'The Geographer as Scientist'

From my visit to a wonderful second-hand book shop called ‘Peter’s Books’ (probably the best in East Anglia), I now have a 1956 copy of ‘The Geographer as Scientist’ by S.W. Wooldridge. 

He was GA President in 1954 and also President of the IBG and Chair of the Field Studies Council. 

There are some excellent essays, including his own GA Presidential address, with plenty to say about teaching and the rle of the GA, RGS and FSC and how it has changed.

Free spiralised fieldwork resources from the GA

There is always a need for fieldwork resources and ideas.

The GA and FSC have teamed up to produce some and share them freely.

The GA fieldwork survey told us that:

• teachers want new ideas for carrying out fieldwork within their school grounds and local area
• they want to embed these ideas within their current curricula
• they want resources that non-specialists can pick up and deliver
• they want resources that will build progression and don’t just repeat the same techniques but in a different context

The sets of spiralised fieldwork resources were created to support teachers by creating a starting point for fieldwork that can be done in the school grounds and local area. They can be embedded in schemes of work, but also can provide suggestions for activities during transition days or simply when the sun is shining and you want to get outside!

There are four sets to get you started; two themes based on water and trees and woodlands and two techniques, Environmental Quality Assessment and questioning techniques. However, we will be adding more over the coming months.

Jon Cannell, GA Primary Curriculum Lead said:

‘The GA and FSC are extremely excited to release a brand-new collection of FREE resources to support the integration and progression of fieldwork through the geography curriculum. Each set of resources provides easy to use activities connected to key themes from across the geography curriculum as well as introducing geographical ways of thinking and understanding.’