Teaching Secondary Geography as if the Planet Matters

We are surrounded by images and warnings of impending environmental disaster. Climate change, famine, population growth and urban crisis coupled with more recent financial chaos all threaten our sense of what it will be like to live in the future.

This thought-provoking text looks at how Geography teachers can develop approaches to curriculum and learning which help students understand the nature of the contemporary world. It sets out a model for teaching and learning that allows teachers to examine existing approaches to teaching and draw upon the insights of geography as a discipline to deepen students’ understanding of urban futures, climate change, ‘geographies of food’ and the ‘geographies of the credit crunch’.

Features include:

• examples of suggested teaching activities
• questions and activities for further study
• detailed case studies
• sources of further reading and information

The true worth of a school subject is revealed in how far it can account for and respond to the major issues of the time. The issue of the environment cuts across subject boundaries and requires an interdisciplinary response. Geography teachers are part of that response and they have a crucial role in helping students to respond to environmental issues and representations.

John Morgan is Reader in Geography Education at the Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol and at the Institute of Education, University of London.