Geography Pedagogy - Constructivist Approaches in Geography, Dr Balaiada R. Dkhar, Assoc. Professor & Head DEE NERIE- NCERT, Umaim
1. Constructivist Lesson Plan Based on 5
Es Model and
Co- operative Learning in Geography
at the Secondary Stage
Dr. BALAIADA R. DKHAR
Associate Prof. Education
NERIE, Umiam
2. The 5Es Model
Engage: The students need to be engaged and focused on the instructional tasks by
asking question defining a problem and showing a surprising event. This is the step
to motivate the students and to create an appropriate situation.
Explore: The students get an opportunity to explore through all senses. They are
allowed to work together and build a base of common experience which assists
them in the process of sharing and communication. During exploration the studentsā
inquiry process drives the instruction.
Explain: The teacher interacts with the students to discover their ideas. The
communications between the peers, with the facilitator, or within the learner
himself/herself may be recorded to see the learnerās progress and growth by writing,
drawing, or using audio-visual recording.
3. The 5Es Model
Elaborate: The students are allowed to expand the concept
they have learnt, make connections to other related
concepts and apply their understanding to real life
situations. The teacher, who acts as the facilitator, helps the
students to develop their understanding through additional
physical and mental activities.
Evaluate: In this stage the teacher sees if the students have
attained understanding of the concept. During the
instructional process the teacher may adopt continuous
evaluation and assessment.
4. The 5Es Model
Engage: The students need to be engaged and focused on the instructional tasks by asking question defining a problem and showing a surprising
event. This is the step to motivate the students and to create an appropriate situation.
Explore: The students get an opportunity to explore through all senses. They are allowed to work together and build a base of common experience
which assists them in the process of sharing and communication. During exploration the studentsā inquiry process drives the instruction.
Explain: The teacher interacts with the students to discover their ideas. The communications between the peers, with the facilitator, or within the
learner himself/herself may be recorded to see the learnerās progress and growth by writing, drawing, or using audio-visual recording.
Elaborate: The students are allowed to expand the concept they have learnt, make connections to other related concepts and apply their
understanding to real life situations. The teacher, who acts as the facilitator, helps the students to develop their understanding through additional
physical and mental activities.
Evaluate: In this stage the teacher sees if the students have attained understanding of the concept. During the instructional process the teacher may
adopt continuous evaluation and assessment.
5. Cooperative Learning
A lot of teaching learning techniques is employed in the
knowledge construction process. Among them is cooperative learning
(CL) which is one of the frequently used instructional strategies in
education. Working in cooperative groups, children learn social skills,
use higher-order thinking skills, practice new concepts, processes and
information. Generally in classroom children hold different notions
about the concepts that they are to learn. This is because of their
different upbringing process. But when they are divided into different
groups for learning, their ideas and notions come into conflict with
others. Thus in cooperative learning groups, through the art of
discussion, negotiation and sharing of ideas, the initial ideas are
refined and modified.
6. Cooperative Learning
Cooperative learning involves the use of varied instructional
techniques and strategies. These strategies mostly aim at the
development of thinking, remembering, concept formation, problem
solving and logical reasoning, in social context. Some of the well
known methods of cooperative learning are Group Investigation (GI)
Learning Together (LT) Cooperative Integrated Reading and
Composition (CIRC) and so on. Although minor adjustments are made
with regard to the situation under learning, there is always a group
and they work together to achieve the desired goal i.e., knowledge
construction.
7. Constructivist Model ā The Five Es Model
Sample Lesson Plan in Geography
Topic: Size and Location
Standard: IX
Learning Points
- Geographical Location of India
- Size of India
- Finding the longitude and latitude of a particular place.
- Calculation of time difference from one degree longitude to another degree
longitude.
Learning Objectives
The learners will be able to
- Infer the geographical location of India
- Estimate the size of India vertically and horizontally.
- Calculate the time difference from one degree longitude to another degree
longitude.
- Locate places according to position of longitude and latitude in the map of India
8. Method/Strategy
Peer Discussion
Observation and identification (map reading)
Problem solving
Learning Resources
- Map of the world and Map of India
- Globe
- Reference Materials(Atlas/Textbook)
Procedure: The following are the procedure of the lesson plan according to the
constructivist 5s Model.
Engage: The teacher will give the world map to the students and ask them to observe it carefully for
few minutes. Next they will be engaged to do the following activities:
- Identify the location of India in the context of its position/direction.
- Find out the latitude and longitude of mainland India.
- Find out the States of India where the Tropic of Cancer passes through.
9. Explore: With the help of the atlas and prescribed textbook the students
will be instructed to explore the following
- Find out the appropriate land mass of India and the world. What is the
percentage of land of India in comparison with landmass of the world?
Find out the international boundaries of India and write the names of
the countries.
- Find out the extent of India considering its latitudinal and longitudinal
extent.
- What do you mean by standard time and how standard time of India is
calculated?
The teacher will also ask the students to calculate the following
that are logically arranged, explaining the knowledge of time
differences:
- If it is 7 A.M in 68.7 E, Longitude what will be the existing time in 97.25
E Longitude?
10. If it is 10 A.M in Greenwich, London, what will be the existing time in
160 E Longitudes?
If it is 9.30 A.M Monday in 45.20 E Longitude, what will be the existing
time and day in 160.39 W Longitude?
Explain: The ideas explored by the students about the size, standard
time
and location of India will be summarised and explained.
Elaborate: On the basis of the activities given above, the students will
be given a chance to reason out on the following.
- If it is 6A M in Itanagar and in Arunachal Pradesh what will be the time at
Ahmedabad of Gujarat?
- āThe durations of the day and the night is hardly felt at Kanyakumari but it is not so in
Kashmirā Elaborate.
- Find out the standard time of America, China, Tokyo, London, Moscow, Dubai and
Sydney. Why are they different?
- what is Greenwich Time?
11. Evaluation: The teacher will assess the students in the following way.
Teacher will supply an outline map of India/ world to the students and
ask them to locate the following.
- International boundaries of India.
- Latitude and Longitude of the following places:
Jodhpur,Ahmedabad,Chandigarh,Srinagar,Delhi,Bhopal,Bengaluru,Thiruv
ananthapuram,Chennai, Lucknow, Raipur, Patna, Bhubaneshwar,
Hyderabad, Kolkata, Siliguri, Shillong, Guwahati, Agartala, Imphal,
Itanagar.
Answer the following questions
- Why is the southern part of India called Peninsular India?
- What is a Greenwich Time? Find out how it is calculated.
- Identify the reasons for selecting a standard meridian of India with an
odd value of 82Ģ.30ā E. Has it anything to do with Greenwich Time?
- List six countries of the world bigger than India. Compare the area of
India with China.
12. Home Assignment
The following questions will be given.
- What is the latitude and longitude of your state?
- Identify the Indian states which have international boundaries.
- Define Standard Meridian. Why is 80.30 E selected as the Standard
Meridian?
- How it is that India belongs to the Eastern Hemisphere.?
- Name the countries in the world which are having different time
zones?
- What do you mean by day light saving? Give examples.
13. Cooperative Learning
Sample Lesson Plan in Geography
Chapter: Lifelines of National Economy
Topic-Means of Transportation
Standard: X
Learning Points
Concept of transport as Lifeline of National Economy
Different means of Transportation
Advantages of transportation.
14. Learning Objectives: After completion of the topic the learners will be able to
Explain the transport as lifeline of national economy.
Classifying the different means of transportation.
Explore the different means of transportation in India and with special reference to
North East Region.
Describe the advantages of transportation.
Learning Resources
Reference materials on different means of transportation.
Map of India showing the distribution of roadways, railway routes, air routes, ports.
15. Method/ Strategy
Peer Discussion
Presentation
Instruction/ Discussion
Transportation is the lifeline of any nation and its economy.
Transportation is generally classified into three categories as per the
three domains of the earth namely Land, Air, and Water. Hence are
known as Land ways, Airways, and Waterways. Land ways consists of
roads, railways, and pipelines. Airways refer to air travel through
aeroplane, helicopter etc. Waterways comprise of deep-sea, coastal,
and inland navigation.
16. Procedure
Divide the learners into groups of not more than five or six members in each group. It
is to be noted that same lesson may be given to different group or different lesson to different
group. Then related materials will be distributed to each group for ready reference. Each group
will discuss together and consolidate the learning points among each member of the group.
Then presentation by the group leader at the end of the discussion will take place in the class.
The teacher will guide and facilitate each member of every group. The group will do the
activities allotted to them as under.
Activity-1 (common to all groups)
In the following activity, every group members will interact and share their thoughts and ideas
on the given topics. These are.
I Concept of transport as lifelines of national economy
The student will discuss.
ā¢ How blood is transported from heart to different parts of the body?
ā¢ Similarly how goods/ products are transported to different parts of the region/ country/
world?
ā¢ How does transport help in our national economy?
ā¢ If for a week all transports stop what will happen?
ā¢ Justify transport as lifeline of national economy.
17. Different means of transportation in India with special reference to North Eastern Region.
Here the group members will be encouraged to identify different means of
transportation from across the world including their own country India before identifying with
those in the North East. Next they will be guided to examine the features of each means of
transportation and classify them accordingly.
On completion of the discussion on the above, the teacher will ask the groups to make
a presentation. Here the teacher will involve other group members encouraging them to ask
questions to clarify any doubt. Teacher will note down if the group members are able to
construct their knowledge and give feedback accordingly.
18. Activity-2 (Group specific)
In this Activity -2, the teacher will give each group a specific topic to discuss and share among
their group members. Related materials will be distributed to every group members. The
activities given to each group are as under.
Group-1 (i) Classify the different type of roadways. Elicit examples from North Eastern Region
and other parts of India.
(ii) Discuss the importance of roadways and how management of roadways in India is carried
out?
(iii)What are the advantages and disadvantages of roadways ?
Group-2: The teacher will instruct this group to use the Atlas, to identify and note down the
major railway routes connecting the whole of India. They will also find out major regions of India
where there are no railway connectivity. After this each group members will discuss and do the
following activities.
ā¢ Give your opinion on the need and importance of railway connectivity in India.
ā¢ Discuss among your group member as to why some major regions of India are not connected
by rail?
ā¢ Find out the current railway zones and their headquarters of India. Locate and label the same
in an outline map of India.
ā¢ Find out the name of the major railways of India. Which of these are faster and why?
ā¢ What are the advantages and disadvantages of railways?
19. Group-3: Pipelines are new form of transportation system of India. Hence the conceptual
background learners on Pipelines as form of transportation may be lacking. Thus the teacher
before starting the discussion will give each member an extract from any reference material on
Pipelines, and study it for few minutes. After that the teacher will ask the group members to
deliberate on the following activities with their group member.
ā¢ Identify the uses of Pipelines transportation.
ā¢ Use the Atlas and find out the major Pipelines of India. Locate the same in the given outline of
India.
ā¢ Should India lay out more Pipelines in future? Why?
Group-4: The teacher will give a map of the current major airways of India showing domestic
and international air routes and instruct them to do the activities as follows along with their
group members.
ā¢ Identify five airports which have a high number of air links domestically and internationally.
ā¢ Find out which airports have less air connectivity. Discuss why it is so?
ā¢ Note those areas which do not have air connection. Explain the main reasons for it.
ā¢ List the major public and private airlines of India. Name the airlines that operate in North
Eastern Region.
ā¢ Discus the need and importance of airways with special reference to North Eastern region
20. Group-5: The teacher will ask the group members to do the following activities with the help of
reference materials.
Discuss the meaning of the term Sea Port? Find out the major Sea Ports of India? Prepare a
comparison chart of the major Sea Ports of India in relation to their specific function.
List the navigable rivers of India that you know. Discuss their usefulness in inland navigation?
Give example from North East Region.
Discuss the difference between Sea Port and Inland water ways? How waterways, a useful
means of transportation to India in general and North East region in particular?
Activity-3: Group Presentation and Discussion
In this activity each group will present their allotted activities by a group leader or
anyone whom the group members nominate. The teacher will encourage the other members of
the group to participate in the discussion following the presentation. They may ask questions to
clarify their doubts or add more ideas for further improvement and enrichment to it. The
teacher will consolidate as well as summarized the overall points of discussion. The teacher will
also assess the group performance simultaneously.
21. Evaluation
Relate transport with national economy
What are the different transport systems of India?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of different means of transportation?
Home Assignment
1. Draw the Map of India, locate, label and connect the following.
Major Air Ports of India.
International and national sea ports of India.
Headquarters of the present railway zones of India.
Pipelines of India
2. Give your opinion why means of transportation are lifelines of the nation?
Note: The teacher can ask few students to share their assignment in the class. Discussion on the
same can be done with the participation of all learners. The learners can take note on any
changes required to be made on their work.
Evaluation has to be done continuously.