Children's work
Children's participation in a broad range of geographical activities will provide a flow of information about their progress in achieving the objectives of the curriculum. This information is crucial to the teacher's professional judgement about how successfully pupils are learning in geography and in enabling him/her to help children to learn more effectively. A number of techniques will be used in collecting and recording information about pupil progress in geography. Each has its contribution to make in assisting the teacher in assessing progress, identifying difficulties, communicating to the pupil, parents and others, and in planning further learning for the child.
Teacher observation
The details of children's learning which teachers notice as geographical topics are explored and taught provide essential and immediate information about each child's progress. Observations may be made as children undertake tasks or explorations, engage in discussions, interact with the teacher or receive guidance and help. Although watching children's reactions and activities during geography work will provide information about their grasp of geographical knowledge, observations are particularly valuable in assessing the extent to which children have developed appropriate skills and attitudes.
Some of the details of children's learning which emerge may do so in a spontaneous or incidental way; at other times teachers may decide to systematically look out for particular behaviours, abilities or interactions. It is not possible to assess all the available information about pupils' learning so it can be useful to identify particular children or groups whose work might be the focus of observation. Clarifying in advance the expected outcomes of the learning situation will also help to enhance the observations made.
For example, a lesson in which children are required to navigate around the classroom, school or playground using a simple map will enable the teacher to recognise those children who have difficulty using the map as a purposeful tool in contrast to those for whom the alignment and reading of the map poses little difficulty.
Much of the information gleaned through the teacher's observations will not be written down but noting significant aspects of some children's progress or gaps in their geographical knowledge and/or skills may help in the planning of future work for the individual, group or class. Notes might be kept in a simple notebook or diary or on a sheet for the topic, group or class involved. Teachers' observations complement other assessment tools to produce a much more comprehensive view of the child's learning in geography.
Teacher-designed tasks and tests
Teachers will use a wide range of activities to introduce children to the units of the geography curriculum, to allow them to learn about aspects of the topics involved and to reinforce knowledge and skills acquired. The activities will include observing and exploring in the environment, the examination of pictures, maps, plans and other sources of geographical information, oral discussions, asking and answering questions, and recording and communicating in oral, pictorial, model, written and computer formats. The active learning situations in which these will take place can be used to assess the progress of individuals and groups and can be especially useful in evaluating children's development of skills and attitudes.
The way in which children complete investigations in the environment will provide much crucial evidence of learning in geography. The extent to which children have grasped geographical knowledge and skills will be evident from the ways in which they observe accurately, annotate drawings, ask pertinent questions, suggest hypotheses and make assessments and judgements from the evidence available in their surroundings. Children's behaviour in the environment and the concern they demonstrate for its care will be indicative of the success of the programme in cultivating a sense of responsibility for the environment and in stimulating pupils into becoming active participants in caring for and improving their surroundings.
Tasks completed in the classroom also provide important assessment information. The critical skills which a child may apply to information obtained from the internet or from books will be important, as will the child's facility at abstracting details required from maps or other sources. Children's willingness to suggest and test ideas about the events they observe or the materials they handle will be indicative of their learning, not only in geography but also in science. Children's pictorial and written work and their communication in other forms such as maps, plans, photographs and computer files should provide opportunities for them to demonstrate what they know and understand about the local and wider environment and what geographical skills they can apply. An analysis of the maps and plans children draw, for example, can give some indication of the level of sophistication achieved in the child's developing sense of place and space.
Work samples, projects and portfolios
The collection of samples of the children's work in portfolios provides one of the most important tools of assessment in geography and SESE. Samples from some of the wide range of tasks suggested in the curriculum and guidelines may be compiled by the teacher or older child, enabling balanced monitoring of the child's progress in knowledge and skills to be made in the context of the environments and geographical processes with which he/she is familiar. Samples may be maintained by the child and/or teacher in simple folders or wallets and it should also be remembered that geography scrapbooks and copybooks may be forms of portfolios.
If work samples and portfolios are to assist teaching and learning they must remain manageable and so there is a need to keep only the most significantitems. Samples should be retained when they
- show that particular objectives have been achieved, for example at the end of a unit of work
- mark significant progress in the application of a geographical skill, for example, if a child demonstrates the use of aerial perspective rather than oblique views or iconic representation on a map
- indicate a weakness or gap in the child's knowledge or skills, such as a poor understanding of the location of the home area relative to the nearby urban area or a capital city
- indicate significantly greater progress or a breadth of understanding beyond the content of the lessons.
Samples should have attached the name of the child, the date and the help, if any, the child was given in completing the task. The cumulative record of the child's work, some of which may be selected by the child, allows the teacher to make an informed professional judgement about the child's progress and his/her readiness for further learning experiences. It will also provide an excellent basis for reporting to parents and others. The contents of portfolios can form the basis of end-of-term displays for parents and can inform the assessment of the child's progress which is recorded and reported on pupil record cards or pupil profiles.
Portfolios also have a role to play in helping the teacher to review and evaluate the content, methodologies and approaches which he/she has used over a term or year. Work samples which demonstrate the effectiveness of particular approaches or weaknesses in children's learning provide important information for the planning of future work. The analysis of portfolios from a range of children and classes by groups of co-operating teachers could lead to the sharing of teaching experience and the development of a common approach to the assessment of geography within the school and so enhance the reliability of pupil assessment.
Curriculum profiles
Curriculum profiles provide a way in which the child's progress can be assessed and recorded using indicators of achievement. These indicators, sometimes grouped in sets, attempt to summarise the range of knowledge, skills and attitudes which might be expected at various stages in the child's progress.
By marking, highlighting or shading these indicators as they are achieved by pupils, a record may be kept of the child's progress. Reviewing the child's portfolio of work and other tasks completed by him/her will help the teacher to update the profile from time to time and the curriculum profile can provide the information needed for the child's end-of-year pupil profile card.