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Introductory techniques
Going for walks helps to develop children’s sense of place and their understanding of their local area. As you walk, point out key features, both natural and human made, so that they get into the habit of noticing their surroundings, whilst simultaneously developing and enriching their vocabulary.
Provide children with an egg box and ask them to collect an artefact for each cup of the box that represents the space that they are walking through. Talk to them about what they have found and why they have added it to their boxes. What drew them to each item? What made these things stand out/special? How representative are they? – Are they selected because they are bright in colour and are actually few in number across the space?
Children can both map (add in numbers to each egg cup to sequence their collection) and/or retell their journey through the landscape with the artefacts acting as an aide memoire. These might connect to ‘special’ places along their route.
Each day across a term ask a different child to lead the class to a special spot in the school grounds. This can be where something memorable happened, a favourite place or the best place to find a ladybird, spider’s web or to just stand in the warmth of the sun. Each child explains why they have chosen their special spot and each one is recorded on a class map.
Environmental Quality Assessment
When looking at a space’s suitability for a certain activity, a number of different elements of the environment are being considered. For example, if finding the perfect location for a teddy bears picnic then shade, slope, view, noise levels, access etc. have to be weighed up.
In the classroom ask children to discuss where they would host a teddy bear picnic, using a map of the grounds to help. Share the potential spots and consider the possible ‘fors’ and ‘againsts’ for each to create a short list. Next, take a walk to explore each short-listed location and discuss what makes each spot great or not.
Questions:
- What makes a spot (place) special?
Discuss outside the school grounds based on pupils’ personal experiences:
- Does everyone find the same spot special and if lots of people do, is it always for the same reason?
- Where might be a good spot for a teddy bears’ picnic in our school?
- Why do you think it’s a good spot?
Locate shortlisted spots on a map or aerial photograph of the school. Children then vote on their preferred site for the picnic by each having a stick and placing it into a hoop or square made of sticks that represents each of the shortlist of sites.
Data presentation
The results can be represented by a physical graph using human/sticks or drawn onto the playground with chalk by the teacher.
The children could have a teddy bear’s picnic in the classes chosen spot.
Questions:
- Do you think that we chose the right spot for our picnic?
- Can you explain why?
- If we were going to have another picnic, what could we do to make it better?
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The Geographical Association (GA) has worked closely with the Field Studies Council (FSC) to develop these resources.
