This presentation is a worshop to be carried out with teachers and trainee teachers which introduces the significance of a well chosen curriculum artefact.

1. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
http://www.geocapabilities.org
GeoCapabilities
Curriculum Making
A workshop: “The significance of a well chosen
artefact”

2. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
http://www.geocapabilities.org
The practical process of
curriculum making
A case study
Aims
• To explore the function of a curriculum
artefact
• To discuss the characteristics of
curriculum enactment

3. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
http://www.geocapabilities.org
Curriculum making
Curriculum making enables ‘curriculum
enactment’.
According to Walter Doyle, teachers should
strive for this: “The highest form of
professional practice is to create one’s own
curriculum” (Doyle)

4. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
http://www.geocapabilities.org
Curriculum making
Curriculum making therefore requires
autonomy, adaptation and creativity.
It enables ‘principled resistance’ (Doyle) to
settling for less productive forms of curriculum
experience. Elsewhere we call these Future 1 or
Future 2 curriculum scenarios.
Curriculum making enables a Future 3
curriculum. (However, on its own does not
guarantee this).

5. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
First: You need a base Map of the North Atlantic

6. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
North America
England
Ireland
This is your base map on which to record data
about one family’s migration story (in the nineteenth century)
Even a simple generalised one will do! It will be sufficient to
Have this A4 size on plain white paper

7. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
North America
England
Ireland
YOU GET THE DATA FROM LISTENING TO THE SONG
Click through using this link: GA curriculum making page.
You can listen to versions with or without the text!
You can download the text. There are many different ways to
get students to record the data on the map!
One Family’s Migration Story

8. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
Here is an example, including extra ‘doodles’

9. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
• Describe the map
• Analyse the patterns
• Apply the Push-Pull model
• Refine the model
Follow up Activities

10. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
http://www.geocapabilities.org
Among the main points to emerge are:
• The potato failure over successive years was
a main ‘push’ factor.
• Michael went to England and got into trouble
(not difficult for outsiders in (possibly) an
unwelcoming new country).
• He made money though (not sure how)!
• He returned and with his money prospered.

11. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
http://www.geocapabilities.org
Among the main points to emerge are:
• John was never seen again (crossing the
Atlantic was an enormous step to take).
• He was sadly missed - but he sent money
home.
• There was great anxiety at home as to the kind
of job he would get (the railways were very
dangerous. John never divulged his work).

12. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
http://www.geocapabilities.org
Among the main points to emerge are:
• Brigitte, the sister, did not leave home
(migration opportunities were not shared
equally by gender - or age).
The students‘maps contain all these data!
After analysing this case study, it would be possible to
then make connections with contemporary international
migration, for example possibly focusing on the
importance of remittances in the global economy.

13. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
• Describe the map
• Analyse the patterns
• Apply the Push-Pull model
• Refine the model
Follow up Activities
• Historical context, including
information on the potato
famine
• Historical context, including
journey times.
• Statistical data from
nineteenth century to present
on population change in
Ireland
• Data on the current Irish
diaspora
What additional teaching and learning
resources are needed?

14. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
• Describe the map
• Analyse the patterns
• Apply the Push-Pull model
• Refine the model
Follow up Activities
• It would be possible
to use a refined
model of
international
migration to examine
a current instances.
Where next?

15. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
http://www.geocapabilities.org
Summary
In this case study, the Irish folk song becomes a
curriculum artefact.
• The teacher has seen its potential as a rich
source of data that can be interrogated
• It can be used – with historical and possibly
spatial ‘distance’ - to introduce a complex and
emotionally charged (‘controversial’) topic

16. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
http://www.geocapabilities.org
Summary
• It can be referred to over many lessons as
a memorable story
• It therefore helps ‘anchor’ the topic.
• It helps introduce a generalisation or
model (Push-Pull) as a reliable
explanation, but which nevertheless can
be challenged and refined

17. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
http://www.geocapabilities.org
Curriculum Making as
Curriculum Enactment
• Translating the syllabus into locally
productive and sustainable events
• Curriculum artefacts (tools) represent a
key part of this process

18. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
http://www.geocapabilities.org
Curriculum Making as
Curriculum Enactment
• Task design is also essential.
• Tasks are the product of a teacher’s
theory (interpretation) of the content
• Failure to be sensitive to context (the
students) risks loss of control and loss of
curriculum

19. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This Web site reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project partners
Twycross
School
Curriculum Making in Geography
Student Experiences
School
Geography
Teacher Choices
Underpinned
by Key
Concepts
Thinking
Geographically
Which
learning
activity ?
Does this take the
learner beyond
what they
already know ?
In the context of the
discipline of geography