In the time of COVID-19, students miss out on many opportunities to meet and learn from students and staff at other schools through conferences and competitions, due to either travel restrictions or cancellations. However, many other new opportunities open, as these conferences move online, making them accessible to students who could not travel, and schools become more creative in how they bring students together.
On the morning of Dec. 7th, six students from Grade 11 DP Geography attended the second annual Shanghai Geography conference, organized by Dulwich Shanghai but hosted over Teams video calls, allowing our students to join remotely without even leaving campus. 170 students joined the conference from schools across eastern China.
The conference broken into four sessions. The first and fourth were completed as groups: listening to talks from Paul Salopek, the award-winning journalist behind the Out of Eden Walk, and Simon Oakes, DP Geography textbook author and ex-chief examiner, as well as an outdoor activity drawing annotated diagrams in chalk.
Paul Salopek↑
Simon Oakes→
Students signed up for their own second and third sessions, allowing them to customize the conference experience to their own interests.
This is what they learned.
First Session -
Paul Salopek and the Out of Eden Walk
Figure 1: Listening to Salopek describe his walking journey
Paul Salopek is following the prehistoric human migration path out of Africa on foot, and, over the course of his walk, writing articles about his journey for National Geographic.
Salopek is currently in Yunnan, midway through his journey.
By walking this route, instead of taking planes or trains, Salopek has found that the boundaries between different subjects -- like history, politics and culture, often studied separately in school – dissolve by being immersed and moving slowly through the area. His scale of the world has been adjusted to his 80cm footstep; he can’t be impatient, and must be mindful and attentive to his surroundings, as they go by so slowly.
Salopek’s articles on his journey can be found here.
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/out-of-eden-walk/
Teaching resources for introducing his journey into the classroom can be found here.
https://learn.outofedenwalk.com/
Second and Third Sessions
Figure 2: Student logging into her session
OCAC students signed up for
· "Synthesis and Evaluation" Unpacking higher-order thinking skills
· "How to reach level 7 on Paper 2" Future pathways to success
· "Study skills in Geography" Better note-taking in a content-heavy course
· "The IA" Understanding Statistical Analysis
· "Where can Geography take us?" Universities and Careers
These sessions were interactive, using platforms including Teams and Nearpods. Students heard from experienced Geography teachers from other schools and other IB students on their own study skill processes, wrote practice exam answers and essay outlines, and received helpful revision resources. All the sessions were recorded, so students can access the ones they missed later.
Sophia and Amy took the “How to reach level 7 on Paper 2” session and said they received good advice on how to structure answers for questions requiring them to describe graphs and maps, and key ‘don’ts’ like ‘don’t leave blanks’ and ‘don’t write outside the lines.’ Suni and Catherine learned the importance of good case studies to serve as evidence in their exam essays and identifying what the important information is for each, rather than writing down everything. Reena learned that in “Study Skills in Geography” as well, that good notes contain just the important information about each case study country.
Not all the sessions were about assessments. Angelina attended "Where can Geography take us?" to see how her potential college majors can relate to the subjects. She found that Geography was a flexible subject and can include lots of different things.
Fourth Session:
Dr. Simon Oakes and Our Chalk Diagram
Figure 3: Listening to Simon Oakes
The fourth session was a pre-recorded conversation with Dr. Simon Oakes, former chief examiner for IB and author of many Geography textbooks.
The background he chose for his conversation was a diagram of a ‘wicked problem,’ which are issues that interact with so many other issues that they become difficult to solve.
He shared his thoughts on the role of Geography today, finding that geographers are well-placed to engage with and solve wicked problems. He also noted how much Geography has changed as a subject since he was a school child, and the challenge geographers face in keeping their knowledge up-to-date in a rapidly changing world.
The last activity got the students up and moving outside, drawing an annotated diagram using sidewalk chalk. As we are currently studying global climate, students chose to diagram the greenhouse effect, showing the impacts of clouds and greenhouses gases, and also distinguishing between short-wave and long-wave radiation.
Figure 4: Students working on their chalk diagram
Figure 5: The students with their completed chalk diagram
Overall, the students enjoyed the conference; it provided a nice variation on their regular lesson studies and gave them the chance to learn from teachers and students from outside of their school. In our COVID-19 world, we should look at, not just the ways in which we are limited by the pandemic, but also the new opportunities that arise.
