Active Methodologies for the
Junior Cert
Introduction
Jason O’Brien &
Norma Lenihan
Geography in Action
Educate.ie
Active Learning
Today, this is what
we are interested
in!
Literacy & Numeracy
Key Words
•
•
•
•
Teach the word and
meaning
Foundation - building
blocks
More than learning
words
Students need to be
able to:
•
•
•
•
Understand the
meaning
Spell them
Explain
Use in a sentence
Wordles
Create your own
Activity!!
Extra resources
search
Word Pyramid
Word Trail
Numeracy
• Covered through out
the Geography course
• Currency
• Percentages
• Measurement (cm,
mm, km)
• Graphs - Pie charts, bar
charts, trend graphs
• Population pyramids
Activity
• Students can check the
prices of home heating oil
on www.cheapestoil.ie and
the prices of petrol and
diesel on www.pumps.ie.
What can you get the
students to do with this
information??
Activities
1.Ask students to keep a
daily record on way home
of the petrol stations they
pass
2. Compare the prices in
petrol stations between
the highest and lowest.
3. Compare the prices
between diesel and petrol
and get the difference.
Other activities
• ‘Who am I’
– Stick a keyword to the
students forehead and then
they have to ask the students
questions in order to guess
what keyword they are.
• ‘Debate’
– Get the students to organise a
short debate on a topic.
“Human interaction with the
sea does more harm than
good”
Activity ‘Dragons Den’
When covering Secondary Economic Activities get
students to work in pairs and come up with a
manufacturing industry they would like to start up.
They present to the class – using the factors that
influence location of an industry. The class votes on
which one is most likely to succeed.
Photo’s
• Find evidence with their phones and email
them
• Set up a geography email in the school
Students could make a short advertisement/promo to
attract tourists to their area, region or to a specific
attraction. This can be a poster, leaflet, audio clip, video
clip or even an advertisement.
Some Ideas
Positives and Negatives of Tourism in
Spain
DJ Sunshine
Maria, the local hairdresser
Sophia, a local resident
André, a local fisherman
Carlos, the local politician
José, a farmer
Flashcards
Can be used for definitions, contributing factors etc
Dormant
A volcano that has
not erupted for a
long time, but could
possibly erupt again
Whip around
• A method for reviewing material at the end of
class or maybe a chapter
• Students sit in small groups
• Each student says one thing that they have
learned in that class. Keep going around the
group until they run out of things to say!
• Students are teaching and learning!
Think – Pair - Share
• Can be used to introduce a new topic, come up with
a list of factors, for revision.
• Students individually write a list of their
thoughts/ideas.
• Then pair up with the person next to them to see
what they may have missed
• Then students come together in a larger group
• Important that teacher takes feedback.
Tips for group work!
• Use short segments of time!
• Keep groups small
• Put students into groups – don’t always let
them chose their own groups
• Walk around the room while the groups are
working
Learning outcomes (K-W-L)
• Gives the students a
focus at the start
• Set out clear goals
for them
• They can revert
back to see if they
are achieving their
outcomes
• Self evaluation for
the students
• Encourages them to
take responsibility
Go raibh maith agaibh!