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Five questions that work on any place

Geography asks: where is it, what is it like there, how do people and the environment affect each other, what moves through it, and what makes it a region. The five questions apply to any place at any scale, from a country to a playground.

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Not yet checked by a state certification officer. This lesson was written for Hone. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.

What it is for

The five give a pupil a way into a place they have never heard of, which is what an examination asks them to do. They also give a teacher a lesson structure that works for anywhere, which is worth more than a memorised list of capitals.

How to think about it

Apply all five to a place the class knows before using them on one they do not. Location has two kinds: absolute, which is coordinates, and relative, which is where it is in relation to something else, and both are asked for.

Worked example

Location: absolute is coordinates; relative is 'north of the river, beside the school'
Both are examined, and relative is the one people actually use.
Place: what it is like there, physically and in its human character
Landscape, weather, buildings, language, work.
Human and environment: how each changes the other, in both directions
People drain a marsh; a river decides where a town sits.
Movement and region: what travels through, and what makes this area one area
Goods, people and ideas move; a region is defined by something shared.

Your turn

Name the kind of location given by coordinates.

Coordinates give the  location

The trap

Treating geography as a list of capitals and rivers. The five questions are the subject; the place names are what you apply them to.

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