Liz Taylor

Position/Status
E-mail Address

ejt38@cam.ac.uk

Phone

01223 767641

Qualifications

PhD, MA (Cantab), PGCE

Membership of Professional Bodies/Associations

Geographical Association, GTC, GEReCo

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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

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Research Topics

Current research projects

Recent research projects

Prospective PhD Applications

Liz would welcome informal contact from prospective PhD students on any topics in geography education or concerned with themes of place and space.

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Course Involvement

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Recent Publications

Nikolajeva, M. & Taylor, L. (2011) “Must we to bed indeed?” Beds as cultural signifiers in picturebooks for children, New Review of Children's Literature and Librarianship, 17, 144-163. Available online at dx.doi.org/10.1080/13614541.2011.624940

Wyse, D., Nikolajeva, M., Charlton, E., Cliff Hodges, G., Pointon, P., & Taylor, L. (in press, published on i-first). Place-related identity and texts: a theory of transcultural meanings. British Educational Research Journal. Available online at:  www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01411926.2011.608251

Taylor, L. (2011) Investigating change in young people’s understandings of Japan: A study of learning about a distant place, British Educational Research Journal, 37 (6), 1033-1054. Available online at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01411926.2010.521235

Taylor, L. (2011) Key concepts in de aardrijkskundeles, Geografie, 20 (6), 54-57. (trans. Krause, U).

Taylor, L. (2011) The negotiation of diversity. Teaching Geography, 36 (2), 49-51.

Charlton, E., Wyse, D., Cliff Hodges, G., Nikolajeva, M., Pointon, P. & Taylor, L. (2011) Place-related identities through texts: from interdisciplinary theory to research agenda, British Journal of Education Studies. 59 (1), 63-74.

Nikolajeva, M., Cliff Hodges, G. & Taylor, L. (2010) Three walks through fictional Fens: Multidisciplinary perspectives on Gaffer Sampson’s Luck, Children’s Literature in Education, 41 (3), 189-206.

Beneker, T., Sanders, R., Tani, S. & Taylor, L. (2010) 'Picturing the city: Young people's representations of urban environments', Children's Geographies, 8 (2), 123-140.

Taylor, L (2009) 'Children constructing Japan: material practices and relational learning, Children's Geographies, 7 (2), 173-189.

Taylor, L. (2008) 'Key concepts and medium term planning', Teaching Geography, 33 (2), 50-54.

Taylor, L. (2008) 'Communicating place: methods for understanding children's experience of place', Children's Geographies, (6) 1, 110-112 (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), 250-267.

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, 81-96.

Taylor, L. and Catling, S. (2006) 'Geographical significance: a useful concept?', Teaching Geography, 31 (3), 122-125.

Catling, S. and Taylor, L. (2006) 'Thinking about geographical significance', Primary Geographer, 60, 35-37.

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, 8-10.

Taylor, L. (2005) 'Place: an exploration', Teaching Geography, 30 (1), 14-17.

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.