is prohibited”.

What I am about to say will surely be considered an act of treason by my kind but... HISTORY REALLY ROCKS! More specifically, I am referring to the history of our association. Our history started with three gung-ho geography educators who were concerned with the possible weakening of school geography as a result of the introduction of Social Studies. In 1969, they sought an audience with the late Mr Ong Pang Boon, then Minister of Education, and with his consent established the Geography Teachers’ Association of Singapore to promote and advance the study of geography while ‘bad characters’ smoked opium and ‘paikow their wealth away’. In those days, GTA organised fieldtrips to rural parts of Singapore like Clementi and Bedok to explore gullies and study river processes. GTA also contributed towards Singapore’s foreign policy by organising the first overseas fieldtrip to China for geography educators in 1979, before diplomatic ties were established between Singapore and China. Forty-two years on, the association continues to organise a range of activities to foster the interests of geography educators.

Interestingly, the founding of GEObuzz last year by three GTA members parallels the founding of our association in 1969. Will GEObuzz also flourish for the next forty-two years and record our history for future generations of geography educators? I REALLY hope that it will!

GTA Chairman Josef Tan

 

 

Foreword

 

GTA Annual Seminar

Our Distinguished Speakers

Geographies

of TourismIn 2009, nearly 10 million tourists visited Singapore, generating close to $13 billion in tourism

receipts. Globally, the tourist sector is one of the drivers of growth in many countries and ‘Tourism’ has continued to be a popular topic in Singapore’s geography syllabus. For these reasons, the

theme of the GTA Annual Seminar 2012 is ‘Geographies of Tourism’. We have once again lined up three speakers who will share with us their thoughts and views on tourism. They are Serene Law, Director of

Sales, Wildlife Reserves Singapore; Ms Carrie Kwek, Executive Director of Integrated Resorts & Business Tourism Development, Singapore Tourism Board and Dr Jamie Gillen from the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore.

Ms Serene Law will share with us the challenges of managing some of the most successful tourist attractions, in particular, the Singapore Mandai Zoo and Night Safari.

Ms Carrie Kwek from the Singapore Tourism Board will provide us with a macro-perspective of tourism development in Singapore.

Dr Jamie Gillen is a tourism expert with particular interest in Vietnam and ‘dark tourism’. His talk will include an overview of current scholarship in tourism geography as well as insights into the Vietnamese tourism industry.

GTA

Annual

Seminar

2012!

Come, travel the

world with us

from the tropics!

Photo Essay

Old and New An impression of modern functional buildings towering over historical architecture.

A view from the Pinnacle@Duxton, Singapore

by Kuo Hoong Yong, yong_kuo_hoong@moe.edu.sg; September 2011Winning Entry, GTA Photography Competition 2011

Human Environment Interaction discovered at Labrador Beach, SingaporeHuman activities may cause changes in sea wave patterns which may indirectly alter nature.

by Kuo Hoong Yong, yong_kuo_hoong@moe.edu.sg; October 2011

Natural Phenomenon observed at Hualien, Taiwan Ever wondered how these rounded pebbles have come about? Do we have such pebbles on the coasts of Singapore?

by Kuo Hoong Yong, yong_kuo_hoong@moe.edu.sg; June 2011

Forget Me Not @ the former KTM Bukit Timah StationA good example of a landscape that incorporates our collective memory of nature and of culture.

by Paul Seah, paul_seah@yahoo.com.sg; June 2011Merit Winner, GTA Photography Competition 2011

Erosional features uncovered along Punggol Beach, Singapore Nature never ceases to amaze. The coastal feature shown in the picture can never be created by a human being. That is the power of nature.

by Kuo Hoong Yong, yong_kuo_hoong@moe.edu.sg; October 2011

Rainbow Falls, Yosemite National ParkThe waterfall’s natural, majestic beauty is magnified by the rainbow reflected off its surface. The abundance of vegetation adjacent to the waterfall heightens the essence of ‘Water is Life’.

by Sarah Kang, passionfordance92@hotmail.com; July 2011Merit Winner, GTA Photography Competition 2011

GeographicalEducation

Geography Fieldwork in Singaporeby Dr Chang Chew HungAssociate ProfessorHumanities and Social Studies Education Academic GroupNational Institute of Education

I am starting this essay inside a pavilion (or really just jotting down notes), while waiting for the rain to stop at Changi spit. I figured that the worst thing for an educator to do was to preach what he/she does not practice. So here I am, completely drenched at Changi spit, with 36 students and 3 teachers who had just completed 2 hours of fieldwork asking the question why the beach needed nourishing. The real reason why I am here at the field is to follow through a series of professional development workshops that the National Institute of Education had conducted, as part of the teacher preparation for the implementation of the fieldwork component in a new syllabus for school Geography in 2013. I wanted to see if the training had been well-received and how teachers would put what they have learnt into practice. I contacted one teacher who had attended the course and decided to follow her class to understand how her session was planned and implemented. But I am digressing. This article is about geography fieldwork in Singapore. So I should provide a big picture of the topic before I delve into the examples.

Fieldwork has been considered a hallmark of geographical education by teachers and researchers alike. Much has been written about fieldwork and its place in Geography in international literature but specific pieces on the Singapore context are few in number.

I shall attempt to provide a broad overview of the existing literature and then provide some recommendations on how fieldwork can be conducted.

In the literature review by Kent, Gilbertson, and Hunt (1997) on the issue of the effectiveness and importance of fieldwork in geographical education, field studies were found to provide the integration of the theoretical with practical concepts taught in the classrooms. In addition, Kent et al. propose that fieldwork is commonly accepted as a process that encourages holistic understanding of

geographical issues.

However, some school teachers commonly conduct fieldwork

as fieldtrips where they are in reality just tours

or excursions (Chang & Ooi, 2008). Students remain largely passive and assume the role of tourists. I n e v i t a b l y ,

these fieldtrips can be described

as boring as students are not

deeply engaged in the fieldwork process

(Brown, 1969). Yet counter- arguments suggest that properly

organized fieldtrips can provide students with experiences, knowledge,

understanding as well as skills that are important to an understanding of the world

around them (Kent et al., 1997, p. 315).

Taking a students’

perspective, all field activities can be described in two dimensions :

“First, between observation and participation; second,

between dependency and autonomy” (Kent et al., 1997,

p. 316). Undeniably, fieldwork usually involves several different

combinations of activities on these two dimensions to give students the opportunity

to experience and make sense of the social, cultural and environmental phenomena (Gerber & Goh, 2000). For

instance, Couch (1985) suggested that meaningful learning can result from well-structured observations, if it is reinforced by on-site discussion. In practice, most of the fieldwork conducted by teachers fall somewhere in the middle on both dimensions. Perhaps this can be better understood by looking at cases in Singapore.

Over the past few years there has been a revival of interest in Geography fieldwork in Singapore. In part due to the impending implementation of a new

school syllabus that places heavy emphasis on fieldwork, and partly due to the dearth of literature on the issue (except for the seminal work by Gerber & Goh in the 1990s), articles like Chew (2008), Chang & Ooi (2008) and Chang & Seow (2010) have started to focus on fieldwork issues. The themes in these pieces vary within the range of cognitive and affective learning outcomes domain.

While Chew (2008) and Chang & Ooi (2008) argue for the affective aspect of understanding the context of a site, the later work by Chang & Seow (2010) focused on the inquiry process as a means of making fieldwork meaningful. In all the cases reviewed, the approach to fieldwork is seen as a balance between observation versus participation, as well as, guided versus self-directed learning (dependency and autonomy in Kent et al.’s terms).

In particular, Chang & Seow (2010) proposed adopting an inquiry approach in which 4 steps were outlined: To identify the issue and develop a question; to gather and collect data; to process and reorganize the data; and to reflect and make sense of the information collected. While this simple approach is common to most inquiry-based learning, it has provided the framework for a series of teacher professional development workshops designed to prepare teachers for the implementation of the new syllabus at NIE. This is the latest development in fieldwork and school geography in Singapore.

Although the actual form of the workshops has evolved from this initial approach, the nature of fieldwork so described, falls within the frameworks discussed above. From the two dimensions of participation and observation to guided and self-directed by Kent et. al (1997), to the need for contextual understanding of the site, and the need to frame the field experience within an inquiry approach, the latest development in Geographical fieldwork in Singapore seems aligned to what researchers and scholars have written about.

In the example I gave at the introduction of this essay, the teacher provided students with an inquiry question and let them work in groups to collect data. The students were then asked questions to make sense of the data. To top it off, the students were also encouraged to ask questions to clarify what they did not know.

So here I am still drenched at Changi Spit but really heartened by questions from the students such as ‘How do we know that the boats did not affect our readings?’ and ‘But the uncle just swept the sand and we don’t know where to start our profile’. While I should be modest and refrain from giving the credit to my NIE colleagues for imparting the ‘right approach’ to fieldwork, I must admit that observing how actual teaching practice is linked to scholarship has renewed my passion for an important hallmark of geography – fieldwork.

References

1. Boud, D., Cohen, R., & Walker, D. (1993). Using Experience for learning. Bucking- ham, United Kingdom: The Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press.2. Brown, E. H. (1969). The teaching of fieldwork and the integration of physical geography. In R. U. Cooke & J. H. Johnson (Eds.), Trends in geography: An introductory survey (pp. 70-78). London: Heinemann.3. Chang, C.H. & Ooi, G.L. (2008). Role of Fieldwork in Humanities and Social Studies Education. In Tan, O. S.,McInerney, D. M. , Liem, A. D. & Tan, A. G. (Eds.), Research in Multicultural Education and International Perspectives Series, Volume 7: What the West can learn from the East. Asian Perspectives on the Psychology of Learning and Motivation (pp. 295 - 312). Charlotte: Information Age Publishing.ISBN: 9781593119874 .4. Chang, C.H. & Seow, T.D.I.C. (2010). Field inquiry for Singapore Geography Teachers. In Chang, C.H., Ho, L.C., Seow, T.D.I.C., Chatterjea, K. & Tan, G.C.I. (Eds.) Understanding the changing space, place and cultures of Asia - SEAGA 2010 online proceedings Singapore: Southeast Asian Geography Association.5. Chew, E. (2008).Views, Values and Perceptions in Geographical Fieldwork in Singapore Schools. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 17(4), 309 - 3296. Couch, I. R. (1985). Fieldwork skills—The potential of foreign environments. In R. Barass, D. Blair, P. Garnham, & A. Moscardini (Eds.), Environmental science teaching and practice, Conference Proceedings: Third Conference on the nature and teaching of environmental studies and sciences in Higher Educa- tion (pp. 247-252). Northallerton, England: Emjoc Press.7. Gerber, R., & Goh, K. C. (Eds.). (2000). Fieldwork in geography: Reflections, perspec- tives and actions. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.8. Kent, M. Gilbertson D. O., & Hunt, C. O. (1997). Fieldwork in geography teach- ing: A critical review. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 21(3), 313-332.9. Sim, B. Y. J., Tan, G. C. I., & Sim, H. H. (2005). Exploring the use of inquiry-based learning through fieldwork. In C. Lee & C. H. Chang (Eds.), Primary social studies: Exploring pedagogy and content (pp. 33-43). Singapore: Marshall Cavendish.

The theme of the SEAGA 2010 conference held in Hanoi, Vietnam, was ‘Understanding the changing space, place and cultures of Asia’. One of the highly discussed issues was ‘How geography educators can develop a better understanding of SPACE and acquire the necessary pedagogical skills to teach this important concept’. In light of this thrust, SEAGA organized an education forum on fieldwork inquiry in 2011, to provide the physical, historical, social, and economic background of fieldwork sites for inquiry.

SEAGA Education Forum 201116 July 2011 | Raffles Girls’ School

Dr Wu Bing ShengAssistant Professor

Humanities and Social Studies Education Academic Group

National Institute of Education

 

The forum organisers suggested several sites for participants to engage in field inquiry to discuss how inquiry can be undertaken through a better understanding of these places.

GeographicalEducation

Through fieldwork, Geography teachers are able to understand the site so as to be able to answer questions of ‘WHY’ and ‘HOW’.

The forum invited scholars and practitioners to share their experiences on the contextual understanding of place in fieldwork. In addition, the forum organisers provided several sites for participants to engage in field inquiry to discuss how inquiry can be undertaken through a better understanding of the context of places.

For more details of the SEAGA Education Forum 2011, please visit the following website:http://seaga.webnode.com/news/seaga-newsletter-dec-2011/

 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTIONGeography’s Place in Studying Development

The wide-ranging scholarship in developmental studies is both inter- and multi-disciplinary, and features in various social sciences for example sociology, anthropology, economics, gender studies and geography. The word ‘development’ is used almost ubiquitously in everyday English language and it is broadly understood as the process of change which affects people’s lives. Amidst the vast range of disciplinary insights into “development”, Geography as a spatial science found its niche in studying the ‘underdeveloped’ parts of the world, also known as the Third World, a term first mentioned in the inaugural address of US President Truman in 1949. The division of the world into different spatial categories (i.e. less developed countries, developed countries) according to ‘levels of development’ further posits Geography as a discipline to understand development as a complex phenomenon manifested at various scales.

The theme of development is currently explored in school geography in Singapore at the Normal (‘N’), Ordinary (‘O’) and Advanced (‘A’) levels of the GCE Cambridge examinations. At the ‘N’ and ‘O’ levels, students are exposed to the concept through exploring scalar variations of development, causes of uneven development and the strategies to alleviate it. At ‘A’ level, the study of development is incorporated in the topic, Globalisation of Economic Activity where students evaluate the effectiveness of various indicators used to measure the level of development and determine the extent of a development gap between the First and the Third World.

This article underscores Geography’s raison d’etre of describing and explaining spatial differences using development indicators. It also provides an update on selected development indicators followed by a discussion on the use of Gapminder to enable students to elucidate the complexities of development. It is argued that a curriculum, which is based on rich and meaningful data will enable students to construct multiple and dynamic geographical imaginations of development.

Development Geographies and IndicatorsJared Goh Wee Siong

Geography TeacherDunman High School

GeographicalResearch

THE PARADOX OF MEASURING “DEVELOPMENT” Economic Indicators

A discussion on development indicators necessitates defining what development entails first. Traditionally, the term is almost synonymous with economic growth and measured by the increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced domestically by a country over the course of a year from all the economic activities within it. Taking into account the relative population size of the country, GDP is usually expressed in ‘per capita’ (per person) terms. The reliance on a country’s economy to determine its level of development is reflected in Walt Rostow’s (1960) ‘stages of development’ model. Rostow proposed that a country’s development is indicated by the transformation of its economic structure. Besides being deemed as grossly Western-centric, critics have pointed out that Rostow’s over-simplified model assumed a linear and singular route to development.

The notion of ‘growth without development’ was observed in several countries in the 1980s. Many countries despite experiencing GDP growth per capita continue to be mired in poverty and stuck with socio-economic inequalities (Storey, 2003). The value of GDP as an indicator of development was naturally called into question. The size of a country’s economy arguably provides little insights about ‘welfare concerns’ such as the quality of public healthcare and education services as well as the distribution of income among others. Simply put, increasing the expenditure of a country may not necessarily improve the general welfare of the population. Thirlwall (2008) also noted that economic indicators, such as GDP, remain blunt tools in assessing development as they provide merely ‘snapshots’ and should be used primarily as a ‘starting point’ to assess the economic progress (or the lack of) of countries around the world over time.

Beyond Economic Indicators

The recognition that development embodies a broader definition beyond economic goals and the need to incorporate the social and political dimensions led to a clarion call for more holistic indicators to measure development. One of the earliest emerged was the Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI), an average of life expectancy, infant mortality and literacy, developed in 1979. This index does not include conventional economic indicators and represents a paradigm shift in measuring development. Michael Todaro (1997), for instance argues that development should encompass three components:

1) Raising the living standards of the population through their incomes, and indirectly their consumption levels of food, education and access to medical services. 2) Raising people’s self esteem by establishing systems and political institutions that promote dignity and respect. 3) Increasing people’s freedom by enlarging the range and diversity of their choices in the economic and social realms. He stressed that development clearly goes beyond the economic, but encompasses other aspects such as the political, cultural and technological which affect social life. This idea was echoed and advanced by Amartya Sen (1999), who views development from a bottom-up perspective. The core of his argument revolves around the concept of ‘entitlements’ and ‘capabilities’, focusing on opportunities and the rights that people exercise in relation to their access to resources. Sen suggests that development involves the removal of ‘unfreedoms’ – a condition that leaves people with limited life choices and opportunities. These ‘unfreedoms’ include various aspects of health and education such as starvation, under-nourishment, morbidity, innumeracy and illiteracy.

Broader understandings of development influenced to a large extent the formulation of the Human Development Report, which was first published in 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme in an attempt to “put people back at the centre of development” (UNDP, 1990, p.61). Drawing upon the understanding that development should expand people’s choices and capabilities, a key feature in the report is the use of Human Development Index (HDI) to rank countries based on criteria beyond economic indicators. The HDI is an amalgam of three components measured by the following:

• Real GDP per capita • Adult literacy rate and average no. of years spent in school• Life expectancy

These indicators were chosen as they measure the means to achieve different aspects of human development. Table 1 provides the 2011 HDI ranking of selected countries. Essentially the HDI is a relative measurement and does not reflect absolute levels of human development (Willis, 2005) and in order to construct a fuller picture of development, one will have to use complementary indicators alongside the HDI.

The HDI formula and key indicators were revised in “several key respects to reflect changing development realities” (UNDP, 2011). For example, for the Human Development Report in 2011, the education component of the HDI has been revised to include two indicators: “expected years of schooling” for children now old enough to enter primary school, and “mean years of schooling”, representing educational attainment of the current adult population (ages 25 and up). Compared to the previous way of computation of the education component, this distinction made is more representative of the level of education amongst the populace.

HDI Rank123426184185186187

CountryNorwayAustraliaNetherlandsUnited StatesSingaporeMozambiqueBurundiNigerCongo, Demographic Republic of the

HDI0.9430.9290.9100.9100.8660.3220.3160.2950.286

Table 1: Selected HDI ranking of countries based on 2011 UNDP report

As with all its predecessors, there are limitations to HDI. It has also been criticized for ignoring socio-economic inequalities within segments of the population, as well as neglecting other important issues such as sustainability and gender equality. Despite the premise of a broader focus of development, the HDI still perpetuates a policy maker’s perspective instead of the lived experiences of people (see Potter et al, 2008). While the HDI essentially consist of three variables, these are hardly considered to be independent of each other. A case in point is where a higher GDP per capita will largely be correlated to the mean number of years attending school and perhaps better quality of medical facilities and sanitation, thus translating to a higher life expectancy.

The UNDP recognizes that HDI is a rudimentary measure of development that must be complemented by other indicators. 1995 saw the creation of the Gender-related Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). The former is effectively the HDI adjusted for gender inequalities in various aspects of development encompassing life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income between men and women. The latter measures gender inequality with regard to economic and political participation as well as earned income.

Emergence of alternative indicatorsNotwithstanding the pervasive use of ‘official’ development indicators such as HDI, there has been a proliferation of alternatives. These alternative indicators often employ varying methodologies and complicated computation models to reflect different aspects of development.

Gross National Happiness (GNH)The more prominent among the alternative indicators developed in recent times is the Gross National Happiness (GNH). The kingdom of Bhutan has gained international fame for promoting the use of GNH (since 1976) and its king has declared that GNH is more important than GDP. GNH is a quantitative measurement of well-being and happiness within a country. The creator of GNH views subjective measures like ‘well-being’ as more relevant and important than objective measures like ‘income’ and ‘consumption’. However, the inclusion of both types of measures proves to be rather ambitious and casts doubts on the usefulness and validity of the GNH especially when governments can select parameters to suit their interests.

Happy Planet Index (HPI)Within geography, there has always been a longstanding interest in how people interact with their environments. Many issues in development point to the need for more sustainable patterns and processes in development and therein lies the need for an indicator which can chart the progress / regression of sustainable development. Introduced by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) in July 2006, the Happy Planet Index (HPI) challenges the well-established approach to defining development. The index is built from three development indicators, two of which are objectively measured i.e. ‘life expectancy’ and ‘ecological footprints. The third indicator is self-reported ‘life satisfaction’ (Happy Planet Index Report, 2006). It shows the ecological efficiency with respect to human well-being, measured by the average years of happy lives produced by a given society. Mathematically, the relationship can be expressed as:

HPI = Life Satisfaction x Life Expectancy Ecological Footprint

Viewing planetary resource consumption as the fundamental input and well-being as the ultimate end, the HPI brings the notion of ‘sustainable development’ to the forefront as it advocates equitable and responsible resource consumption. Unsurprisingly, many of the wealthiest nations of the planet are ranked low, G8 countries such as UK comes a disappointing 108th, Japan 95th, while the United States 150th, out of 178 countries. Island nations like Vanuatu, Cuba and Seychelles rank generally high in the computed table (Happy Planet Index Report, 2006). Results were also vastly different from that of the HDI: countries classified by the United Nations as middle human development fare better than low and high development countries. An interesting finding which surfaced was that all 178 countries fell short in some aspects of the HPI, reflecting how development may have come at the expense of environmental well-being and sustainability at a global scale, resulting in a somewhat contradictory name used by NEF as the ‘Unhappy Planet Index’.

From the discussion thus far, it seems that none of the development indicators discussed thus far is able to capture the complexities and dynamic nature of the term development. The use of development indicators has allowed policy-makers and civil society to chart the state of development progress and for monitoring international aid. Notably, development, as a social construct remains like the story of ‘The blind men and an elephant’, as knowledge is always partial and situated. Nonetheless, the discussion on the use of different indicators will be helpful to the geography student in constructing this partial knowledge of the world.

TRANSLATING DEVELOPMENT GEOGRAPHIES INTO THE CLASSROOM

While the attempt to create a complete picture of development remains elusive, it is argued in this article that a curriculum which harnesses rich and meaningful data in the form of development indicators offers opportunities for students to build multiple and dynamic geographical imaginings of development. The topic of development indicators provides an excellent platform for students to read about the world and make sense of statistics and maps. In our knowledge-based society, these multiple ways of constructing a picture of development is potentially empowering. Yet, a perennial challenge which faces educators is the availability and accessibility of data sources to depict the various facets of development.

Gapminder World is a resource which enables students to work with authentic data sets to carry out geographical enquiry (Roberts, 2010).

It provides opportunities for students to explore data sets and, more importantly, make sense of difficult concepts such as ‘uneven development’ and ‘inequalities’. Founded in 2005 as a non-profit organization, Gapminder World aims to be ‘a modern museum’ on the Internet to provide a fact-based world view that everyone understands. Currently, there are more than 500 variables on Gapminder which include sections on population, energy usage, technology, education and health. The sheer richness and availability of data allows students to interpret and analyse these data sets to describe the unevenness of geographical phenomena and chart trends across time periods.

Dorling and Barford (2006) have attested that a large-scale collection of wide-ranging data variable sets is essential to a student’s understanding of the world. This understanding is particularly enhanced when data is used to create maps that show a range of variables relatively and simultaneously. By working with updated development indicators, students develop their critical awareness of how data is collected and represented, further questioning the reliability and usefulness of the data. As Lang (2011, p.17) puts it, “Gapminder World bridges the divide between geography and other school subjects and university”. For decades, development indicators such as the HDI have reinforced the concepts of ‘less’ and ‘more’ developed countries, of ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries and a global ‘North-South Divide’. Gapminder World provides a means for a new generation of learners to see beyond the simple dichotomies and proposes the idea that countries are constantly changing in a development continuum, rather than in a fixed position.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The Geographical Association (UK) has urged geography teachers to challenge our assumptions and destabilize the fixated meanings and vocabulary we use to describe the world. In the context of development, the power of geography lies in understanding the relationship between the unique circumstances of a place embedded within overarching globalising processes. Arguably, the value of geography education lies in empowering students to develop an accurate world view, and to appreciate the real changes which are happening in places to draw meaningful connections not just to their lives but also to the lives of (distant) others. A curriculum which relies only on stereotypical ‘development indicators’ and ‘case studies’ may serve to reinforce students’ (limited) geographical imaginations of places. The onus is thus on geography educators to expose students to meaningful data to construct multiple understandings and instil in them the values to develop a positive and responsible attitude of our dynamic and diverse world.

Suggested Resource List

1. Gapminder: www.gapminder.org2. Gapminder World: www.gapminder.org/world3. Gapminder: For Teachers: www.gapminder.org/for-teachers4. Gross National Happiness: http://www.gnhc.gov.bt/5. Happy Planet Index: http://www.happyplanetindex.org/6. MDGMonitor that shows how countries are progressing in achieving the MDGs: www.mdgmonitor.org/7. UN Millennium Development Goals: www.un.org/millenniumgoals/8. Human Development Report 1990: www.hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/ hdr1990/chapters9. United Nations Human Development Report 2011: http://hdr.undp.org/en/

References

1. Dorling, D., & Barford, A. (2006). Humanising Geography. Geography, 91(3), 187-197. 2. Lang, B. (2011). Gapminder: bringing statistics to life, Teaching Geography, 36(1), 17-19. 3. Potter, R., Binns, T., Elliot, J., Smith, D. (2008). Geographies of Development (pp.3-42). Harlow: Pearson Education. 4. Roberts, M. (2010). Geographical Enquiry, Teaching Geography, 35(1), 6-9. 5. Rostow, W.W. (1960). The Process of Economic Growth, Oxford: Clarendon Press. 6. Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom, Oxford, Oxford University Press. 7. Storey, A. (2003). Measuring Development. In McCann. G. and McCloskey, S. (Eds.), From the Local to the Global: Key Issues in Development Studies (pp.25-40). Chase Publishing Services, Pluto Press. 8. Thirlwall, A.P. (2008). Development as Economic Growth. In Desai, V. and Potter, R. (Eds.), The Companion to Development Studies (pp.37-40). Hodder Arnold. 9. Todaro, M. (1997). Economic Development. London: Longman.10. United Nations Development Programme Human Development (2010). Retrieved November 1, 2011, from http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ pdf/MDG%20Report%202010%20En%20r15%20-low%20res%20 20100615%20-.pdf11. United Nations The Millennium Goals Report (2010). Retrieved November 1, 2011, from http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG%20 Report%202010%20En%20r15%20-low%20res%2020100615%20-.pdf12. United Nations The Millennium Goals Report (2011), Retrieved November 19, 2011, from http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/11_MDG%20Report_ EN.pdf13. Willis, K. (2005). Theories and Practices of Development. London and New York: Routledge.

Geography in Schools Geography Inquiry through Fieldwork!

Our teachers reflect and reveal...

I was observing the pattern and the direction which the ping pong ball took along the shore as the long shore drift hit it. There was a change in the pattern in the way the ball travelled after about 20 metres from the groyne. Human management structures did have an effect on the way the waves move beach materials. I should also have observed and recorded the patterns of the ball movement on the other side of the groyne. I realised that crafting a hypothesis is much simpler than confirming it! Fieldwork at Chinatown and East Coast were my favourite parts. It served as a platform for us to test our hypotheses and engage in a systematic way of gathering and analysing data. Fieldwork brought other questions and insights to the forefront as more data collected revealed new ways of seeing the hypotheses.

We were trying to construct a profile of the land use along the shop houses on Trengganu Street, Chinatown. One of my team members was trying to describe what he had observed.

I have been to Chinatown countless times but it is so amazing that I now see it differently through Geographical lenses.

My favourite part of the course is definitely fieldwork at both East Coast Park and Chinatown. It was a good learning experience as we applied the fieldwork techniques we learnt in the classroom and gathered information. It makes learning Geography fun and interesting!

Azizah Bte Abdul Rahim | Yishun Secondary

Monica Suan | Bowen Secondary

Simon Khoo | Anderson Secondary

What were you doing in this photograph ?

What were you thinking in this photograph ?

What was your favourite part of the course ?

My group was standing on one of the groynes at East Coast Beach. We were studying the effectiveness of coastal engineering methods and trying to ascertain whether deposition (or erosion) was taking place at this side of the groyne. I was holding a measuring tape and was about to extend it to the bottom of the groyne structure until it touched the seabed. I was clarifying some concepts and fieldwork techniques with my facilitator, Mdm Ang, as my photograph was taken! I believe I was trying to clarify matters with Mdm Ang, on the appropriateness of the measuring technique used to ascertain the direction of longshore drift.

I enjoyed the fieldwork experiences at East Coast Park and Chinatown as they allowed my colleagues and I to recce the sites before we plan our lessons. This course also reminded me of NIE days when we went for Geography field studies using the UbD approach to tease out ‘big ideas’, ‘essential questions’ and ‘enduring understanding’ statements on specific themes like Tourism. Of course, I also enjoyed the process of forging friendships and networking with Geography educators from various schools in Singapore.

This photograph was taken at East Coast Park. We had embarked on our investigative journey to discover the dynamics of longshore drift. We developed our group’s hypothesis, after which we went about observing the wind direction, the direction of the longshore drift, and the type of materials deposited.

How can I translate my learning to my classroom? When can I bring my students to conduct coastal fieldwork? What must I do to better equip my students so that they will be able to enjoy and learn from fieldwork? To discover and test our hypothesis which prompted us to revisit our assumptions. The teamwork and friendship that were developed and forged during the course were unforgettable!

I was trying to determine the direction of the long shore drift.

Should we tie an orange or a styrofoam at the other end of the string?

The fieldwork at East Coast Park and Chinatown!

I was in deep thought, deciding on the best place in Chinatown to buy a new pair of shoes.

Geographers are indeed ‘walking GPS’ with a SMILE! :)

I enjoyed interacting with fellow teachers and learn how they engage students during fieldwork.

I was conducting a questionnaire survey with tourists visiting Chinatown and this particular tourist was from New Zealand. The aim of the questionnaire was to find out why Chinatown attracts tourists.

During the survey, I was thinking about how my students will conduct the interviews. Will they be brave enough? Can they articulate the questions well? Will they be able to respond spontaneously to ‘unexpected replies’? Will they be able to deal with rejection?

Definitely the fieldwork! I am a staunch believer of ‘the world is our classroom’ mantra. Having the chance to create a classroom out of the real world definitely motivates me further to get involved intellectually and pedagogically in the discipline. Once the students can ‘see’ geography taking place, they’ll ‘believe’ the subject even more. :)

Karen Thia | Fuchun Secondary

Ng Wee Chung | Hougang Secondary

Frances Ess | Mayflower Secondary

Malyanah Mawar | Evergreen Secondary

“ I am a geography teacher, educator, but also a mother,

grandmother, sister, friend and citizen.”

In some ways this is true because in inquiry-based geography there needs to be time for students to make sense for themselves through studying data, through discussion, writing and representing their ideas graphically. In addition to learning the content of the lesson, they are learning much more; they are learning skills of analysis and interpretation, of debate, of reaching their own conclusions. If an inquiry approach is to be adopted, syllabuses should have fewer topics so that there is time in the classroom for students both to develop geographical knowledge and understanding and also to develop the wide range of skills needed for inquiry and which are relevant to life in the 21st century.

No. Students can investigate significant geographical questions in the classroom through the analysis and interpretation of secondary data. They can also search for and select their own data through the use of the Internet and libraries, so they can be involved in the inquiry process from the selection of data to the reaching of conclusions and reflecting on the findings.

Margaret Roberts on Geographical Inquiry

Geography in Schools

Margaret Roberts

What is Geographical Inquiry and how is it different from other approaches

say Problem-based Learning?

G e o g r a p h i c a l Inquiry is an approach to

teaching and learning in which

students take an active role in investigating significant

geographical questions through the study of evidence. It enables students to

participate in the construction of knowledge through developing their ability to analyse and interpret data, to make

sense of information for themselves, relating it to what they already know, to reach conclusions and to form judgements. What an inquiry approach means in practice is related to the specific contexts in which it is developed. For some topics and with some classes, it might be appropriate to have strong guidance from the teacher, with the teacher selecting data and helping students to study them. For other topics and/or classes it would be appropriate for the inquiry to be more student-led, with students selecting their own data and working more independently. Problem-based learning is a form of inquiry, but is student-led and open-ended. My own understanding of inquiry makes it more flexible for adaptation to courses that have pre-determined outcomes in terms of knowledge, understanding and skills. In these classes most inquiry work would be strongly teacher-guided.

Is it true that Geographical Inquiry requires more

classroom time?

Does Geographical Inquiry always involve

fieldwork?

This depends on what is tested. If the test assesses astudents’ ability to remember and reproduce geographical information, then it might

not, although some students might recall more because they have been more actively engaged. However, if the test assesses students’ ability to

analyse given data or to discuss a geographical issue, then geographical inquiry is likely to improve test scores as students would have had more classroom

experience of analysing data, discussing issues and thinking for themselves.

Margaret Roberts on Singapore

I love so many things! I especially like: the welcome I have been given by Singaporeans and particularly by geography teachers; its different cultures; tropical vegetation; orchids; never feeling cold; feeling safe everywhere; the promenade along the Singapore River; the food; the Museum of Asian Civilisations.

A neighbourhood; a shopping mall; a hawker centre; a food court; the home of a Singaporean; Marina Bay; the

Singapore River; Botanical Gardens including the National Orchid Garden; Singapore Zoo, including the Night Safari;

Jurong Bird Park; Little India; Chinatown; Kampong Glam; and probably many other places I have not visited yet!

Could Geographical Inquiry help to improve

test scores?

What do you like about Singapore most?

For a complete experience of Singapore, where should one

visit?

And what should one eat?

Different types of Asian food including: Chicken Rice; Chilli Crab; Thai food; Indian food; a Chinese New Year meal; laksa and murtabak!

a) Attend courses on geographical inquiryb) Liaise with other geography teachers who have been on courses on geographical inquiry and share ideas and resourcesc) Visit Edumall 2.0 regularlyd) Buy my book, Learning through Enquiry, published by the Geographical Association!e) Buy the book I am writing at the moment on Geographical Enquiry, which will be published in 2013

How can teachers find out more about Geographical

Inquiry?

I visited Ang Mo Kio with Josef and went to a neighbourhood coffeeshop to eat. I felt privileged to see an aspect of Singapore that most visitors do not see, an aspect which is part of most Singaporeans’ everyday lives. This photograph is of the group at the next table and shows different generations of the same

family eating together. This is such a contrast with England

where people eat out infrequently and eat few meals with their extended family,

partly because most people’s relatives live far away. I have some striking photographs of Marina Bay, the Singapore River, orchids, shop houses, etc. but this photograph tells me more about Singapore than my more touristy photographs.

Chicken rice: something that can be created everywhere in Singapore, with some common ingredients and different additional extras and different levels of sophistication according to how it is adapted to suit different contexts.

15th November20th World Orchid Conference

7th NovemberSingapore Zoo

5th NovemberJoo Chiat Road

15th NovemberOutside the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel,

upriver from Robertson Quay

Can you share with us the story behind your favourite

photograph taken in Singapore?

If Geographical Inquiry is a Singaporean dish, what would

it be?

Singapore through Margaret’s eyes

I was impressed that the primates were free to explore the tropical

vegetation and wanted to capture that.

This was taken at Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands. Amid the immense variety of orchids, this one caught my attention because of its subtle colours and beautiful shape.

I like the way the shophouses have been restored in lovely colours with attention to every detail. I liked the contrast between the painted shophouse and the leaves on the tree.

I loved walking along the promenade by the river

and on my last morning I noticed how good the light

was, took a photograph and then this woman walked

along with her dog and I took this - a much better

photograph.

WHY LOCAL FIELDWORK?

Fieldwork in Physical Geography has traditionally meant travelling to a far enough location to study ‘prime’ examples of natural landforms and phenomena. This idea of fieldwork has always been difficult for local teachers in ultra-urban Singapore – whereby even a simple local fieldtrip requires a great deal of logistics and planning. Due to this, most geography fieldtrips take place between terms or semesters; or never at all. More importantly, fieldwork usually does not take place in tandem with the content or topic being currently taught. Students, in a way, ‘halt’ their learning of a particular topic and are, hence, forced to recall theoretical concepts weeks if not months after they are taught.

Local fieldwork within the school compound is best suited to circumvent this systemic problem. Instead of looking “far away enough” for suitable sites for fieldwork, teachers may be pleasantly surprised if they look closer to home – in fact in their own school backyard. Most school compounds, upon closer investigation, usually hold 3 or all 4 of Natural Vegetation types covered within the ‘O’ level Geography syllabus, and immediately become wonderful candidates for investigative field study.

Redesigning Pedagogy

Benjamin Tan Wei-YingAnglican High School

COMPETITIVE INVESTIGATIVE FIELDWORK

The Not-so-Amazing Race incorporates a competitive element to fieldwork. Instead of the traditional and directly investigative mode of answering hypothesis and gathering samples, students traverse the school compound in an ‘Amazing Race’ style. Clues, roadblocks and tasks take the place of investigative tools, and students are challenged to learn through fieldwork in a kinaesthetic, experiential and fun manner.

The race was a huge success with students in terms of student involvement, because, for once, they were allowed to romp around the school grounds during curriculum time, and all for the sake of learning. The kinaesthetic nature of the activity immediately attracts more boisterous classes’ involvement, and the clues and puzzle-solving process also attracts the more logically-inclined students. More importantly, students are finally able to look at, touch, smell and hopefully not trample over the very objects of their studies: the natural vegetation around their own school compound.

LEARNING FROM FIELDWORK

At the end of the fieldwork, students are tasked to create a presentation based on photographs, samples, and guided observations made during the fieldwork. This presentation is graded and constitutes a form of alternative assessment that teachers can employ. Students are assessed based on presentation techniques, content relevance, and most importantly, whether their presentations show an understanding of what they learn in the classroom and the field. The presentations are usually of excellent quality, since the actual photos and fieldwork observations are unique to each student or group. This ownership of their work in the field encourages students to internalise their observations and learning.

The Not-so-Amazing Race- Really local fieldwork for Geography

Student presentation

GEOGRAPHY IS FIELDWORKChallenges aside, it is my belief that the field is where Geography is best learnt. The challenges of organizing fieldwork in Singapore should not be obstacles that hinder it from taking place, as long as we creatively think of how we can adapt our immediate environment. From our cemented drainage systems to teach flood management techniques, to our local beaches which are prime examples of beach nourishment, we do not need to look very far from home for effective fieldwork to take place.

The Not-so-Amazing Race can be a real learning experience for both participants and teacher alike. Since Geography teachers are rarely trained botanists, identifying the actual specie and its biome can prove to be an exciting challenge to us. Many schools have recently taken to growing beautiful evergreen conifers within the school compound, which is a godsend to teachers; but how do we identify the spruce from the fir from the pine? However, help is always around the corner in the form of the school caretaker! Teachers will be surprised at the fount of botany knowledge that our school caretakers have, and may be even more surprised that they may have planted some of these trees! Schools without a knowledgeable caretaker need not fret. A quick reference between the actual tree or plant and a Google search will quickly reveal its identity. I am very sure your school will have its Albizia saman or Rain Tree with its sweet pods, Cocos nucifera or Coconut Palm with its saline resistant roots, and any species of Pinus or Pine with its tiny leaves.

The knowledge and application advantage of this fieldwork is manifold. Firstly, students will be able to learn a variety of vegetation types. By coming into contact with the vegetation, it will become easier for students to recall these specie names. Secondly, students can clearly observe vegetation adaptations and their significance. Without fieldwork, a ‘tiny’ coniferous needle leaf has no frame of reference, but by actually looking closely at the size of a single leaf, students marvel and are able to internalise the idea of how minute the leaf is. Thirdly, and in a sense most importantly, students begin to appreciate how real and observable Geography is – that it exists all around them, and that it is not just a ‘jumble of words and processes’ found in a textbook.

The Not-so-Amazing Race has been modified and improved over three years - three cycles of Secondary Three students doing both Elective and Core Geography. The selection of vegetation and the tasks given to students are the key to creating a meaningful fieldwork exercise for students’ learning. The tasks given must challenge the student to ask the essential questions of how that particular feature of the tree is adapted to its natural environment. The ‘fun’ element of the fieldwork exercise should not overshadow its learning objectives. For this reason, I included the ‘presentation component’ of this Amazing Race, to ensure that students take time to reflect on the significance of what they have observed in the field.

Race clues, roadblocks & tasks

Vegetation in school compound

Fun with Geography @ Marina Barrage in 60 minutes

Benjamin Lim Chan Bee Bee

Boon Lay Secondary School

Redesigning Pedagogy

WHY DID WE EVEN START?

It was indeed flattering and also an honour for us to receive this unexpected invitation from the Geography Teachers’ Association (GTA) to write an article, given the fact that both Madam Chan Bee Bee and myself were first-year beginning school teachers then. We hope GEObuzz would continue to be a platform for geography teachers to share ideas and innovations.

Our journey started in July 2010 when Mrs Catherine Chan (HOD of Humanities) suggested the idea of organizing a 1- hour geography learning journey for our Secondary 3 geography pupils during their extended term in November. With only an hour to plan for, we thought that it was an insane proposition! Most learning journeys (those we came across at least) required at least half a day to carry out. However, we were undeterred by our time constraints. As the saying goes, time waits for no man, achieve what we can; if time has limits, we will make time work more efficiently.

As staunch believers of the importance of 21st century skills today, Madam Chan and I wanted to organize more than just a learning journey. It needed to be relevant and engaging for our pupils because we want them to appreciate the relevance of 21st century skills like critical thinking, decision-making and many others related to, not just the field of Geography but also, more importantly, our everyday lives. We must say that FUN is also crucial and a definite winning element to be considered in the plan. And, hence, the hatched plan – Fun with Geography @ Marina Barrage in 60 minutes.

HOW IT HATCHED IN 60 MINUTES

There were 3 learning stations in the learning journey at Marina Barrage, namely, ‘The Marina Bridge/Barrage’, the ‘Sustainable Singapore Gallery’ and the ‘Green Roof’.

With the use of Information Technology and mobile technology to facilitate contextualised learning, pupils were instructed to create a 3-minute multi-modal documentary that identify and explain key features of the Marina Barrage. A set of instructional scaffoldings was given to pupils to ensure that they were able to carry out the task through a process of guided discovery.

All 78 Secondary Three Express pupils were also instructed to work collaboratively in groups of 4-5 to create their videos. In order to facilitate effective and efficient learning, all groups were divided into 2 sub-groups to prevent the problem of over-crowding in a specific location at any given time.

Our assessment task aimed to promote healthy competition amongst pupils. In recognition of their effort, the best 3 groups across the level got to showcase their masterpieces on Youtube to garner viewing hits (votes) to vie for the title of the ‘Best Marina Barrage Video’. The winning group stood to win ‘attractive’ prizes.

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND OUT

Our pupils enjoyed the learning journey as they got to flaunt their creative talents in acting and video-editing. We must admit that the videos were impressive! Not only had our pupils successfully met the stated learning objectives within the stipulated one hour; they had enjoyed producing those videos as evident in their post-activity reflections.

The end products (videos) of this learning journey were also testimonies of our successful in-house flagship programme, HEArts, that aims to develop 21st century skills in lower secondary. HEArts stands for Humanities, English Language and Arts (Literary Art - Literature). It is an inter-disciplinary programme specially devised for all lower secondary pupils of our school. The HEArts programme enables our pupils to learn 21st century skills (i.e., team work, presentation skills, stage confidence among others), while covering content knowledge of the subjects involved. Each academic term covers different themes and pupils are involved in project tasks consisting of producing a hard copy information booklet. In addition, pupils will also organize an exhibition, for example, a ‘Night Museum Walk’ in school, and present their projects to their parents as well as members of the public.

All in all, we have concurred that teachers should always have ‘relevance’ in mind when we plan educational activity for our pupils. Add a dash of ‘fun’ with tons of careful scaffolding and you are ready to whip up a storm teaching Geography.

The students’ works can be accessed from these websites:(1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhH_ZiMXE8Q (2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzYiduwwCNo

PARADIGM SHIFTS - LOOK AT THE STARS FOR INSPIRATION!

‘What have Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt got to do with Geography? Current news about Angelina is that she is purportedly suffering from anorexia nervosa. Snap! Her increasingly small frame is a cause of concern for Brad. He is worried sick as Angelina often travels to the African continent as a United Nations goodwill ambassador to visit malnourished African children. Snap, snap!’

The real life scenarios of stars and celebrities may offer geography teachers a possible pedagogical alternative in introducing the topic ‘Geography of Food’. Sub-topics such as trends and variations of food consumption between developed and developing countries, international efforts to alleviate hunger and even cause and effects of malnutrition could be discussed in depth and in relation to celebrities.

The key here is to relate Geographical issues closely to current celestial issues! How do we go about doing that? Do get to know students’ interests and get them interested. For pictures and stories, E Entertainment @ http://www.eonline.com/ is recommended. Be warned, it can be addictive to teachers too. More importantly, let’s be relevant and be cool at the same time!

Muhammad Faisal Aman | Geography teacher

Use mnemonics that employ keywords or puns of keywords to trigger students’ memory. To help students with the problems caused by deforestation, we use:

Bye - BiomassBye - BiodiversityNice - Nutrient Cycle Water - Water QualityAir - Air pollution

Guru’s Bag O’ Tricks

The Last Page

Team Humanities @ Sembawang Secondary School

“We climb the highest mountain,We’ll make the desert bloom.We’re so ingenious we can walk on the moon.But when I hear of how the forests have died,Saltwater wells in my eyes.”(Julian Lennon, Saltwater) It is time to emphasise the infusion of music into the geography classroom! Music has long been a fundamental aspect of different cultures around the world; developing over space and through time. Not only does it add liveliness into the lesson, it also helps students to retain knowledge through reflexivity. As Waterman (2006) asserts, ‘sound aids us by evoking images; images resound and they echo our thoughts; while the eye stimulates our initial views, the ear restrains us, allowing us time to reflect and form a second opinion.’ Thus, the use of music in geography classes encourages students to analyse and draw linkages between the songs and the underlying geographical ideas/concepts in it. For example, as seen from the introductory excerpt, the singer laments the negative impacts humans have inflicted on the environment. So, for geography teachers, the future challenge lies in our attempt to discover more music pieces in relation to geography so as to stimulate and interest young minds!

Esther TanStudent Teacher

 

This picture was taken in Hyde Park, London; 2010. Can geographers ever resist the urge to hug a tree? Haha!

GTA recognizes and awards top student-teachers. The winner must obtain a distinction in the Teaching of Geography and at least a Credit in the Teaching Practicum in the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Secondary) programme.The winners in 2011 are Mr Low Guanming and Mr Wu Biwei Ivan.

Geography Book Prize 2011

PICNIC ATOP A VOLCANO? We’ll arrange it!

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Karakuni-dake, Miyazaki, Japan. 28 Oct, 2008. Field trip with Tsunagi Junior High School. -Lunch break! Mt. Takachiho in the background.