Joining a new school, you want to make an impact and enthuse students to take to your subject. In the coming weeks I’m going to begin a geography club. So what will it be like?

I want the geography club to be an exploration for the students and I want it to be vast and open to students to select what they want THEIR club to be like. 

It should have outside learning, inside learning, global learning and plenty of connecting with others.

Outside learning

• Geocaching. Students could make geocaches that are made from natural products or think of how they will disguise them to make the challenge as difficult as possible. The geocaches could inform people of the local area with photographs in different seasons, or historical photos. This could be done with photos or a QR code linking the hunter to a blog or site that the students have made. The geocaches could introduce people to geography learning that the students have done in school or in the club. 

 

• The Doomsday project brings the past and the present together and have students showing the community their area, through how the students live and the physical, human and environmental geography of the area.

 

• Students set up a weather station and microclimate study and analysis.

 

• Students could create an outside den like a tree house or shed for geography learning – a place students can add photos or stories on the wall of their geography.

 

• In the outside area have students practicing different fieldwork techniques and make videos of it for other schools to use and learn. 

 

• Mission explore learning. I’ve helped develop the missions around Newcastle Quayside for the public to explore. Get students to think up new missions.

 

• Have students create a 'Where the hell is matt?'-style video of their area. Get the whole of the school to create a 5 second dance in front of a part of their local area and let students see the area.

 

• Students could create a Google rural/ignored view. Students could explore Google Street View and create one for areas Google has missed.

 

• Have secondary school students take geography to local primary schools. A geography road show to let children know about geography earlier!

 

• Students explore their senses with geography. 

Inside learning

• Experiments like Ammonium dichromate showing how a volcano can develop in size due to eruptive lava. Creating exploding volcanoes that students have built, let students create experiments. On how to make the volcanoes erupt like specific volcanoes do (composite cone, shield, cinder cone or caldera, modeling lava from them like Pahoehoe lava). 

 

• Creating models like a mountain range. Students love paper mache or work with the technology department and make a flume or a tsunami simulator.

 

• Artistic work – have students drawing landforms or painting, get artists to enjoy geography and learn what they are drawing and put the theory into how they draw or paint. Make the classroom a display masterpiece.

 

• ICT – have students exploring websites, geography games – I am learning.

 

• Have students working with GIS programs – an element of geography that is growing and many teachers have not used or include much of it in their curriculums.

 

• Green screen about geography and have students editing what they produce.

 

• Blogging with other schools around the globe. Like I mentioned in my last post have students in a quad blog and read about the geography other people their age study and what other countries teach with regard to geography.

 

• Get students tweeting about geography and find out about the world around them. 

 

• Skype conversations with people from around the world and geography-inspired people.

 

• Create podcasts for other schools and students to help everyone’s learning.

 

• Have students create inspirational and engaging resources that many of us wish we had time to create.

 

• Have students create a book!

 

• Create a virtual world using sketch up. 

 

• Independent enquiries – let students explore the geography that they want to.

 

• Allow students to create a fascinating curriculum that they feel other students their age would love.

I could go on and on but I'm now going to open it up to you to add ideas for the club and have a go at creating a geography club. Please let me know how you get on in the Comments section below or tweet me @JohnSayers. 

John Sayers