Five Easy Ways to Use Virtual Reality in Geography Lessons!

Help immerse your students in the world around them without having to leave the classroom!  Virtual Reality (VR) headsets are becoming rapidly more affordable and as a result more exciting and varied content is being made.  Most students these days have a smartphone, or at least one that they could share with a peer group within a classroom setting.  The smartphone needed for a VR experience can be Android or iPhone and the higher the screen resolution, the better the experience.  With new ideas emerging every day you're bound to find something to inspire you!  

1.  Get a headset!

If you're on a tight budget (and if you're a teacher, you probably are!), then a Google Cardboard headset is the cheapest way to go.  'Google Cardboard' refers to the software developed by Google that divides a photo or moving image on a smartphone into two, so that when it is viewed through a cardboard headset, the image or video appears 3D.  Then, as you turn your head, look behind you, look up or down, your view of the image moves too!

There's a huge variety of compatible headsets that range from a few pounds to around fifty pounds.  Mine cost £5.99 on Amazon.  Here it is....

You can see I splashed out for the hands-free version (although actually as a glasses wearer, I find it a bit tight).  Notice the high quality cardboard, the velcro connections and the hi-tech elastic band to help hold your smartphone in place!  

If you think a literal cardboard headset won't last five minutes in your classroom, there are plastic ones easily available, which may be far more durable.

2.  Get the 'Cardboard' app

If you're on Android, go to the Play Store, search for 'Cardboard' in apps and install the Google Inc app.

This app allows your smartphone to view cardboard-compatible content!  It also includes some demos, a link to a VR YouTube channel called 360 Videos and acts as a library to store other VR apps.  Definitely watch the demos, check out the video channel as you get to know your headset and it's capabilities.

3.  Google Street View

Within the 'Cardboard' app, go to 'GET APPS', find and install Google Street View.  Once installed, open the app.  You can either explore the map, zoom and click on where you want to go or type a place name in the search bar at the top.  Once you've found a place you want to explore, in this case I chose Peru.  Once the image has opened, you can either navigate your view with your finger, or select the 'cardboard' icon (circled in red on the photo below).

It will then change your view to something like this...

It is now time to pop your smartphone into your headset and have a look!  As you turn your head, it is like you are looking around Peru.  Oh look, is that Machu Picchu over there?!

You can view 'web spheres' like this all over the world.  There's probably hundreds in your local area!  Thousands of people all over the world have been taking these 360 degree photos, such a fabulous collaborative resource!  Great for introducing a case study location, looking for landscape features, comparing two areas, looking at how a city changes along a transect... The possibilities within Geography are endless!

4.  YouTube

A good starting place for VR videos is via the '360 video' link within the Cardboard App you downloaded to your smartphone.

Otherwise you can search 360 video on YouTube along with a keyword and see what you can find!  When you find a video that is compatible with Cardboard, click the icon as circled in the screenshot below:

Here's some videos to get you started! 

*  Chase a tornado in the USA (see screenshot above) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCXp9Y5uPn4

*  The 'Beyond the Map' series exploring Rio de Janeiro - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsUa1i5QQ0g  *other videos within this series can be found, I've linked to the one on favelas here.

*  Go on an expedition to the heart of an active volcano - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBp2EWPjotk

*  Meet threatened and endangered species - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-aOVE22lEw

*  Snorkel the Great Barrier Reef - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yv7hJCpMPU

*  News report on earthquakes in Japan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCT3UBPSTaY

5.  Students create content!

There are several apps that students can download and create their own VR content as part of a project, fieldwork or homework.  The easiest way is probably to get the 'Cardboard Camera' app from the Play Store.  You'll find the ideas will come easier once you've had a chance to play and explore the possibilities yourself.

Good luck, have fun and let me know if you have any questions, ideas, examples, links, suggestions or feedback!

Using LEGO® in Geography lessons.

Why use  LEGO®?  It's fun!  It's tactile, it stimulates creativity, it allows visualisation of designs, it's flexible, it appeals to all (specifically boys, who are statistically underachieving) and can be re-used again and again and again and again....

Just mentioning a link between LEGO® and Geography lessons is often enough to get teachers thinking creatively, but here are some examples of just some of the ways you can use these little bricks in your lessons.

1. Make a flag
Useful aid to get students using an atlas or the internet in a research-based capacity.  Perhaps get students to make the flag from  LEGO®, write down some key facts about the country (or mini-paragraph linking your topic to the relevant country) and photograph their writing next to their flag.

2. Grouping / categorising
Get some chunky bricks, some stickers (address labels cut to size may be useful here) and go for it!  Maybe you will do locational Geography such as matching countries to their capitals.  You could use it for fun case study revision with KS4 - 5 by getting them to match case study title with other essential information such as year, cause, effect, location....
You can get students to photograph their correct answers to help with their revision.

3. Create a landscape
 LEGO® bricks can be moved.  Landscapes move.  This may take a bit more time to set up but could be a valuable way of getting students to demonstrate their understanding.  
An example could be showing the formation of a gorge caused by waterfall erosion.  You can get students to create it, photograph each stage, print it as a storyboard and explain each step.  
Otherwise there is soil, rock, water tables, volcanoes, earthquake simulation...

4. Designing
Perhaps an eco-friendly house, flood defences along a river or coast, an ecolodge, a small yet efficient house within a favela....

5.  And more!
I'm currently planning how to paint a world map on to a large  LEGO® board so I can use it flexibly within lessons.  Imagine giving everyone a brick and asking them to place it on the country that is the furthest place they've ever travelled.  The taller the country's tower, the more students have been to that place.  Imagine the conversations that could stimulate.  Imagine the other ideas that are possible here.

I'd love to hear from you if you have used  LEGO® in your lessons.  What did you do?  How did the students react?  What were the pros and cons?  Would you do it again?

A 'Help Desk' in your classroom!

A Help Desk in a classroom is a hub where pupils can go during a lesson to help them with their work.  It could be a table at the front, a portion of your teacher's desk or the top of some drawers at the side of your room.

The aims and benefits of the Help Desk are:
- pupils take more responsibility for their own learning and research
- takes pressure off the teacher during the lesson
- reduces time wasted looking for books and resources during the lesson
- can give roles to pupils 
- increases peer-to-peer learning

Here are some top ideas to inspire you!

Setting it up
Think of a good place for it, easily accessible to pupils in your classroom and maybe somewhere you can keep an eye on it!  Think of a name for it, make a laminated sign and you're off!

Books
Place useful books on the table that students may or may not need to use to complete their work.  This prevents their desks being cluttered by books they might not need but puts them in an accessible place if needed.  This includes atlases, textbooks and dictionaries.

Technology
Put a couple of laptops on the desk.  One could be open on a search engine so pupils can look something up quickly (not sit at to work!).  The other could be the PPT from the previous lesson or two to help pupils who missed a lesson, didn't complete previous work or have forgotten something.

Examples of work
Obviously depends on the nature of the lesson but there is an opportunity to put best examples of work by previous year groups or pupils from other classes.  This is so pupils can see the kind of "level" they are aiming for, or to get help if they are struggling.

Roles for pupils
You can get pupils to man the Help Desk if needed.  Maybe a high ability pupil or one who has already completed the task.  You could give them a 'Help Desk Manager' badge (perhaps other costume props) and get them to sit behind it and help their peers.
It can also be used to encourage weaker pupil.  Give them the answer to a task (or some extra coaching beforehand) then get them to man the desk.  Imagine the confidence boost they will gain from being the 'class expert' for a particular task and their peers come to them for help or clues!

Other resources
These include factsheets, globes, leaflets, information booklets, postcards, maps, props, calculators and more!  Let your imagination and creativity run wild! :)

Think about how to manage the potential challenges of a Help Desk, such as:
- The time it takes to set up / tidy up each day or each lesson.  How can you make it more efficient? Can the pupils help you?  Do you need a 'Help Desk' monitor in each class? It has to help you too, not just the pupils!
- Pupils walking around the classroom to reach the desk.  Do you need to introduce the desk formally to each class alongside some rules about how to use it?

Do you use a 'Help Desk' idea in your classroom?  Would love to hear from you.

Resource: Student's Guide to the new AQA specification 2016

I have created a guide for students who are about to start taking the new GCSE Geography course by AQA (from September 2016, with the first exams in 2018).

It gives an overview of the three exams including topics, options, marks available, exam length and so on.

It also gives a more detailed summary of the three units:

1. Physical Environment
2. Human Environment
3. Geographical Applications

Teachers, feel free to print these for your students.  Please comment below if you found it useful or have any suggestions.

I'm considering offering a service to customise these for schools (with your logo, school name and your chosen options specified) for a small charge.  If you are interested, please email me at supergeographyuk@gmail.com

CLICK HERE for the free Student Guide!