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Introductory techniques
The aim of this activity is for pupils to use their senses and geographical thinking to locate and explain how/why a particular spot within the space explored (playground or any contained safe space in or out of the school grounds) best represents a key word. The key words are listed in the table below together with examples for use.
There are many kinds of scavenger hunt that can be used to enhance observation skills, but in this context the items on the list should be collectable artefacts. After all of the artefacts have been collected, ask pupils to rank them from ‘favourite’ to ‘least favourite’ or ask them to place them into two hoops / twig circles labelled as ‘attractive’ and ‘unattractive’. Discussion can then follow about how a place with more artefacts in the attractive pot might suggest that it is a more pleasant place to spend time/live… but then again one or two artefacts might have more weight or importance placed on it.
Environmental Quality Assessment
Places and spaces provoke emotional responses and a range of feelings which can be influenced by a range of factors including: the human and physical features found in the location, what can be seen, heard, smelt etc., how isolated it is, what time of day or year and what is happening there.
Using a map and a collection of emojis, pupils sort where in the school grounds they feel happy, excited, lonely, sad and are then asked to articulate why they think they feel like that. (Be ready to swap between your PSCHE and geography hats as place attachment can stir deep seated emotions both positive and negative).
Questions:
- What makes a space or environment happy, sad or anywhere in between?
Personal experiences, sensory (over) stimulation, weather, time…etc.
- What makes a place or environment an attractive/unattractive place to be?
This is moving emotions to perceptions. Does everyone ‘see’ a place the same way?
- Even within a small space, such as a playground, are feelings/levels of attractiveness the same for every spot?
If we were to explore the local neighbourhood we would also find a real mixture… so what about a whole city or country? Can we label it?
- How can somewhere be happy or sad at the same time?
Data presentation
Photographs can be taken of pupils holding emoji cards in certain locations.
These can be marked on maps and comparisons made. The data can be gathered across the class, for example, 20 pupils’ happy spot was the climbing frame, 4 labelled the bench, 3 the sand pit and 1 the school gate. Pupils can then be prompted to provide reasons why there were differences of opinion and what might be done with that information/data.
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The Geographical Association (GA) has worked closely with the Field Studies Council (FSC) to develop these resources.
