2 How can young people be engaged in geography?
Acknowledging and valuing what young people bring to the curriculum is one way of ensuring that the geography they learn is both meaningful and connected to their everyday lives; it is also the means by which we can build a bridge between young people and the mandated curriculum to ensure that the subject discipline, the geography that they learn, is a vehicle through which they make sense of their own lives as well as those beyond their immediate horizon.
A ‘curriculum of engagement’ and a mix of teaching strategies that cater for diverse needs can motivate students. This section explores opportunities and challenges related to enquiry learning and Young People’s Geographies. These approaches can demonstrate the relevance of geography, thereby helping to engage students. Creativity and teaching controversial issues will also help to motivate and engage students and are discussed in Sections 3 and 4, respectively.