Introduction

Learners observe and record human features of their local area as they survey the streets to see how safe and easy they are to walk around.

Download this resource as a PDF
Download this Walkability survey for primary classes

Length of time

One day or could be split into three separate sessions.

Suitable locations

Streets in the local area around school.

Equipment needed

For the introduction:

• Maps of the local area or Google Earth or GIS to show the route.
• Your plan for the route (or options for the route so pupils can choose).
• Outline maps or blank paper might be useful if you want learners to draw the route.
• Photos of different streets to elicit the features of a ‘walkable’ street that appear in the survey and teach new vocabulary.

For the outdoor fieldwork:

• ‘Walkability survey’ which could be printed on paper or downloaded onto a phone or iPad.
• A base map of the route to annotate would be a nice addition.
• Cameras or iPads could be used for pupils to take photos.
• A suggested activity recording sheet is provided with this topic.

Objectives and key skills

• Use compass directions and locational and directional language.
• Interpret maps.
• Observe, measure and record human and physical features in the local area.
• Simple addition, subtraction and totalling (maths).
• Using digital technologies (optional).
• Communicate geographical information through maps, numerical and quantitative skills.
• Devise a simple map.
• Use and construct basic symbols in a key.
• Use graphs.

Suggested delivery

Introduction

Why do we want to be able to walk in our local area?

Discuss this question and guide learners towards these answers:

• Walking is good for our physical health.
• Walking is good for our mental health.
• Walking is good for the planet (better than driving).
• We can connect with nature when we walk.
• We can connect with people when we walk.

We’re going to study our local area to see how safe and easy it is for us to walk around.

Where will we go on our walk?

Use paper maps or Google Earth or GIS to introduce learners to the route that you plan to survey.

This could be done in a variety of ways:

• Describe the route out loud while they follow on a map with their pencil to practise listening and map reading skills.
• Provide them with written directions and ask them to draw the route onto a map.
• If they know the area well, ask them to draw their own sketch map of the route or to annotate a basic outline of the route with ‘things they will walk past’.
• Older learners could be involved in choosing the route from options that you provide.

How will we judge the ‘walkability’?
Use photographs or Google Street View images to help pupils discuss what makes a place ‘walkable’ (safe and easy to walk on) or not. You could consider challenges that different groups of people (e.g. adults with babies in pushchairs or wheelchairs users) might face. You will need photos to teach the learners the words ‘tactile paving’ and ‘dropped kerb’ as they are used in the survey.

Outdoor fieldwork

Walk the route that you have planned.

Stop and complete one walkability survey for each street that you walk along. You might choose to complete one survey for the whole class, or one per group, or one per pupil depending on the age of the learners and the number of clipboards/iPads available for them to work on.

Pupils could also:

• Annotate or use symbols to record features like benches, dropped kerbs and crossings on a map as you walk.
• Take a photograph or do a field sketch of each street.

Presentation and Analysis

The walkability surveys will give a score for each street (maximum 20). Higher scores show more ‘walkable’ streets.

Presentation

• Pupils could draw a bar chart of these scores, or older pupils could draw proportional bars or circles on a base map (either by hand or using GIS).
• Pupils could annotate photographs of the streets that you visited and put them in order from ‘most walkable to least walkable. This could be done individually or in groups to make a class display.
• Pupils could draw their own maps of the walk route and create their own symbols to help show which were the most and least walkable streets.

Analysis

Discuss your results:

• Were they what the pupils expected? Are there any patterns on the maps you have created? Would the time of day and day of the week make any difference to the scores?
• For streets that had low scores, pupils could suggest ways to make them more walkable. These could be discussed or plotted on a map.
• Can they make suggestions as to how to improve the walkability of any area?

Potential risks to consider

The class will be stretched out in a long line on your walk. Have as many extra adults with you as possible – one adult per group of four learners would be ideal but as an absolute minimum you will need one at the front of the group and one at the rear.

Will you need to cross any roads? How will you manage these crossings? This could be an opportunity to learn this life skill but will need careful managing in practise.

Weather conditions. How will pupils record their results if it’s raining? Can you provide plastic bags to cover their clipboards or stand under a shelter such as a bus stop when writing things down?

Possible follow-up activities

Pupils could write letters to the local authority with their recommendations for how to improve walkability in the local area.

If your school have links with a local community centre, nursery or care home, the pupils could use the same technique to find out how walkable that area is and present their results to the residents or staff team.

This project could lead on to another fieldwork project involving pedestrian and traffic counts in the local area.

Useful links

The Walkability Survey was based on ideas from these two sources:

US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Walkability Checklist

Walk21 Walkability Report Dublin 2022

This collection of Fieldwork activities were created by Paula Richardson and the Fieldwork and Outdoor Learning Special Interest Group (FOLSIG) for the National Festival of Fieldwork, the GA invites everyone to take part during the summer term.