The Virtual Classroom: I am a Geographer

As part of Kevin Fox’s National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship, students in his AP Human Geography classes have been developing the “explorer mindset” all year through his ASKing the World project.

Back at the October all-school presentation of his National Geographic/Lindblad Expeditions trip to Arctic Svalbard, Kevin asked the whole George School community: If you had funding for a research trip of your own, where would you go? What question(s) would you ask? (Note: Explore the map of those questions here.)

In November, students in his four classes began to craft a whole set of possible research questions for their own country-specific expeditions. Using the seven-unit structure of the AP Human Geography course, the ASKing the World project was supported by year-long work with the Question Formulation Technique—where students learned how the questions they ask shape the answers they get in return.

Now, in the final phase of the year, students are looking back at their line of inquiry, reflecting on and reconsidering the questions they formulated, and choosing—and reshaping—that one question that drives their curiosity the most. What question will you ask?

This short film is a video montage involving fifty-seven George School ninth-graders who studied with Kevin. Serving as a trailer to the whole project, the 3:47 film is part celebration of diligence and excellence in their first ever AP-level course and part reportage on the countries and themes that have inspired the explorers in them.

They ASK the world. This is the start to their GEOrge expedition.