Using mysteries to develop place knowledge

Author(s): Rosie Gillman and Sally Gillman

Source: Teaching Geography, Vol. 41, No. 1, Focus on changing landscapes (Spring 2016),
pp. 24-25
Published by: Geographical Association
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26383149
Accessed: 29-03-2020 21:07 UTC

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 Rosie
Rosie Gillman
Gillman
and Sally Using mysteries to
Gillman
develop place knowledge
Mysteries are a simple yet immensely effective
This article draws on teaching method, and their use in geography
a practical example teaching is well established. David Leat's
of use of a mystery introduction to the technique in Thinking Through
which focuses on Geography (Leat, 1998, p.51), recommends it as
the Ebola crisis, to a key method of student-led learning, arguing
enhance students' that mysteries 'can completely transform the
teaching and learning process ... [they] are
knowledge of the
designed to encourage pupils to deal with
country of Sierra
ambiguity through addressing a question which
Leone.
has no single correct answer' (p. 51). In this
article, we argue that mysteries are a particularly
useful tool for teaching about places, developing
4^ students' understanding of the complex factors
* Accompanyingthat shape countries and regions and enhancing
online materials
their geographical skills of sorting, categorising,
inferring and explaining (DfE, 2013).
The use of mysteries
in geography teaching
David Leat (1998) details the practical and
pedagogical considerations of introducing a
mystery to students' geographical learning,
a brief synopsis of which is provided here. In the
first instance, the teacher must establish a key
question - the 'mystery' which students are to
solve. This question should not be answerable by
'yes' or 'no', but should allow for students' own
interpretation and multiple answers, all of which
may be justified. It is crucial that students know
that there is no right or wrong answer to the
mystery. As such, mysteries suit topics that allow
for interpretation; in his example, Leat uses the
closure of Welsh coal mines and subsequent
foreign investment in Wales as the starting
point for his mystery, requiring students to
Ebola Stops'
Figure 1: Ebola killed more than 3,500 people in Sierra Leone's
outbreak that began in May of 2014, With 42 days having passed
since the last negative blood test from an Ebola patient in Sierra
Leone, on 7 November 2015 the World Health Organization
declared the deadly virus is no longer being transmitted in
Spring 2016
the country. Life is now returning to the streets of Freetown.
O
0 Teaching
TeachingGeography
Geography
24 Photo: Simon Davis/DFID
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think broadly and make links between seemingly
disparate pieces of information about
employment in Wales.
Once the mystery question has been introduced,
students are given cards carrying snippets of
information (it is a good idea to give the cards
out in envelopes, both for practical reasons and
for the sense of anticipation it fosters in students:
they are getting the 'clues' which will help
them solve the mystery). Students are told that
they must use the information on the cards to
solve the mystery; sorting and categorising the
information is thus important, although students
should not be given too much guidance on how
to do this. Discussing how to sort and categorise
in their pairs or small groups is a key skill that
mysteries develop: too much teacher intervention
can hinder this. Following students' discussion
and sorting, Leat suggests that the class feeds
back on their ideas, offering potential solutions to
the mystery which the teacher encourages them
to develop by asking probing questions, such
as 'How did you come to that conclusion?' and
'Have you thought about how that idea could link
to some of the other information you've been
given?' The aim of the class feedback is to allow
students to share their ideas and think deeply
about how they reached their conclusions.
Mysteries are of immense value for developing
key geographical skills: they give students
opportunities to work together, to discuss and
debate ideas, to sort and categorise information
and to justify their decision making. As a teaching
method, in the context of an increased emphasis
on place knowledge, mysteries are even more
useful, as they enable the teacher to introduce
students to a range of information about a
specific place.
Using mysteries to
develop place knowledge
We developed this particular mystery for a higher
ability, year 9 class. Having started a topic on
Africa, students had been introduced to the issue
of Ebola in West Africa (Figure 1) and had begun
to conduct research on the virus in this region.
Given students' awareness of this issue, and the
emphasis in the 2014 National Curriculum on
place knowledge, we decided to focus on Sierra
Leone and thought that a mystery would be
an instructive way to introduce students to the
multiple, complex factors that have shaped this
country, economically, socially, politically and
environmentally. Crucial to an effective mystery
is the use of the mystery question itself; it has
to be something that arouses students' curiosity
without giving too much information away in the
first instance.
We decided to base our question on a fictional
individual - Josh - and students were asked
to solve the mystery of 'Why didn't Josh get
Christmas dinner in 2014?' Students were told
that the information required to solve the mystery
was in their envelopes and that all of the
information provided was relevant; there were
no 'red herrings' to catch them out. (The mystery
cards are available to download.) In their
envelopes were 31 cards, one of which told
students that Josh is a captain in the British
Army's Corps of Royal Engineers, with experience
in constructing medical centres in conflict zones.
The mystery thus pivots on why this army officer is
in Sierra Leone. The other cards offered hints

relating to the Ebola crisis, the influence of the

Boko Haram terrorist organisation in West Africa,
the UK's colonial involvement in and continuing
aid relationship with Sierra Leone (Figure 2),
Sierra Leone's wealth of natural resources and
burgeoning tourist industry, and the growing trade
relationship between Sierra Leone and China.
Figure
Figure2:2:Britain's
Britain'sEbola
Ebola
This constituted a vast amount of information Reflections on the use of mysteries aid
aid flight,
flight,delivering
delivering
beds,
beds,
for students to sort; however they engaged The mystery that we developed for this year personal
personalprotection
protection suits,
suits,
enthusiastically with the task, demonstrating 9 class was, overall, very effective, both in tentsand
tents and ten
ten vehicles,
vehicles, in in
Freetown
Freetown in
in October
October 2014.
2014
good skills in sorting and grouping. A number of introducing students to new place knowledge
The UK provided
provided direct
direct
pairs (we recommend mysteries be completed as about Sierra Leone and in developing their skills support
support to
to Sierra
Sierra Leone,
Leone,
either pair or small-group activities, preferably of sorting, categorising, inferring, speculating and including
including building
building six
six
with no more than three in a group) ordered the justifying decision-making. The activity worked Ebola treatment
Ebola treatmentcentres
centres

information thematically, others in chronological
order, others still by country (Sierra Leone, the
UK, China). As I moved around the classroom,
I listened in to students' discussions as they
debated which order to put the information in
and asked them questions about their decisions,
requiring them to explain why they had ordered
the information in the way they had. The
discussions were productive, eliciting insightful
comments from students who were clearly
engaged in solving the mystery.
After around fifteen minutes of students'
discussion and sorting in their pairs, I asked the
class to feedback and we came up with three
possible reasons why Josh didn't get Christmas
dinner in 2014 The first solution was that
Josh had been sent to Sierra Leone to set up a
medical centre to treat victims of Ebola (about
very well in meeting the requirements for both across the
the country.
country.
Photo: James Fulker/DFID
place knowledge and geographical skills in the
201A national curriculum. These higher ability
students worked swiftly to establish categories
and groupings, and we felt more information
would have given them an opportunity to think
even more deeply as well as engage with more
complex information.
However, one of the key benefits of mysteries is
that they can be adapted to meet the learning
needs of any class, at any age, studying any topic
that requires students to think critically, discuss,
sort and justify. Another key benefit of mysteries
is that it allows teachers to introduce students to
Online resources
a large amount of information in easily-digestible
Go to www.geography,
chunks; rather than simply reading a passage
org.uk/tg and click
of prose, students have to really think about the 'Spring 2016' to
information they've been given and find a way download the Ebola

half the class agreed with this solution). Another
pair suggested that he had been killed fighting
Boko Haram (a handful of students agreed
with this solution) and finally it was suggested
that Josh had been sent to Sierra Leone with
the British Army to try and win back trade that
the Chinese had established with Sierra Leone
(only two groups agreed with this solution). The
students were disappointed not to be given the
of organising it so as to answer the overriding mystery cards.
question; it is this practical, hands-on feature of
mysteries which makes them such an effective
teaching tool. We would encourage teachers
to make use of mysteries in their teaching with
students of all abilities; not only do the students
gain access to new knowledge, but teachers
themselves, through the process of researching
information and deciding what to include, Dr Rosie Gillman is a

'right' solution at the end of the feedback, but advance their own knowledge and understanding teacher of Geography at
Dame Alice Owen's School,
I reiterated that there was no right or wrong of topical issues, resulting in an activity where
Potters Bar, Hertfordshire.
answer and that it was their discussion, sorting both students and teachers are active learners
Sally Gillman is a teacher
and justification that I was primarily interested in. the classroom. I TG
in
of geography at St Albans
High School for Girls.

Email: GILLMANR@
References damealiceowensherts.
sch.uk.
Department for Education (2013) Geography programmes of study: key stage 3. Crown Copyright.
SAG 6
Leat, D. (1998) Thinking Through Geography. Cambridge: Chris Kington Publishing.

Spring 2016
O Teaching Geography
25

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