Explore with Guerrilla
Geography!!
Ruth Potts
In partnership with the Geography
Collective.
Friday April 13th.
Who are the Geography Collective?
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We are a collective of Geography activists,
teachers, therapists, academics, artists
and guerrillas. We’ve come together to
encourage (young) people to see our
world in new ways.
What is Mission Explore?
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Mission:Explore has a purpose. We think
that the world is awesome and that
making sense of it is important. We do this
through an approach to exploring,
questioning, playing, experimenting and
experiencing our planet we call guerrilla
geography. Our children’s activities are
developed to encourage creative and
critical thinking about the world in which
they live while having a great deal of fun.
The books
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Hay Festival and National Trust Outdoors
Outdoors Book
Book of the Year
Year 2011
2011
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http://www.missionexplore.net/
How can these be used in schools?
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Find a mission and adapt it for use in
school.
Fit into the curriculum – lots of mapwork
Eg - Create a river story – link to river
project or the river Nile.
“Geography without fieldwork is like science
without experiments…”
River journey
Collect A- Z
Finder Poets
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Write a poem about
the things you find
while exploring
outdoors..
http://www.missionexplore.net/mis
sion/ID-a-problem
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Identify a problem that faces young people in your area:
homelessness, kids without school supplies, lack of
playgrounds or another issue.
Research the problem you are interested in and write up
and submit a plan for how you would go about trying to
fix or reduce the problem. See if there is a related
organization you can volunteer with. If not, organize a
campaign to try to change things and raise awareness of
the problem.
Use TES website for brilliant ideas for Key Stage 1 – 3.
Your turn!!!!
Form an Air Band
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In groups can you form an air band to
produce a piece of music to the others?
http://www.missionexplore.net/mission/Form-an-air-band
Furthest and closest
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http://www.missionexplore.net/mission/Fu
rthest-and-closest
Speak to five people in a public place. Who is furthest
from you and who is closest to you in terms of: where
they live, their age, their taste in music and their
opinions on something that's important to you?
You can be close to someone who is very far away. You can also feel
distant from someone sitting next to you. Consider creating a map to show
the different relationships you discover.
Tip: Take your time to have a good chat during this mission. As you talk
you may become closer to the people you speak to.
Where is the Geography?
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Play is deeply linked to geography. From being
immersed in deep play and imagining alternative worlds
to evading capture in foreign territories while playing
hide and seek, play is one of the most enjoyable
engagements we ever have with our world(s). It’s also
an immensely powerful way to learn about people, social
interactions, communication, risk-taking, management,
fear, love, worms, trees, strangeness, experimenting,
science, being creative and so much more. Despite all of
the known advantages of outdoor play many children do
not have the opportunity experience it as much as they
should do.. and would want to.
Hide a………………..
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http://www.missionexplore.net/mission/Hide-a
Buy a simple old jigsaw from a charity shop, put
it together and draw a map on its back that
leads someone to something or somewhere
special.
Post or plant the pieces so that the person finds
them over a long period of time. Make sure
you're around when they find the final piece of
the jigsaw and work it all out!
Walk your footprint
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http://www.missionexplore.net/mission/Walkyour-footprint
Estimate the size of your ecological footprint.
How long does it take you to walk from its
centre to its edge?
What is the total ecological footprint of your
household? school? community? Create a piece
of art to demonstrate what you discover by
doing this mission.
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Cartoon removed for copyright reasons
How to fit into school life.
Hold a “Mission Explore” club after school.
Hold Mission Explore whole school
days/weeks.
Have a challenge board up in school,
change the missions regularly.
Trash Art (mission explore club)
Say Cheese!!!
The Future
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Become one of the Mission Explore
Challenge groups.
Become a private group where you and
other teachers you invite, can create your
own missions and badges.
Only your pupils can view them.
Find resources on TES – Latitude festival
Go out there and
get exploring with
your children !!!!
Go the mint stint
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http://www.missionexplore.net/mission/G
o-the-mint-stint
How far can you travel while sucking the same mint?
Create maps of your attempts;
you can use the space in your Mission:Explore book,
or another notebook or journal, to record your efforts.