Geographical Investigation - Librarian support

With the implementation of the new Senior Geography syllabus, teachers and student are trying to get their heads around how the new Geographical Investigation is different from the old Senior Geography Project and looking for resources and support to guide them. One often forgotten resources within schools is the school librarian. 

The Geographical Investigation requires stduents to identify an area for geographic inquiry; develop questions and a plan; use ethical processes in their research; collect, record analyse primary data; organise and process secondary data; present and communicate findings; propose recommendations; and critical review the plan.

Teachers should speak to their school librarian and see if they can support the class by offering library sessions and presentations, throughout the process of students undertaking their geographical investigation.

Sessions could cover topics such as:

• Plagiarism
• Referencing the work of others.
• Indigenous cultural knowledge
• Presenting other people’s stories and opinions in your work.
• Library basics
• Searching effectively – beyond Google
• Accessing resources at other libraries
• Types of secondary sources
• Assessing reliability, credibility, and accuracy.
• Keeping track of sources
• Methods of note-taking, summarizing and organizing complex information
• Analysis and critical thinking tools/scaffolds
• Referencing
• Editing and proof-reading
• Citation tools
• The writing process

This blog is a summary of a presentation provided for the School Library Association of NSW.