Using books in the NEA

June 2020
In this blog I’m not talking about reading to contextualise the study or reviewing literature to ground their study in the wider geographical context, I’m talking about reading to spark intellectual curiosity; to spark an initial idea. Whilst not a panacea, I’m arguing that the use of good old-fashioned paper books is underrated in the completion of A-Level investigations. And what I’m focusing on is the use of books for the initial process of coming up with an idea.

To use the language of Iain Palôt in his 2018 article reflecting on the first round of the NEA, if we want students to avoid the ‘well-worn paths’ and instead show ‘a refreshing level of innovation and individuality’, then creativity in our approach is required. For me, books are (part of) the answer. Anyone who has guided students through their independent investigation will agree with the sentiment that ‘achieving independence in an enquiry is easier said than done’ (Kitchen, 2017).

The temptation to stay digital is common (and understandable). There is an overwhelming bank of freely available, vast data sets online that can be relatively easily analysed by students. Yet whilst these are powerful, and indeed often essential for secondary data collection and analysis, it is arguable that an online data set doesn’t quite foster the same ‘need to know’ for students. Of course, this is only based on my own experiences but I can’t help but think that books may be a more powerful source to provoke genuine curiosity.

The three books pictured above are three that I think have the potential to result in truly individual projects. A review of each book can be found here and each has a different value. Having always taught in or on the outskirts of London, these books are London-centric and so recommendations of more books are welcomed in the comments below!

If some of the strongest work comes from evaluative titles (Palôt, 2018), then why not encourage an investigation focusing on changes since 2014 using some of the graphics from ‘London The Information Capital’. Is there a graphic they find particularly interesting? Is there a data set that they find hard to believe? Is there a graphic that they believe (from their personal experience) will have changed significantly and are they interested in why? Yes, the data in a printed book may not be quite so recent but what is lost in slightly outdated data is outweighed by the engagement and discussion that this book has the potential to spark.

If we know that the best studies have a clear focus on a small geographical area (Palôt, 2018), then why not use a provocative quote from ‘Poverty Safari’ or ‘This is London’ to investigate an area? Is there a quote that chimes with their lived experience of an area that could be looked into further? Is there a description of an area that feels outdated and thus worthy of investigation?

Of course, if we’re going to encourage students to read BEFORE starting, in order to come up with an original idea, then this is not a quick process. And thus the model of completing the NEA may need to change. If the NEA is shoehorned into one half-term, there is unlikely to be the time to read as I’m suggesting. What is required for this to work is a more gradual approach, perhaps giving students a term to begin reading, to begin exploring what they might be interested in. The advantages of taking a more gradual approach to the completion of the NEA have been discussed by Gibson and Bye (2019) in ‘Teaching Geography’ with Gemma Gibson (an A-Level student) reflecting that this approach resulted in a far higher standard of work submitted.

So, have I won you over? Will you be perusing your local bookshop for books to use in this way? I hope so but as ever, comments welcome below! 

References:
Gibson, G. and Bye, C. (2019) ‘The non -examined assessment: a student’s perspective’, Teaching Geography, 44, 1, pp. 33-34.
Kitchen, B. (2017) ‘Developing a ‘toolkit’ for the A Level independent investigation’, Teaching Geography, 42, 3, pp. 90-92.
Palôt, I. (2018) ‘Bloodied but unbowed: reviewing the independent investigation’, Teaching Geography, 43, 3, pp. 116-117.