Course overview

Whether you are a non-specialist teacher of geography or a geographer wanting a bit of a refresher, Richard will use this webinar series to support you in teaching common geographical themes and topics at key stage 3.  Each session will provide a straightforward subject knowledge update and explanation as well as practical ideas to give teachers a solid foundation from which to develop their geography teaching. The series also includes the original KnowHow titles and all the recordings.

Supporting research / references

Enser (2018) highlights the importance of teachers’ subject knowledge in positively impacting student outcomes and points to other research in this area, most notably Coe et. al. (2014).

The importance of geography teachers’ subject expertise is further explored in this article by Brooks (2010) which draws on the experiences of two geography teachers.

Key learning aims

• To better understand key knowledge central to the teaching of common key stage 3 geographical themes and topics.
• To better understand how this subject knowledge can be taught effectively to students and how common misconceptions can be avoided.

Expected impact on teachers

• Increased knowledge, confidence and understanding of the key knowledge central to the teaching of common key stage 3 geographical themes and topics.
• Increased understanding of how subject knowledge can be taught effectively to students.

Expected impact on student outcomes

• Of the six components of great teaching i.e. teaching that which leads to improved student progress, teachers’ content knowledge is the component which has the strongest evidence base.  ‘The most effective teachers have deep knowledge of the subjects they teach… teachers must also understand the ways students think about the content, be able to evaluate the thinking behind students’ own methods, and identify students’ common misconceptions’ (Coe et.al., 2014, p. 2).

Course programme

The course consists of six weekly twilights from 16.00 – 16.40. Your booking also includes access to the relevant KnowHow resource for each session.

Session 1 – Rivers and the water cycle

Session 2 – Weather

Session 3 – Tectonic hazards: Volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis

Session 4 – Climate change (23 Nov)

Session 5 – Maps: projections, locations and grid references

Session 6 – Geological timescales