Liz Taylor
Position/Status
Lecturer in Geography Education
Secondary PGCE Course Manager
E-mail Address
ejt38@cam.ac.uk
Phone
01223 767641
Qualifications
MA (Cantab), PGCE
Membership of Professional Bodies/Associations
Geographical Association
Profile
Liz taught geography in an urban comprehensive school for eight years before taking up the post of Lecturer at the Faculty of Education. Currently, she leads the Geography PGCE course, co-ordinates the Secondary PGCE and teaches on the MEd (Researching Practice) course.
Liz has a particular interest in cultural geography and the ways in which new ideas in the field can contribute to relevant and engaging geography in schools. She has published a number of books and articles in this area. Her 2004 book, Representing Geography, gained the Gold Award for publications from the Geographical Association and was winner of the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers' book awards. She is on the editorial board of Teaching Geography and contributes to CPD events at national and regional level.
In terms of current research interests, these focus on children's representations of key geographical ideas and how such ideas are represented in the curricula and teaching resources. One recent project explored children's ideas about distant place, another the way that cities are represented in geography teaching and learning (in conjuction with international colleagues). Liz has contributed to a range of international journals and has undertaken consultancy work for organisations including the QCA, John Murray Publishing and the BBC.
Academic Area/Links
- Geography Education
- Pedagogy, Language, Arts and Culture research group (PLACE)
Research Topics
- Geography education, particularly big ideas such as place and space
- Curriculum construction and change, including 'big concepts'
- Cultural geography and children's geographies
- ICT in geography education, particularly the use of GIS
- Teachers' professional development and mentoring
- Visual methods and case study Current Research Projects
Current research projects
- wREPLACE project - exploring children's place-based identities as part of an interdisciplinary team
Recent research projects
- The negotiation of distant place: Learning about Japan at KS3. In-depth case study research of young people's learning. (PhD research)
- Teaching urban geographies - international research with colleagues from Finland, the Netherlands and the US exploring the views and visions of different stakeholders in education regarding urban geographies.
- Geographical Information Systems and teacher development - researching processes of teacher learning about GIS as part of the CamGIS project (co-ordinated jointly with Peter O'Connor, Bishop's Stortford College)
Prospective PhD Applications
Liz would welcome informal contact from prospective PhD students on any of the research topics mentioned above.
Course Involvement
- Secondary PGCE - Geography Course Leader and Secondary PGCE Course Manager
- MEd (Researching Practice) - course teaching and supervision
Recent Publications
Taylor, L (2009) 'Children constructing Japan: material practices and relational learning', Children's Geographies, 7 (2), pp173-189.
Taylor, L. (2008) 'Key concepts and medium term planning', Teaching Geography, 33 (2) pp50-54.
Taylor, L. (2008) Communicating place: methods for understanding children's experience of place, Children's Geographies, (6) 1, pp110-112 (Book review).
Taylor, L. (2007) Think Piece: Concepts in geography. Geographical Association.
Catling, S. and Taylor, L. (Eds) (2007) Changing geographies: innovative curricula, Proceedings of the International Geographical Union Commission for Geographical Education Conference, London, 10-12 April 2007. IGU-CGE British sub-committee with HERODOT
Béneker, T., Sanders, R., Tani, S., Taylor, L. and Van der Vaart, R. (2007) 'Teaching the geographies of urban areas: views and visions', International Journal of Geography and Environmental Education. 16 (3), pp250-267.
Taylor, L. (2007) 'Sumo, sushi and samurai: Year 9 construct Japan', in Halocha, J. and Powell, A. (Eds) Conceptualising geographical education, London: IGU-CGE with IoE, pp81-96.
Taylor, L. and Catling, S. (2006) 'Geographical significance: a useful concept?', Teaching Geography, 31 (3), pp122-125.
Catling, S. and Taylor, L. (2006) 'Thinking about geographical significance', Primary Geographer, 60, pp35-37.
King, S. and Taylor, L. (2006) 'Effective use of ICT in geographical learning.' In Balderstone, D. (Ed.) Teaching and Learning in Geography, Sheffield: Geographical Association, pp. 198-209.
Taylor, L. (2005) 'How far is far?', Primary Geographer, 58, pp8-10.
Taylor, L. (2005) 'Place: an exploration', Teaching Geography, 30 (1), pp14-17.
Taylor, L. (2004) 'Sense, relationship and power: uncommon views of place', Teaching History, 116, pp6-13.
Taylor, L. (2004) Re-presenting Geography. Cambridge: Chris Kington Publishing.
Taylor, L. (2004) 'From bias comes opportunity: the use of texts to explore the concept of bias in geographical learning' in Kent, W. A. and Powell, A. (Eds) Geography and Citizenship Education: Research Perspectives IGUCGE/University of London Institute of Education.
Taylor, L. (2004) 'How trainee teachers develop their understanding of teaching using ICT', Journal of Education for Teaching, 30 (1), pp43-56.
Taylor, L. and the Cambridge BPRS Group, (2003) 'Effective use of ICT in geography coursework', Teaching Geography, 28 (2), pp94-97.
Taylor, L. (2003) 'ICT skills learning strategies and histories of trainee teachers', Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 19, pp129-140.