Why you should start the new IGCSE Geography Curriculum with the unit on Development

I spent the morning thining about my future job as teacher of the new IGCSE Geography curriculum and which units within the curriculum are the most important.  I asked myself which unit should be taught first to the new incoming Year 10 group in Fall 2009.  I came up with an answer - to teach Unit C9: Development and Human Welfare first thing.  Ironic, because this is the LAST unit listed in the spec - but it shouldn't be!  Please see my reasoning below and help me think about this by commenting.  Thanks

I would argue that this section is one of the most important in the geography curriculum and should be taught at the very beginning of the first year of IGSCE Geography. I believe that one of the main reasons for studying geography is to understand why people in different places are different in terms of what they have, how they interact in their own place (culture), and how they think about the world. In fact, this specification itself starts out with a section that says “Edexcel IGCSE in Geography enables students to appreciate the differences and similarities between people’s views of the world, its environments, societies and cultures .” In order to understand why people view the world differently, one has to understand their starting point. The vast majority of students that enroll in an Edexcel IGCSE course in geography come from a starting point that is privileged and to some extent biased to western ways of thinking. I think the most relevant way to start a class in geography is to begin by opening students’ eyes to the rest of the world and to instill in students the value of thinking from a different perspective. In addition to the reasoning above, the following are other reasons why unit C9 of the new IGCSE Geography curriculum should be the first unit taught in Year 10.

• Students enter IGCSE Geography with vast differences in their geographical knowledge and understanding. Unit C9 is one of the most flexible units in terms of the ability to differentiate for different levels of ability. While some students might simply be trying to grasp the concept of which countries are ‘developed’ and ‘developing’, others can let their imaginations run wild as development is a topic that the entire world is still trying to solve – there is plenty of data for students who excel.  

• This unit lends itself immediately to the use of a variety of geographic tools and techniques including the use of maps, the creation of maps, the use of data, the use of virtual globes and GIS.

• The topic can be broken down into a very simple question – Why are some places ‘rich’ and some places ‘poor’? Students won’t be afraid of this question – but will find over time that it is not an easy question to answer. It sparks investigative thinking.

• There is a TON of extremely useful data available for teaching about development including works by Jared Diamond regarding the history of development and modern UN data which can be visualized using an incredible tool called Gapminder. Students will NOT get bored to start the year and first impressions matter!

• From my experience, the overemphasis on physical geography is a major complaint that students have about Key Stage 3 and IGSCE geography. I’ve noticed that most students that say they ‘hate geography’ complain about ‘rote memorization’ of physical processes. They roll their eyes thinking about the formation of a waterfall, ox-bow lake, or the dynamics of the coast. Many of them have had this drilled into them in middle school through worksheets and are begging for something new to inspire them at the Key Stage 4 level. Too many Year 10 IGSCE courses start with ‘Unit A1: River Environments’ solely because this comes up first on the spec.

• Throughout the rest of the course, we as teachers will constantly be differentiating between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries. We will talk about how hazards, agriculture, economic geography, or settlements patterns all differ in ‘developed’ regions vs. those in ‘developing’ regions. Why not give students the basis for this distinction at the beginning? The terms and acronyms from unit C9 are some of the most used throughout the course.

I feel as if I could go on and on about why this unit is the most important starting point. The above reasons make a strong case, however, and I’ll you to comment on whether you agree or not with my thoughts. What do you think? Should Unit C9 – Development and Human Welfare be taught first in the New IGSCE Geography Curriculum?