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Geography
Children study geography to help
them understand the world in which they live - both their local environment
and the wider world.
Areas of Geography
General
Children investigate their local surroundings, and learn to ask geographical
questions about them, such as "where is it?", "what is it like?" and
"why is it like that?" They place their surroundings in the context
of the wider world, and learn to compare and contrast them with similar
and different places in the UK and abroad. They learn appropriate geographical
vocabulary.
Geographical Skills
Children investigate their local area and record what they find in various
ways; they use and evaluate secondary sources such as CD ROMs, video
and photographs to learn about their own and other areas. They learn
to recognise patterns (eg, of land use, habitation or rainfall) and
to investigate and explain the causes and effects of these. They learn
to make maps (eg, of the local area, or of an imaginary place) and to
read them, and to use globes. They learn to identify geographical features
such as rivers and mountains on maps, and to follow and give directions
and routes.
Places
The children learn about their immediate environment, including the
way it has changed over time; as they get older, put it in the wider
context of the area they live in, and investigate how factors such as
transport link that area to even larger regions. They learn about other
places, both in the UK and overseas. They compare and contrast the physical
and human features, and learn how people relate to their environment
(for instance, how the landscape affects what kind of farming or industry
goes on in an area; how people change the environment to suit their
needs). They learn about the weather and how it affects the way people
live. They also investigate environmental issues such as pollution.
Thematic Study
At Key Stage 1 - in the Infants - children investigate the quality of
the environment in a small area near the school. They consider how pleasant
it is - for instance, how tidy or untidy it is, whether traffic makes
it noisy or dangerous - how it is changing (or has changed in the past),
and how it could be improved.
At Key Stage 2 - in the Juniors - children study four themes. These
are:
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Rivers - how they collect water and (generally) flow into a lake or
the sea; and how they affect and shape the landscape through which they
flow (by erosion and depositing materials, for instance).
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Weather - how information about the weather is collected; weather patterns;
and the weather in other parts of the world, including extremes of weather.
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Settlements - that villages, towns and cities are different sizes; that
the location of the settlement affects the kinds of industry that go
on it (eg farming communities, heavily industrialised areas, tourist
resorts); how land is used in different ways to provide housing, offices,
factories and so on; and the kinds of conflicts that can occur in communities.
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Environmental Change - how people change the environment for their own
purposes (eg, recreation, industry, quarrying, settlement) and the effects
this has; how such change can be planned for and managed (eg to sustain
beautiful areas or those of scientific interest, or to minimise pollution),
and why people might want to do so.
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