Deepening Students' Place Thinking and Writing

The act of writing is part of the process of relating to place – not just a record of it (Cresswell, 2019:3)

 

Photograph of a dragon fly (courtesy of Melanie Lum)

In the teaching of Geography in Everyday Life (GEL) cluster, many of us are often excited yet apprehensive about teaching the topics of relationship between human and nature (1.1) and how people acquire a sense of place (1.2). Not just because they appear as the first two topics of the new upper secondary school year, they also appear deceivingly simple to teach whence in fact, the concepts are more abstract than we might think. When taught well, they can be a wonderful introduction to Geography, engaging and motivating our learners to understand the key concepts of the discipline.

 

I find Tim Cresswell’s ideas useful in helping teachers to design learning experiences that help students discover the key concepts in these two topics. Rawlings Smith provides us with a friendly summary of Cresswell’s book Maxwell Street: Writing and Thinking Place (2019). In this blog, I will be sharing snippets of Cresswell’s ideas through Rawlings Smith’s summary and illustrating them with local examples.

 

Idea 1: Make lists

Cresswell suggested list-making as a simple method to get school students approach a place. Unlike qualitative methods like ethnographic research or quantitative methods to sense make geographical phenomena using numbers, it is straight-forward to get students to write out lists of what can be found in a place. This allows students to focus their energies to observe things, people and activities. This is especially so for the neighbourhood in which the school is located in. Students often rush to and out of school, ignoring details in their haste.

Fig 1: The eco-pond at Punggol Park

Using the example of an eco-pond at Punggol Park (Fig 1), the list may look like this, after classification:

 

Things I can see	People	Activities
·      Natural banks of the pond ·      Pavilions ·      Restaurant ·      Resting benches ·      Dragonflies	·      Cyclists ·      Joggers ·      Hobby anglers  ·      Retirees (?) ·      Students training for cross country	·      Cycling ·      Jogging, walking ·      Fishing ·      Exercising ·      Walking the dogs
Things I can hear	Things I can feel	Things I can smell
·      Calls of white-breasted waterhens ·      Faint shouting of a teacher giving instruction ·      Overhead aeroplane	·      The afternoon heat ·      Serenity, calm ·      Slight breeze	·      The slightly oily odour of fried food from the restaurant

 

Idea 2: Uncover stories, voices and representations

This approach requires a little bit of work on the part of the teacher and student teams. Examples of these include using writings by authors about the place as they write about what they might hear, see and smell. Students may conduct simple interviews or invite users of the place to draw mental maps to uncover how a place may be perceived.

 

Some of these interviews and perspectives might be narratives of the past, which provide an interesting contrast. Historical maps, photographs may even document how changes occurred, and therefore allowing us to infer how identities may have been shaped by these changes. If there are community galleries, museums and preserved buildings or structures for students to visit, Cresswell notes that such “materialities” provoke recall and therefore memories for different groups of people. 

 

For example, growing up in Queenstown in my childhood years, the neon sign that reads “Queen” (in Chinese characters) from the Queensway cinema (Figs 2 and 3) meant a family outing to the bowling alley, a treat of a chicken pie and a Vitagen cultured milk drink for my sister and I. I would still be able to reminisce the taste and flavour of the warm pie as I hear bowling balls crash into the bowling pins! To an outsider, it may be a neon sign from a cinema building which had been torn down, for me, it is more than just that.

Fig 2: The neon sign now is prominently placed at the community museum

 

Fig 3: The old cinema from which the neon sign came from

Idea 3: Offer a chance to engage in critical thinking, deeper inquiry and discourse

As a teacher, processes of place-remaking offer an opportunity to engage students with deeper discussions and critical thinking about issues. A place is not just a neutral stage where we find things, people and activities. People ascribe meanings, representations and even impose a certain narrative to shape behaviours and thinking. 

 

Using an example of Chinatown, it was once a residential and commercial area for more than a century since modern Singapore’s founding (Fig 4). Its remake into a kitsch, touristy locale has been lambasted by critics as unsustainable for businesses, driving away the essential land uses that made it unique in the first place. What is left behind are refurbished buildings that no longer serve their original purposes, instead taken over by trinket shops, restaurants that sell Korean food, cafes and beer gardens that attempt to draw in tourist dollars from international guests (Fig 5).

 

Fig 4: Old Chinatown in the 1960s - 70s

Fig 5: Present day Chinatown with the repurposed shophouses.

Cresswell suggests that people typically develop a “reactionary sense of place” that focuses on rootedness and attachment (Massey, 1991 cited in Rawlings Smith, 2021). These are evident from examples I have mentioned of the Punggol Park and the Queensway cinema. He also distinguishes a “progressive sense of place” (ibid) that focuses on flows, connections and networks, which is not dissimilar from the example of Chinatown.

 

Cresswell argues that the reactionary and progressive sense of place insufficiently explain why places become connected in the way they do. Beyond these two dimensions of sense of place, Cresswell suggests a third. He challenges us to consider how a place might be theorized in a way that goes beyond the opposition of a reactionary or progressive sense of place. This theory of place will require an account of time and change, i.e., temporality as the third dimension. 

 

By bringing power into the discussion, we might therefore ask:

·      What kind of Chinatown might we see today if residential land uses were spared the process of urban renewal ordered by the newly independent government in the 1960s?

 

By using an agentic approach, we might inquire:

·      How might the heritage and identity of Queenstown be remade so that it is more than just another sought after estate that is attractive because it is near the city?

 

By framing it with a theme of agency and sustainability, we could consider:   

·      What are the ways in which Punggol Park can be redesigned to support a sustainable way of living for nearby residents? 

 

Conclusion

Places are multi-dimensional. To think and write about them in a unidimensional reactionary or progressive manner does not do justice to its uniqueness. Casey (1998) likens them to pieces of textile where threads of phenomena, material and intangible culture, practices and meanings are weaved together in a complex web. To help our students uncover a place, we can scaffold their engagement in levels of complexity as I have discussed above, so that they can explore places meaningfully to develop a deeper understanding of geography that will enhance disciplinary imagination, civic consciousness and action.

 

References:

Rawlings Smith, E. (2021), “Maxwell Street: Writing and thinking place”, Geography, Vol 106, part 1, p 53-56

The blog author wishes to acknowledge the originators of the photographs. 

 

Using the idea of a water catchment to teach “Water”

Photograph showing the view of Sungei Serangoon (or Serangoon Reservoir) in the direction of its river mouth.

In the run up to the World Water Day, which falls on 22 March, I would like to share my thoughts on how might we teach the secondary 1 topic on “Water” in our geography curriculum. This blog post is the result of field discussions with colleagues of geography over zoom and in person as we delightfully explored the Sungei Serangoon catchment in recent days.

In the lower secondary geography curriculum, the topic of water takes center stage. Water is a strategic and valuable resource in Singapore. Teaching this topic well helps our students gain useful understanding and insight that will go a long way in developing an appreciation of our constraints, innovations and strategies that ensure sustainability.

An organising frame for this topic is to use the hydrological cycle as a starting point. Students are introduced the key processes, water flows and stores. From here, the teacher adopts a “zoom out” perspective to locate various rivers, lakes and oceans in the world. This approach to learning about water skips the critical concept of a “water shed” or a “catchment”, hindering a holistic understanding of other related concepts and processes like resource use (of water), sources of pollution and conservation strategies. As a result, some students learn these sub-topics through rote memorisation of facts unconnected bodies of fact. This gives rise to at best patchy comprehension, and at worst, frustrated and disengaged learning.

I would like to suggest three simple ways to re-make this topic for more engaged teaching and learning.

(A)   Using big ideas and place-based learning

By leveraging the concept of “water resource management within a catchment”, teachers can easily “connect the dots” for students. Almost all secondary schools are located within a water catchment (See Figure 1 below).

Fig 1: Major Waterways in Singapore and their catchments (can you find which catchment does your school belong to?)

          Source: Singapore's Water Solution | Water Conservation in Singapore (ntu.edu.sg)

Teachers can tap on PUB’s Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters (ABC Waters) Programme that was launched in 2006, to understand how quality water bodies enhance liveability (ABC Waters Home (pub.gov.sg).

To further augment this big idea, place-based learning offers an invaluable lens for students to dive into enquiry of an urban environment. The catchment provides a reasonable scale of exploration for secondary school students, both in its breadth and depth. In the terms of breadth, students could explore spatial issues beyond just the precinct or neighbourhood (e.g. a few blocks of flats) or a specific locale (e.g. Jurong Lake). In terms of depth, a catchment provides a thematic approach to understanding a place better (e.g., Singapore River catchment, which naturally includes its history and changes in landuse over time). 

In what follows, I will use the Sungei Serangoon catchment as an example to illustrate what I mean (Figure 2).

Fig 2: Unit concept map on Water - Sungei Serangoon catchment

(B) Differentiating for diverse learners

High ability students may be challenged to use a similar lens to study another water catchment with very different characteristics from the Sungei Serangoon catchment, e.g. Kallang-Marina Basin, which is incidentally our largest catchment and most urbanised one. This would present students with plenty of opportunities to uncover insight into the design, building and maintenance of this unique reservoir. When used as a contrasting example, students are able to discern distinguishing characteristics of both catchment, which is a good exercise in developing critical thinking skills.

For students that require more support in learning, teachers may consider focusing on geographical skills that are a “must learn” for this group of learners, reserving the “good-to-learn” as optional extensions for students who have already demonstrated mastery of core skills. Teachers may also consider giving a light touch of the history of Sungei Serangoon, instead give more time and space for students to learn the content concepts of the current time scale where the spotlight is shone on water as a strategic resource. As content concepts are somewhat recurring between the past and present time frame, doing it this way gives additional time and space for these students to learn.  

(C)    Use of technology in learning  

Armed with personal learning devices, students have ready access to digital apps that efficiently capture and collate data. Below is a non-exhaustive list teachers can consider leveraging.

Suggested app or website	Purpose	Can be used in
Otter.ai	Speech to text conversation	Interviews, oral histories
Chat GPT 3.5	Summaries of interviews	Interviews, oral histories
Google Forms	Survey questionnaire	Surveys, summation and presentation of data
Skitch	Annotations on photographs	Photograph interpretation
Historical maps of Singapore https://libmaps.nus.edu.sg	Landuse changes	Comparing old and new land uses

Conclusion

A quick curriculum re-make of this topic presents a multitude of engagement opportunities for our lower secondary learners to connect more authentically with three prescribed guiding questions of the topic. It offers easy entry points for the teacher to conduct inquiry, more occasions for bite-sized fieldwork, greater flexibility for differentiation and scaffolding, and naturally segues into the use of ed- tech tools and apps.  

The teacher can also progress to teaching the fourth guiding question on water management strategies in a contextualised manner. Now that we have understood the first step to water sustainability comes from ensuring a regular, clean and good quality supply from our reservoirs, how might we manage demand so that we ensure this supply does not run out? 

More importantly, students' appreciation of processes within a catchment helps them to scale up their understanding to a regional water catchment (such as the Amazon River) which ties in with the next topic on tropical rainforest. Eventually, understanding this helps them see how the global water cycle is a critical natural process that is supporting plant, animal and human life on Earth. This underscores the connected nature of our natural systems which undergirds the true essence of a geography curriculum.    

Using the GRR model – role of the teacher and an example from Plate Tectonics

Many of us are familiar with the GRR (Gradual Release of Responsibility) model by Fisher and Frey and we use it in our classroom instruction. I have also seen GRR being used across various subjects (such as lessons teaching literacy skills) with different groups of secondary school students. Often, teachers would design learning activities which has four distinct stages according to the GRR:

•        Focused Instruction (“I do”)
•        Guided Instruction (“We do it together”)
•        Collaborative Learning (“You do it together”)
•        Independent Learning (“You do it alone”)

Pearson, McVee & Sharnahan (2019) provided a descriptive study of the historical genesis of GRR to guide teachers’ thinking in its use for instruction in the book “The Gradual Release of Responsibility in Literacy Research and Practice”. As the first chapter in the 270-page book which also covers various contexts of use of GRR, it might be a tall order to finish the book to have a good understanding.  In this blog, I will be giving you a gist about how you might consider your role as a facilitator of students’ learning as you refine your practice of GRR in the teaching of geography.

First, we need to understand that the nature of learning shifts from teacher-driven to student-driven in phases in the GRR. Sometimes, teachers get the notion that once the responsibility for learning goes to the student, the teacher no longer plays a significant role. The roles of the teacher and students merely transform to match the changed learning context. This can be exemplified in the diagram below.

Source: The teacher plays an active role in all parts of GRR (middleweb.com)

How does this process look like in the geography classroom?

In a series of secondary three lessons on disaster risk management (topic 4.3) for example, the teacher needs to teach the concept of “disaster risk management”, i.e., the idea that disaster “risks” could be managed by understanding the nature and exposure to hazards, as well as humankind’s ability to reduce vulnerable conditions they face.

In “I do”, the teacher should not use more time than necessary to lead students’ thinking in a way to introduce and organize their thoughts around idea clusters (see below). For example, we could teach what do we mean by “nature of hazards”, “exposure to hazards” and vulnerable conditions.

Nature of hazards	Exposure to hazards	Vulnerable conditions
Physical factors -          Duration and time -          Properties of hazards o   Magnitude of EQ, chemistry of magma o   Substratum (rock, soil, water) o   Distance from epicentre o   Weather conditions	Human factors -          Population density (human settlements) -          Quality of building design and construction -          Monitoring and warning systems -          Land Use Planning	Lack of resources   Lack of capability   Lack of stakeholder engagement

Source: Adapted from Concept Map of Topic 3.3 (TLS, CPDD)

In direct teaching, the teacher is NOT teaching didactically. Instead, he focuses on presenting knowledge in an easy-to-understand fashion, provides opportunities to stimulate students interest, asks students questions for them to exercise reasoning. This requires a skillful approach to IBL which we are familiar with.

In the next stage of “we do it together”, the teacher facilitates a discussion studying the Tohoku Earthquake of 2011. By getting students to read the case example of this earthquake together as a class, the teacher guides students to identify the nature of the Tohoku earthquake, the Japanese’ perennial exposure to earthquake and volcanic hazards by virtue of their location and low-lying coastal settlements. Their decision to site nuclear plants at the coast for example, presents both an opportunity and a risk which the Japanese government had to bear. As a seasoned guide, the teacher properly scopes and designs questions to tease out content concepts from students and a co-constructs the succinct summary to sum up the key learning points.

Following this, the teacher presents another scenario of the most recent Turkey-Syria earthquake to the student groups as they answer this question, “How could Turkey better prepare itself to avoid another devastating episode of earthquake like the one in 2023?” In this stage, students would be organizing their thoughts and arguments as they solve a problem together. Information can be presented in data snippets for students to study, for example, location, size and time of earthquake, population density, age of buildings, lack of resources, capability, poor building control and design etc. At this juncture, the students’ roles come to the forefront as they leverage each other to tackle the issue. Teacher can serve as a resource person, prompting and questioning students to arrive at their conclusions.

In the final and independent stage, the students will apply what they have collaboratively learnt in an authentic and self-directed context. For example, they could independently respond to this question, “Evaluate the choices in managing earthquake disaster risks so that people can continue to sustainably and safely live in earthquake prone areas.” To allow greater student choice, the teacher may include photo essay submissions instead of essay submissions.     

Conclusion 

The GRR is strongly grounded in various theories that suggest a social-constructivist approach. As such, it is important to include the "you do it together" stage. As much as your student learns from you as the "sage on the stage", their collaboration with their peers is critical for learning to occur. It therefore complements IBL and DI in a few ways as I have shown above: anchoring learning with key questions, offering choices and help resources as students work collaboratively and independently. 

It is also important to note that the GRR need not always start with focused instruction (I do). We may begin a lesson with independent work (you do alone) before engaging them in collaborative peer inquiry prior (we do together) to providing teacher modelling. The crux is for students to encouter the four phases of learning in GRR so that they can learn deeply. 

References:

Fisher & Frey (2021), Better Learning Through Structured Teaching, ASCD, VA

Gradual Release of Responsibility | Introduction (thinkport.org) (Last accessed 9 March 2023)

The Teacher Plays an Active Role in all parts of GRR (middleweb.com)(Last accessed 9 March 2023)