CONTEMPORARY TEACHER

LEADERSHIP
Assessment 1

Abstract
This document is a proposal for the re-design of a geography unit ‘Water in the World’ based
on the ‘Understanding by Design’ method of backwards mapping. Recommendations for this
re-design include a general restructuring, with additional incorporation of ALARM, inquiry-
based learning in the form of case studies and field work, and UDLs multiple means
framework. Support materials in the form of a reconstructed scope and sequence, concept
map, assessment task and unit are provided to help implement these recommendations.

Georgia Linnenbank
18366570

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary................................................................................................................................. 2
Objectives ........................................................................................................................................... 2

Context ................................................................................................................................................ 2

Goals ................................................................................................................................................... 3

Recommendations .............................................................................................................................. 3

Comparative Table .................................................................................................................................. 5

Recommendations .................................................................................................................................. 7
Reconstructed Unit ............................................................................................................................... 10
Scope and Sequence ......................................................................................................................... 10

Concept Map..................................................................................................................................... 11

Assessment Task ............................................................................................................................... 12

Redesigned Unit ................................................................................................................................ 16

References ............................................................................................................................................ 19
Appendix ............................................................................................................................................... 21
Original Scope and Sequence............................................................................................................ 21

Original Concept Map ....................................................................................................................... 22

Original Assessment Task.................................................................................................................. 22

Original Unit ...................................................................................................................................... 32

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Executive Summary
Objectives

This report aims to improve the teaching and learning experiences, and student outcomes

of year 7 geography students at Glenmore Park High School through the evaluating and re-

designing of the stage 4 unit “Water in the World”. By redesigning this unit, we aim to

overcome some of the challenges faced by this institution and its students. This report will

use understanding by design to reduce the programs current weaknesses, and build upon

strengths to improve students’ literacy, numeracy, critical and creative thinking and ethical

understanding.

Context

The unit being evaluated in this report is a stage 4 geography unit for “Water in the World”

that was designed and taught at Glenmore Park High School and was originally integrated

with another stage 4 unit “Landscapes and Landforms”. During my placement I taught this

unit only from week 2-week 7 of term 2. Year 7 HSIE classes at this school are mixed ability,

and as year 7 students their understanding of geography depends quite heavily on their

experiences of HSIE in primary school. Glenmore Park High school is considered a low socio-

economic school; as shown in figure 1, 76% of students are in the bottom two quartiles. This

impacts teaching and learning practises quite heavily as this school does not have a “Bring

your Own Device Policy” and has limited school-supplied resources in terms of computers,

immersive geographic technologies and tools for fieldwork. In 2018, students in years 7 and

9 where achieving lower NAPLAN results than the national average in all areas, and the

schools average fell in significantly form 2017 (ACARA, 2019).

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 Figure 1: Column Graph of Socio-Economic Advantage Retrieved from MySchool (ACARA, 2019)

Goals
Following an evaluation of the original program, the subsequent goals have been set.

- Improve clarity and sequence of learning across the program to ensure students

understand and are engaging meaningfully with content.

- Address literacy concerns and improve student writing ability to better prepare them

for assessments and continued learning throughout high school.

- Allow students to utilise multiple means of expression in terms of their in-class work

and formal assessments.

- Provide ample opportunity for field work and inquiry-based learning within the

geography classroom.

Recommendations
Considering the above goals and the strengths and weakness of the existing unit, the

following recommendations have been proposed.

- Implement the three step Understanding by Design (UbD) framework to make

outcomes and lesson flow of the program more logical by implementing a concept

map, amending the scope and sequence to separate units, adjusting the assessment

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 and modifying the program to incorporate more explicit A Learning a Responding

Matrix (ALARM) teaching.

- Focus on real world examples, case studies and practical fieldwork as much as

possible to engage students and encourage them to think creatively, critically and

ethically.

- Better incorporate the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) concept of “multiple

means of expression”.

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Comparative Table
Area of Strengths of the area of
consideration consideration
Some use of ALARM for
understanding content and
Literacy improving writing skills.
Wide range of writing tasks
including article, persuasive,
creative.
Use of tables to help
understand distribution of
Numeracy water resources.
Application of statistics to
form graphs and maps that
portray insightful information
about water and weather.
Concerns of the area of Suggested Changes Research support for the changes
consideration to counteract suggested.
concerns
This program had a focus Less informal writing ALARM is a “strategy that explicitly teaches
on writing as copying or and additional time students to think and respond
writing without structure, scheduled into critically, evaluate information and make
drafting or editing. There program for explicit connections”, with the intention to
was a lack of scheduled teaching of ALARM “improve the way in which students
time for working on formal and practice of organise that information when answering
writing before exam period formal essay writing. extended response questions” (NSW Dep
even though students Ed, 2015, p.1). This would fit with the UbD
needed direct scaffolding concept of backwards mapping as it would
to answer extended ensure that students are provided with the
response question. skills they need for the final assessment.
Focus on writing for in Less informal writing UDL is a pedagogical approach that
class work and assignment and more flexibility “recognises the need to create
responses despite in means of opportunities for the inclusion of diverse
geography syllabuses’ expressions. learners through providing curricula and
openness to other means instructional activities that allow for
of expressions including multiple means of representation,
tables, graphs and expression, and engagement” (Riviou &
diagrams. Kouroupetroglou, 2014). One meta-analysis
found that “classroom teachers should give
their students the greatest chance at
educational success” (Capp, 2017, p.805) by
implementing the UDL framework.
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 Students think critically to rank Lack of fieldwork activities
Critical and the perceived importance of
Creative different water uses.
Thinking
Higher order thinking tasks of
suggesting future impacts of
water shortage based off of
their existing knowledge.
Consideration of uneven
Ethical global distribution of water
Understanding and its implications.
Consideration of how different
people value water differently.
Good application of geography
standards and outcomes to
Understanding scope and sequence and
by Design programs.
Evidence of backwards
mapping as assessment task
links directly to content taught
during semester.
to actively engage students
in the hand-on aspect of
geography and allow for
critical and creative
thinking.
Limited use of current real-
world examples e.g. the
current drought in NSW
and recent media
coverage, and little
assessment of how real
word individual and
government actions
actually impact issues of
water shortage.
No concept map provided
for this program, the
integrated program while
aiming to encourage
connectedness and
knowledge integration,
may be confusing jumping
back and forth for such
young students in the first
year of high school.
Reduce teacher-lead Yee & Wong (1987) state that field work “is
and theory-based a process of learning and a method of
time in the teaching by which geography can be made
classroom to focus real and interesting” (p.25). Furthermore,
on practical Fuller (2012) supposes that fieldwork is seen
activities. as the ‘signature pedagogy’ of geography,
and that it provides students with the
“opportunities to acquire 'hands-on'
subject-knowledge in the 'real world’” (p.8).
Focus on integration Danaher (2012) states that “unpacking
of real-world environmental issues within a specific
examples, how are community allows students to develop an
the phenomenon ability to think geographically” (p.7), and
actually effecting more specifically that “analysing aspects of
real people? a contemporary community close to home
can demonstrate to students more
meaningfully what these concepts entail,
and how they relate to each other”(p.7).
Restructure unit so UbD aims to ensure there are clear and
that the desired achievable goals for every unit through the
outcomes and process of backwards mapping where
processes of outcomes are decided before assessments
achieving them are and before teaching and learning activities.
more straight This guarantees that “all the methods and
forward. materials we use are shaped by a clear
conception of the vision of desired results”
(Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, p.14).
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Recommendations

The original program for this unit of work was by no means unfit for purpose, it already contained

many effective teaching and learning activities and was designed with the school’s students and

resources in mind. However, by using the Understanding by Design (UbD) process, the program can

be re-designed to create a more logical flow for students and ensure that they are learning all of the

skills and content that they require. Wiggins and McTighe (2005), the developers of UbD, state that

under UbD “all the methods and materials we use are shaped by a clear conception of the vision of

desired results” (p.14). The original unit lacked a concept map and had a complicated integrated

format, it was not clear what the desired results of this unit where, therefore making it difficult for

students to understand threshold concepts and achieve academic success. It is recommended that

this unit undergo a total restructuring, starting with the development of a concept map and

simplified scope and sequence. The next step in the UbD process is to determine what is acceptable

evidence of students having achieved the desired results and how to assess whether they have

(Wiggins and McTighe, 2005). A simplified assessment of an extended response question,

supplemented with additional assessments for skills books and class work, is recommended. The fact

that work throughout the unit will link directly to the assessment task, and that the new assessment

will be based on real and current affairs within Australia help to hit the Quality Teaching element of

“Connectedness” as students understand the significance of their learning both inside and outside of

the classroom (Ladwig & Gore, 2003).

The final step in the UbD process is planning the teaching and learning activities, these activities

should ensure that students can pass assessments and achieve course outcomes (Wiggins &

McTighe, 2005). A majority of existing activities will remain with only some adjustments to ensure

students are utilising ALARM for extended responses as well as being allowed multiple other means

of expression, and focusing on inquiry based learning through case studies and field work to ensure

students are thinking mathematically, critically, creatively and ethically. These recommendations

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are not intended to add more work for teachers or students, instead they aim to adapt and improve

that which is already in place.

Walter and Newman (2008) state that “teacher educators using UbD should make explicit the

various language and literacy skills that learners need for content-area learning and particularly how

they can fit those skills into the UbD framework” (p.164). Though the school had identified ALARM

as their preferred system of growing writing skills, it was under represented in the program,

underutilised in the classroom and manifested in poor extended responses in the final exam. Though

not compulsory, ALARM is a government identified strategy for improving critical thinking,

evaluation and extended response writing (Department of Education, 2015) that would provide

students with the skills they need to write an extended response for their assessment. As well as

prioritising the cross-curriculum focus of literacy, using ALARM hits on the Quality Teaching

elements of deep understanding and higher order thinking (Ladwig & Gore, 2003) as it encourages

students to move from basic compreension to complex understanding.

Maths is another cross-curriculum priority that has deep roots in geography, as Jones and Nankivell

(2016) highlight the need for teachers to “develop and extend numeracy within the geography

curriculum” as students should be able to “communicate geographical information through

numerical and qualitative skills” (p.110). As such the use of case studies and field work in geography

offers a unique opportunity for teachers to utilise both inquiry-based learning and UDL’s multiple

means of representation, engagement and expression in the same space. Raath and Golightly (2017)

state that “many studies emphasize the value of fieldwork in teaching and learning as an extremely

effective and enjoyable teaching and learning method” (p.217), indeed, Fuller suggests that field

work is the ‘signature pedagogy’ of geography, with many academics commending its ability to

engage students in real world problems and hand-on activities. Recommended changes to this unit

include additional field study work in the form of an excursion to Warragamba Dam as part of their

“Penrith Lakes Environmental Education Centre” program.

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UDLs multiple means are specifically designed to accommodate those with different needs while

also being highly beneficial for students with a range of abilities (Howard, 2003). UDL fits well with

UbD as it also proposes that units be “built around a central concept or principle, a big idea [and

that] knowledge and skills are strategically integrated to promote deep understanding and high-level

thinking” (Howard, 2003, p.116). The implementation of multiple means of expression is manifested

in the recommended changes as activities where students are allowed to show their understanding

in forms other than writing, this includes using mind maps, graphs, tables, diagrams, maps,

discussions and debates. Multiple means of representation and engagement is achieved by using a

combination of written work, computer tasks, analysing maps and diagrams, and field work. This is

important because studies show that by employing UDL framework, “classroom teachers should give

their students the greatest chance at educational success” (Capp, 2017, p.805).

Through the implementation of UbD, ALARM, UDL and inquiry-based learning, these

recommendations aim to achieve the goals of simplifying the progression, improving student

literacy, allowing for student achievement through multiple means of expression and engaging

students through fieldwork. These recommendations will help to achieve the overall goal of

improved learning in year 7 geography, with minimal work for teachers or intrusion into existing

teaching and learning practices.

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Reconstructed Unit
Scope and Sequence

Term 2 – 10 Weeks
Outcomes: GE4-1, GE4-2, GE4-3, GE4-5, GE4-7, GE4-8.
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10
The Water Cycle The Value of Water Water Resources Australia’s Water Scarcity and Management
Water
Resources
ASSESSMENT BOOKS SCAFFOLD FIELD ASSESSMENT
2 MARKED DUE STUDY 2 DUE
NOTICIATION

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Concept Map

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Assessment Task
Assessment Task Notification
Course: Stage 4 Geography Task no.: 2 Notification Date: Mon 18.05.2020

Unit: Water in the World Weighting: 35% Due Date: Mon 22.06.2020

Outcomes to be Assessed

GE4-1 - locates and describes the diverse features and characteristics of a range of places and
environments

GE4-2 - describes processes and influences that form and transform places and environments

GE4-5 - discusses management of places and environments for their sustainability

GE4-7 - acquires and processes geographical information by selecting and using geographical
tools for inquiry

GE4-8 - communicates geographical information using a variety of strategies

Rationale

Students learn about real and current instances of drought within Australia and analyse how
drought impacts people lives and livelihoods.
Task Instructions

Question: Analyse the impact of drought on one Australian city.

Students select a town or city in NSW that is currently experiencing a drought and write an
ALARM extended response that:

- Identifies the town being discussed (using post code, state, latitude and longitude)
- Describes the town (urban/suburban/rural, population, industry, climate/weather)
- Explain how and why the drought has occurred (how long has it been, are their other
factors?)
- Analyse how drought has impacted the town and its people using specific examples
(water restrictions, inability to run business including loss of crops or live stock)
- EXTENTION Critically analyse how drought has impacted the town and its people using
specific examples (compounding effects, mental health issues)
Duration

Students have 6 weeks to work on this assessment, including 3 hours of time working on it in class
during week 8. Student will have access to laptops/computers during this time and will be
required to have access to their assignment via email, drive or USB.

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 Extended Response Scaffold
Fill out this scaffold to help plan the paragraphs for your extended response and ensure you
have answered the question properly. If you would like to use different sources or add more
information you can, as long as you follow the essay structure.

Introduction - Briefly answer the question and outline your points (2-3 sentences)

Body 1 - Identifies the town being discussed (PEEL)

Suggested sources: P
www.googlemaps.com

Body 2 - Describes the town (PEEL)

Suggested sources: P
http://www.farmonlineweather.com.au/

https://itt.abs.gov.au/itt/r.jsp?databyregion

Body 3 - Explain how and why the drought has occurred (PEEL)
Suggested Sources P
https://www.waternsw.com.au/supply/drought-
information

https://www.abc.net.au/news/drought/
E

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 E

Body 4 - Analyse how drought has impacted the town and its people using specific
examples (PEEL)
Suggested Sources P
https://www.waternsw.com.au/supply/drought-
information

https://www.abc.net.au/news/drought/
E

EXTENTION Body 5 - Critically analyse how drought has impacted the town and its people
using specific examples (PEEL)
Suggested Sources P
https://www.waternsw.com.au/supply/drought-
information

https://www.abc.net.au/news/drought/
E

Conclusion – restate points and final conclusion (2-3 sentences)

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 Marking Criteria

Grade Criteria Mark

Outstanding
 Accurately locates and demonstrates excellent knowledge of the town
 Explains and critically analyses the drought and its’ multiple or
A compounding impacts on the town and its people 29-35
 Effectively uses ALARM, PEEL and essay structure
 Excellent communication of ideas and use of technical language,
accurate referencing of resources and professionally presented work.
High
 Accurately locates and demonstrates knowledge of the town
 Explains and analyses the drought and its’ impacts on the town and its
B people 22-28
 Uses ALARM, PEEL and essay structures
 Clear communication of ideas and use of technical language,
referencing of resources, well presented work.
Sound
 Locates and demonstrates sound knowledge of the town

C  Explains the drought and attempts to analyse at least two impacts 15-21
 Uses ALARM, PEEL and essay structure
 Coherent communication of ideas, some referencing of resources,
reasonably well-presented work.
Basic
 Locates and demonstrates basic knowledge of the town

D  Discusses the drought attempts to analyse at least one impact 8-14

 Attempts to use ALARM, PEEL, or essay structure
 Some communication of ideas, little referencing of resources,
tolerably presented work.
Limited
 Does not locate and/or demonstrates only limited knowledge of the
town
 May explain the drought
E 1-7
 May make basic references to the impacts of drought
 May attempt to use ALARM, PEEL, or essay structure
 Limited communication of ideas, little to no referencing of resources,
poorly presented work.
F  Non-attempt or non-serious attempt at assessment 0

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Unit
Changes have been make to the below unit as per the recommendations above, the key indicated which recommendation that modification shows.

Understanding by Design unit restructuring, Inquiry Based Learning (case studies & field work), Universal Design for Learning multiple means of expression

Curriculum
Outcomes
Lessons

Cross
Learn About Teaching and learning

Value of Water
investigate the HW Track the types and amount of water used daily – record it for a week and work out quantities used.
economic, cultural, This is for down the track and subsequent lessons.
spiritual and aesthetic 1 Values of water (page 38-9)
values of water for Brainstorm the different values uses of water for different groups of people.
people, including Examine the different activities that use water both in the home and outside and rank them according
Aboriginal and Torres water usage and perceived need.
Strait Islander Peoples Have students estimate what percentage of water is used for each activity and have them draw a
and/or peoples of the frequency histogram of their estimations ensuring they are SALTy (scale, axes, label, title). Compare
Asia region, for their estimation with the real percentages from https://treasury.gov.au/publication/economic-
example: roundup-summer-2006/water-and-australias-future-economic-growth/
-description of the
ways water is used by
people eg agricultural,
commercial, industrial
and recreational uses

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-discussion of 1 Examine Figure 3.2.2 (page 80). What would be the different perceptions towards water between
variations in people’s someone in Africa and a student. Writing task
perceptions about the Using the textbook for evidence, student split into 2 groups and conduct a debate about the value of
value of water eg water, economic vs aesthetic/cultural.
economic versus 2 HAND OUT NOTIFICATION FOR ASSIGNMENT 2 and explain using scaffold, link todays activity of
aesthetic extended response writing and using ALARM to assignment 2.
Students are to write an article extended response detailing the inequity of water access amongst
different groups and how this affects their perceptions about value using the ALARM framework and
scaffold. Explicitly teach how to write an article.

-comparison of the 1 The Rainbow Serpent and Saltwater People (page 68). Answer “knowledge and understanding”
importance of water to questions 1-3.
ONE Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander
community and/or
ONE Asian community
Water Resources
investigate the 2 Calculate average usage of water based on recording from earlier in the term. List the different ways
characteristics and 1 water is used by students.
spatial distribution of Brainstorm the different types of water – salt, fresh, frozen, soil moisture, surface water, waste water
global water resources, and vapour.
for example: Link the types of water to specific uses – agriculture, cleaning, manufacture, etc.
-classification of water
resources 1 Table showing the percentages of available water types (page 10)
2 Using the data on page 11, create a composite table showing the different distribution of water
storage around the world.
Remembering ALARM directives, answer 4 short answer questions on the information in the table
(similar to those in exam)
- List the different types of fresh water
- Identify the most abundant water type.
- Compare the difference in distribution of fresh water and salt water
- Discuss how these differences impact humans

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-identification of 2 Compare the available water to the world’s population distribution. Where could there be problems?
different forms of
water used as
resources
examination of spatial
distribution patterns of
water resources
investigate the
quantity and variability
of water resources in
Australia and other
places, for example:
-analysis of spatial
variations in Australia’s
water resources eg
groundwater, rivers
-explanation of
variations in
freshwater water
availability across
Australia eg
precipitation,
groundwater, runoff
Explain why.
Potential resources – page 12, discuss their usability.
Australia’s Water Resources
EX Excursion to Warragamba damn as part of their “Penrith Lakes Environmental Education Centre”
excursion for stage 4 (More information available here) to conduct field work and gain hands-on
understanding of Australia’s damning and water management processes.
5 https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/thirsting-for-equitable-water-distribution-australia-turns-to-landsat/
Murray River scarcity – will need to be simplified
Map the availability of surface and artesian water in Australia
(Team Drive/HSIE/Year7/7Geography/Resources/2019)
 link to climate and weather – seasonal rainfall
 where does the rain go during the wet season in Northern Australia?
Compare to a map showing farmland and major population areas and major dams. Examine the
impact on water flow within Australia discussing precipitation, groundwater, runoff, storage. Record
what this means now and in the future.
Research the flow of the Murray River system and the Yangtze River – what does this mean for
people? (look at dams, access and waste).
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References

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), (2019). My School:

Glenmore Park High School. Retrieved from

https://www.myschool.edu.au/school/41814

Capp, M., J. (2017). The effectiveness of universal design for learning: a meta-analysis of

literature between 2013 and 2016, International Journal of Inclusive Education,

21(8). 791-807. doi: 10.1080/13603116.2017.1325074

Danaher, Mike. (2012). Community, environment and teaching geography. Geographical

Education, 25, 7-14.

Department of Education (2015). ALARM: A Learning and Responding Matrix. Retrieved

from

https://pre.education.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/166586/ALARM-

fact-sheet.pdf

Jones, R., & Nankivell, J. (2016). Developing numeracy skills through fieldwork. Teaching

Geography, 41(3), 110-111.

Fuller, I. C. (2012) Taking students outdoors to learn in high places. Areas, 41(1). 7 – 13.

Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/41406039

Ladwig, J., & Gore, J. (2003). Quality Teaching in NSW public schools: A classroom practice

guide. Ryde, NSW: State of NSW, Department of Education and Training Professional

Support and Curriculum Directorate.

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Raath, S. & Golightly, A. (2017) Geography Education Students' Experiences with a Problem-

Based Learning Fieldwork Activity. Journal of Geography, 116(5). 217-225, doi:

10.1080/00221341.2016.1264059

Riviou, K. & Kouroupetroglou, G. (2014). Designing an Educational Scenario Using the

Principles of Universal Design for Learning, 2014 IEEE 14th International Conference

on Advanced Learning Technologies. doi: 10.1109/ICALT.2014.213

Walter, S., & Newman, M. (2008). Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay

McTighe. TESOL Quarterly, 42(1) 162-165. Retrieved from

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40264441

Wiggins, G., & Mctighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design. Alexandria: Association for

Supervision & Curriculum Development.

Yee Sze Onn & Wong Poh Poh (1978). Fieldwork in Geography —importance, objectives and

scope. Asia-Pacific Journal of Education,1(1). 24-27, doi:

10.1080/02188797808548515

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Appendix

Original Scope and Sequence

This is the original scope and sequence provided to me by Glenmore Park High School, of this integrated unit I taught only from weeks 2-7. This

included some revision and essay writing classes before their exam, and a focus on water afterwards. My mentor and I decided to skip the

‘land management protection’ lessons for her to make up later, as the students were engaging well with me about water resources & drought.

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Original Concept Map

I was not supplied with a concept map for this unit because the school did not prepare one.

Therefore, the concept map supplied above is entirely my own creation, based on the key

concepts of the original program

Original Assessment Task

The original assessment task for this unit was a half yearly exam that covered both “Water

in the World” and “Landscapes and Landforms” as shown below. For this report I elected to

change this assessment to focus solely on water resources and scarcity as it aligns with my

own teaching of the unit.

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Original Unit

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