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Standards and Continua
When devising this unit of work, the first step, naturally, was to consult the ACARA Junior Secondary documents, to ensure that I was addressing curriculum requirements and assessment standards. Alongside the development of knowledges around connectedness to environments from a local, national and global perspectives, and the accruement of geographical skills including interpreting, analysing and using geographical data to develop reasoned arguments, there was a clear link to the theme of sustainability as a continued and progressive area of study, leading to a major focus area in Year 10.
Narrowing in on the Year 7 Geography Curriculum, are two prescribed units, Water in the World and Place and Liveability, both addressing the two related strands: geographical knowledge and understanding, and geographical inquiry and skills. The scope and sequence of the unit plan aligns with the curriculum standards from both these strands, with a focus on sustainable practice that has been able to be woven into the elaborations.
Due to the prerequisites required for this unit of work to align with the national curriculum, the inquiry topic, by and large, has been mandated. However, the scope can be adjusted to allow the teacher to approach the key questions with a complimentary lens – in this case, the theme of sustainability.
General Capabilities are also evident through the inquiry, as evidenced in the standards outlined in the Australian Curriculum. Critical and Creative Thinking is a key capability that is explored through the inquiry, as students work throughout all sequences in order to develop their guided inquiry:
When devising this unit of work, the first step, naturally, was to consult the ACARA Junior Secondary documents, to ensure that I was addressing curriculum requirements and assessment standards. Alongside the development of knowledges around connectedness to environments from a local, national and global perspectives, and the accruement of geographical skills including interpreting, analysing and using geographical data to develop reasoned arguments, there was a clear link to the theme of sustainability as a continued and progressive area of study, leading to a major focus area in Year 10.
Narrowing in on the Year 7 Geography Curriculum, are two prescribed units, Water in the World and Place and Liveability, both addressing the two related strands: geographical knowledge and understanding, and geographical inquiry and skills. The scope and sequence of the unit plan aligns with the curriculum standards from both these strands, with a focus on sustainable practice that has been able to be woven into the elaborations.
Due to the prerequisites required for this unit of work to align with the national curriculum, the inquiry topic, by and large, has been mandated. However, the scope can be adjusted to allow the teacher to approach the key questions with a complimentary lens – in this case, the theme of sustainability.
General Capabilities are also evident through the inquiry, as evidenced in the standards outlined in the Australian Curriculum. Critical and Creative Thinking is a key capability that is explored through the inquiry, as students work throughout all sequences in order to develop their guided inquiry:
The Year 7 Geography standards are being addressed in the guided inquiry, as assessment criteria for the students’ culminating piece of work – a proposal for a new facility/service/practice in the school, that demonstrates sustainable practice. Knowledge and Understanding is demonstrated through the examination of factors that influence liveability, perceptions of liveability, how liveability is enhanced through accessible facilities and services, and how liveability can be planned for, and managed by people. The last three points lend themselves to the incorporation of the sustainability focus. Students will also be assessed on geographic skills such as developing geographically significant questions to frame an inquiry; evaluation and analysis of a range of sources, maps and data; use of geographical terminology and digital technologies, formulating a proposal of action supported with a description of the expected effects of the proposal; and purposeful presentation of findings.
Levels of Inquiry – teacher centred to student centred
After consulting the curriculum, standards and continuum, it became evident that best course of action was to utilise the Guided Inquiry Design Framework by Kahlthau, Maniotes and Caspari (2012), in conjunction with the Information Search Process by Kuhlthau. I wanted to allow the students autonomy in their learning, while ensuring that curriculum and assessment requirements were still being met. Thus, while the inquiry topic and key inquiry questions will be decided by the teacher, students are able to devise a sub-question through the incorporation of questioning frameworks, which can then become their own inquiry question for the Guided Inquiry Design and culminative assessment item.
Levels of Inquiry – teacher centred to student centred
After consulting the curriculum, standards and continuum, it became evident that best course of action was to utilise the Guided Inquiry Design Framework by Kahlthau, Maniotes and Caspari (2012), in conjunction with the Information Search Process by Kuhlthau. I wanted to allow the students autonomy in their learning, while ensuring that curriculum and assessment requirements were still being met. Thus, while the inquiry topic and key inquiry questions will be decided by the teacher, students are able to devise a sub-question through the incorporation of questioning frameworks, which can then become their own inquiry question for the Guided Inquiry Design and culminative assessment item.
Guided Inquiry Design Framework
The Guided Inquiry Design Framework (GID) became an obvious choice, as it complimented the inquiry ethos derived from the Geography Curriculum; encouraging and providing students with opportunities to wonder, and to learn through inquiry and investigation. The higher-order, and critical and creative thinking skills required for authentic and deep learning are fostered and developed through guided inquiry, as students have the support of the learning team in order to take risks, and take ownership of their learning, while still having guidance to ensure they meet necessary curriculum and assessment requirements. From a pragmatic view, incorporating the GID Framework creates planned opportunities for teachers to not only provide some of the background knowledge and key skills required to move further into the inquiry, but to also intervene at critical points to guide students through learning phases that they may find difficult and disheartening.
The purpose of the Open phase is to stimulate student curiosity on the topic; to “spark conversations about ideas and themes, pose questions and problems, and highlight concepts related to the subject” (Kuhlthau et al., 2012, p.9). This phase of the Year 7 Place and Liveability unit allows for the teacher to begin to integrate the idea of sustainability to enhance liveability, while also having the opportunity to consider what students already know about the topic. During the Immerse phase, the teacher can provide information, data and sources to help build background knowledge, while allowing students to begin inquiries into different conditions of liveability. Students will need clear understandings of these concepts moving forward, however can use this prescribed knowledge to begin investigating perceptions of liveability, and considerations regarding sustainable practices.
The Explore phase opens up the opportunity for the Learning Team to become involved in the guided inquiry. In this unit, specific time has been allocated for collaborative teaching and students support with the teacher-librarian, specifically regarding the Information Search Process (ISP) and the development of guiding questions though the Question Formulation Steps. Evaluation of data is also a specific skill that can be taught to the students by both the subject teacher and the teacher-librarian. While the teacher-librarian may utilise the generic evaluation process (for example, the CRAAP Test), the subject teacher may assist students with evaluating geography-specific resources (maps, graphs etc.). The dedicated time allowed for the Identify phase allows students to extend their question skills to construct their own inquiry question, which will then form the main focus for their assessment item. The Learning Team further expands during the Gather phase to encompass teachers and other school personnel to help broaden the range of information sources, and deepen students’ knowledge through the evaluation of the most useful sources. The GID Framework again allows teachers to ‘dip in’ and provide guidance to students as they develop their sense of direction in the ISP.
The Create and Share phases of the GID allows students to demonstrate a culmination of their learning and new ideas, with a proposal to improve the liveability in the school through a sustainable facility, service or practice. By selecting the audience for presentation, the teacher provides some implicit guidance on the tone required for the presentation, and can direct students to inquire about the suitability of their planned presentation. The demonstration of the students’ inquiry question will show how students have moved beyond ‘fact finding and recall’ to the higher-order, and critical and creative thinking skills, to demonstrate in a written and visual mode that they feel best demonstrates their proposed concept. The final phase, Evaluate, allows for the students to critically reflect on their learning, and consider new goals for moving forward in their learning process, in consultation with teacher feedback.
Questioning Frameworks
ACARA and Queensland Studies Authority outline the required key questions for the Year 7 Geography unit Place and Liveability:
The purpose of the inquiry task, is to encourage students to deepen their inquiry by posing more focussed questions. An essential question, posed by the teacher, could be a way of encouraging divergent and creative thought about the topic, for example;
How does sustainability enhance liveability?
How can we make our school more sustainable?
Why do we need a sustainable school?
Teaching students to develop appropriate and answerable questions is a skill that should be developed as part of the guided inquiry process. Two questioning frameworks were adapted and adopted into the Place and Liveability unit – generative questioning in the form of The Question Formulation Technique, to help students craft suitable questions to help drive their inquiry forward; and productive questioning through the application of the KWHLAQ Chart. Justification for selecting these particular questioning frameworks lies in the alignment of the knowledges and skills being developed though the unit, as well as the way it links to the ISP.
Students would spend focussed time with both the subject teacher and the teacher librarian, learning about the craft of constructing suitable questions – a generative skill that they can then apply to any learning situation.
The Guided Inquiry Design Framework (GID) became an obvious choice, as it complimented the inquiry ethos derived from the Geography Curriculum; encouraging and providing students with opportunities to wonder, and to learn through inquiry and investigation. The higher-order, and critical and creative thinking skills required for authentic and deep learning are fostered and developed through guided inquiry, as students have the support of the learning team in order to take risks, and take ownership of their learning, while still having guidance to ensure they meet necessary curriculum and assessment requirements. From a pragmatic view, incorporating the GID Framework creates planned opportunities for teachers to not only provide some of the background knowledge and key skills required to move further into the inquiry, but to also intervene at critical points to guide students through learning phases that they may find difficult and disheartening.
The purpose of the Open phase is to stimulate student curiosity on the topic; to “spark conversations about ideas and themes, pose questions and problems, and highlight concepts related to the subject” (Kuhlthau et al., 2012, p.9). This phase of the Year 7 Place and Liveability unit allows for the teacher to begin to integrate the idea of sustainability to enhance liveability, while also having the opportunity to consider what students already know about the topic. During the Immerse phase, the teacher can provide information, data and sources to help build background knowledge, while allowing students to begin inquiries into different conditions of liveability. Students will need clear understandings of these concepts moving forward, however can use this prescribed knowledge to begin investigating perceptions of liveability, and considerations regarding sustainable practices.
The Explore phase opens up the opportunity for the Learning Team to become involved in the guided inquiry. In this unit, specific time has been allocated for collaborative teaching and students support with the teacher-librarian, specifically regarding the Information Search Process (ISP) and the development of guiding questions though the Question Formulation Steps. Evaluation of data is also a specific skill that can be taught to the students by both the subject teacher and the teacher-librarian. While the teacher-librarian may utilise the generic evaluation process (for example, the CRAAP Test), the subject teacher may assist students with evaluating geography-specific resources (maps, graphs etc.). The dedicated time allowed for the Identify phase allows students to extend their question skills to construct their own inquiry question, which will then form the main focus for their assessment item. The Learning Team further expands during the Gather phase to encompass teachers and other school personnel to help broaden the range of information sources, and deepen students’ knowledge through the evaluation of the most useful sources. The GID Framework again allows teachers to ‘dip in’ and provide guidance to students as they develop their sense of direction in the ISP.
The Create and Share phases of the GID allows students to demonstrate a culmination of their learning and new ideas, with a proposal to improve the liveability in the school through a sustainable facility, service or practice. By selecting the audience for presentation, the teacher provides some implicit guidance on the tone required for the presentation, and can direct students to inquire about the suitability of their planned presentation. The demonstration of the students’ inquiry question will show how students have moved beyond ‘fact finding and recall’ to the higher-order, and critical and creative thinking skills, to demonstrate in a written and visual mode that they feel best demonstrates their proposed concept. The final phase, Evaluate, allows for the students to critically reflect on their learning, and consider new goals for moving forward in their learning process, in consultation with teacher feedback.
Questioning Frameworks
ACARA and Queensland Studies Authority outline the required key questions for the Year 7 Geography unit Place and Liveability:
- How do people’s reliance on places and environments influence their perceptions of them?
- What effect does the uneven distribution of resources and services have on the lives of people?
- What approaches can be used to improve the availability of the resources and access to services?
The purpose of the inquiry task, is to encourage students to deepen their inquiry by posing more focussed questions. An essential question, posed by the teacher, could be a way of encouraging divergent and creative thought about the topic, for example;
How does sustainability enhance liveability?
How can we make our school more sustainable?
Why do we need a sustainable school?
Teaching students to develop appropriate and answerable questions is a skill that should be developed as part of the guided inquiry process. Two questioning frameworks were adapted and adopted into the Place and Liveability unit – generative questioning in the form of The Question Formulation Technique, to help students craft suitable questions to help drive their inquiry forward; and productive questioning through the application of the KWHLAQ Chart. Justification for selecting these particular questioning frameworks lies in the alignment of the knowledges and skills being developed though the unit, as well as the way it links to the ISP.
Students would spend focussed time with both the subject teacher and the teacher librarian, learning about the craft of constructing suitable questions – a generative skill that they can then apply to any learning situation.
The productive questions that students derive from the KWHLAQ provides a plan for searching for specific knowledges and skills, that will help to inform their inquiry question. This could be further demonstrated through productive and evaluative questions to help guide the formulation of students own questions, as suggested with the application of the GeSTE Windows:
GeSTE Windows
To ensure students have an authentic inquiry experience, the Liveability Unit has been designed to operate within Lupton’s GeSTE Windows. By employing the GeSTE Windows model to the unit, aspects of question development and critical evaluation of literacy ensure that students are employing high-order thinking skills to delve further into the inquiry, thus constructing new ways of understanding information. The four windows – Generic, Situated, Transformative and Expressive – do not sit in a linear fashion in this unit of work, rather they provide opportunities for students to open different doors to inquiry and information literacy skills as they develop their knowledge around liveability and sustainable practice. A demonstration of how the different windows can be applied is as follows:
To ensure students have an authentic inquiry experience, the Liveability Unit has been designed to operate within Lupton’s GeSTE Windows. By employing the GeSTE Windows model to the unit, aspects of question development and critical evaluation of literacy ensure that students are employing high-order thinking skills to delve further into the inquiry, thus constructing new ways of understanding information. The four windows – Generic, Situated, Transformative and Expressive – do not sit in a linear fashion in this unit of work, rather they provide opportunities for students to open different doors to inquiry and information literacy skills as they develop their knowledge around liveability and sustainable practice. A demonstration of how the different windows can be applied is as follows:
References
Kuhlthau, Carol C., et al. Guided Inquiry Design : A Framework for Inquiry in Your School, ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/qut/detail.action?docID=1887925.
Kuhlthau, Carol C., et al. Guided Inquiry Design : A Framework for Inquiry in Your School, ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/qut/detail.action?docID=1887925.