Geography Matters

Big Picture Questions:

What is Geography?

Why is it important to study Geography?

How do we think, speak and write as Geographers?

Watch and Discuss:

Think and Discuss / Share:

What is Geography?
Where are the places I have studied in Geography?
Why is Geography important?
Who is Geography important to?

You need to be able to use special key words in Geography. This slide show introduces some, and you can view this as a class.

Introducing Geography Key Words from James Penstone

You also need to recognise that there are different types of Geography.

What Is Geography Pics Slideshow from garcollins

Click here for larger version

Suggested Activity 1 – Using Photographs in Geography

In pairs, download the worksheet below by clicking here or on the picture below.

(Too slow to download? Try clicking here instead).

For each picture, discuss and agree what could be suitable questions to ask about the picture as a Geographer. Record your questions.

As an example, look at the first picture, on the top left. You could ask …

Where is it?
How was the arch formed?
How is the beach formed?
How does the sea affect the land here?

Afterwards, as a class, we could share our questions and others in the class might try and answer some of them.

Suggested Activity 2 – Earth from Above

Introducing Yann Arthus-Bertrand, an exceptional French photographer who has taken countless aerial photos of the world’s surface from a plane or helicopter. He cares very much about the future of this planet.

Also introducing Google Earth, which we will be using later in this course.

Working in a small group (two or three) select a photo from Yann’s website. You can download an individual image. Prepare a short piece of text to describe the photo as a Geographer, using Key Words and Pointing out the difference between Physical and Human Geography. Explain why it is important to know about this. Share the image and the text with your teacher, by email.

Explore the photos here, and notice how you can choose your country.

Suggested Activity 3 – Focus Questions

1. Write a sentence to say what the word “geography” means.
2. Write an explanation of what the study of “Physical geography” is and give some examples of particular topics that are included in the study of physical geography.
3. Explain what the study of “Human Geography” is, and give examples of some human geography topics.
4. How can the knowledge and study of geography be useful?

Terminology; learning to speak geographically!
Geography has its own set of words like every other subject.
Start a glossary (word list with meanings) of geographical terms. Start with these words. Take care to spell them correctly.

Relief Drainage Vegetation Settlement Climate Population Transport Work or employment Economic Activity
(The first slideshow under ‘Discover’ above should help you).

Share your thoughts on what Geography is and why it is important with your neighbour. Be prepared to share these thoughts with the whole class.

1) Find an image of a really interesting place you have visited outside of Bangkok at some point in your life. (Preferably a picture you or a family member/friend have taken yourself, but if not you might use this flickr search link – if so, you should include the name of the flickr user who created the photo you choose.

2) Write 50 – 150 words of text to say why that place is so important to you.

3) Bonus points if you can include three or more Geography key words and pointing out if it shows Physical, Human or Environmental Geography or a mixture of these.

3) Create a postcard from steps 2 and 3 to share with your Geography teacher next time you see them.