‘Thinking Big’ Assembly

March 2024
You’ve been asked (or perhaps you’ve volunteered) to do an assembly on geography; something to promote the subject. So where on earth do you start? This is a position that I’m sure many of us have found ourselves in and you often see people asking on social media for ideas and resources. Having seen these pleas, I decided to share an assembly I’ve given many times and really enjoy- it’s my go-to if ever I’m asked!

I decided to interpret the request for an assembly on geography as a chance to talk about what sits at the heart of our discipline: questioning. I chose to focus on the big picture- zooming right out and speaking to our students about the importance of thinking big and questioning the world around us.

Often, SLT ask for assemblies to be linked to the ethos, motto or explicit values of the school. When I first gave this assembly, I was working at a school where ‘Think Big’ was included in the motto and so this assembly seemed a natural fit. I’ve since realised that the idea of questioning the world around us and ‘thinking big’ could be tweaked to fit most school mottos and so hope that this blog and accompanying slides might provide inspiration or a little helping hand.

I started by introducing the topic of the assembly and the key point that we’re going to explore in the next 20 minutes: the importance of questioning the world around us. I remind students that to ask questions is a fundamental part of what it means to be a geographer but that this skill also goes beyond geography; that to question is to ‘think big’ and to be an engaged and educated citizen. I remind students that questioning the world around us means to ask why. I point out that ‘thinking big’ does not mean questioning the decisions of teachers or questioning the rules unnecessarily but it means to ask questions such as:
Why does this process, concept or event happen?
Why does it happen in this way?
How could this be improved?

Maps seemed an obvious place to start to make my point.
After all, I am a geographer teacher.

Below are the notes and key points for each slide of the assembly. Please note these are the key / summary notes only- depending on the audience, I might add lots of more context / examples / questions designed to be food for thought.

Slide 2: The Mercator Projection
As a geographer, I’m going to use maps as an example to get you thinking big this morning and to show you the importance of thinking big.

This is the world map in the Mercator projection. You may not have heard it called that before but it’s the map that’s everywhere- it was in your planners, it’s on our classroom walls and it’s in the textbooks. When you look at this map, you’ll likely assume that it’s the ‘truth’, that it’s a factual representation of our planet.

But have you questioned it? Have you questioned what assumptions this map is making?

Slide 3
Whilst we might look at this map and assume it’s the ‘truth’ about the shape of our planet, it is distorted. Because of the shape of the earth (a sphere), every flat map distorts the world in one way or another- it’s not possible for a map to be ‘perfect’.

So, what are the advantages and disadvantages of this map projection?
And importantly, why does this matter?

Slide 4
The Mercator Projection shows us a world where:
Alaska is nearly as large as the continental U.S.
Greenland is roughly the same size as Africa.
Europe (excluding Russia) is only a bit larger than South America.

Slide 5
But this is not the reality. In reality:
Alaska can fit inside the continental U.S. about three times. 
Greenland can fit inside Africa about 14 times.
South America nearly doubles Europe's land mass. 

In this map projection, countries close to the equator barely change in size but the equators further north expand dramatically- projecting a euro/ Western-centric way of the world.

Slide 6
So, if we’re going think big and question the world around us, we need to question this map.
We need to think: is there a better way of showing our world?

Slide 7
An alternative to the Mercator Projection is the Gall-Peters projection.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of this map projection?

Slide 8
Moving on from maps, let’s think about the importance of questioning the world around us in a different context. I want you to think about ‘migrants’ around the world.

Slide 9
Because a search engine such a Google has a specific result when you search the word ‘migrant’. Google processes ~8.5 billion searches per day and yet this is a very specific portrayal of migration- it’s focusing on migration by boat that is so often in the media.

But have you ever questioned the images you get given? Do you think twice about what you are being shown?

Slide 10
If such a warped image of migrants is being shown, is it any wonder that people’s perceptions of migration are often so negative? But about all the other forms of migration that take place every day throughout the year- these aren’t accounted for in this search result.

How do we encourage people to question the narrative of immigration that they’re shown?

Slide 11
What about a different example- let’s try ‘British People’.
Who is missing from this Google image search result for ‘British people’?

Slide 12
Even when you scroll to the bottom of the page, the 19% of the population who are non-white seem to be missing from this portrayal of the world.

Slide 13
So, what has today’s assembly been about? It’s been about thinking big and questioning the world around us. I’m not referring to questioning teachers or questioning the rules but questioning the big things- the way the world is portrayed to us, what we do and don’t see, the solutions that we haven’t yet thought of because we haven’t asked the right questions.

Thank you for reading and hopefully this has given you something to think about for if / when you’re asked to do an assembly!
As always, thoughts, comments or ideas that I could consider welcome in the comments box below!