AQA AS Geography Revision Tool

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Enthused by one student's collaboration on a football based google map, surely the application can be used to create a revision aid for A-Level students. We can assume that most students have access to internet either at home, at school or even in the community. A map which offers a geo-referenced revision material adds a spatial element to human geography topics which often appear removed from the physical aspects of the subject. Also, the material can be presented in a number of media. The map above was created as a tool for revision of Global Population Change as specified in the AQA AS course.

The next challenge lies in getting collaborators to add content. A group of 15 A-Level students has produced a grand total of zero additions to content. Have I misjudged the usefulness of this type of digitalmap as a revision tool? Maybe some classroom time is needed in which students are explicitly required to use the map as a revision tool. They could even be set the task of adding a relevant case study to the map and sharing this with other colaborators. Certainly, there needs to be some scaffolded learning if this type of resource is to be embraced by students autonomously.

Man Utd Map

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Trying to engage KS5 students in google maps is proving tricky. I think developing skills in using and creating digital maps is at least, if not more important than the OS map skills we teach at KS3. My impassioned arguments that they will have to learn these skills sooner or later have been met with the deafening roar of indifference until one football mad student saw a map I had made showing the birth places of the relative starting 11s of the Man Utd sides that won the Champions League in 1968 and 1999. I made this map really just to get a grip on the google map application. Within 24 hours of first seeing this map, my football daft A-Level student had added the birthplaces of the 2008 European Champions. Not only does this provide a useful resource to illustrate how football has become more and more global, it also shows that students are not disengaged by the resource itself, but by the context in which the resource is used. The challenge lies not in persuading students of the importance of a resource or skill set, but in finding a context in which to present the resource which will engage all students.