Activity 2.1: what can you see?

Introduction

In this activity students use a range of photographs to classify and develop geographical vocabulary that describes the human and natural characteristics of the environment.

Duration

60–90 minutes

Resources

• Displays of student work from Activity 1.1
• Gallery of stimulus photographs with teacher background information and suggested vocabulary
• Street directories, maps
• Websites:
  • maps.googles.com.au
  • www.google.com/earth

• Activity stepsShow details
  1. Reiterate the main points from Activity 1.1. Referring to student writing and illustrations from the activity, ask the following questions.
     • Are our posters or postcards really informative about where we live or are they similar to the information given to each other by Johnny Town-mouse and Timmy Willie? What do you think may be missing from our information about where we live?
     • How can we provide accurate (objective) information about where we live that is not just based on our feelings (subjective)?
  2. Record students' suggestions.
  2. Quickly review the story and images in The tale of Johnny Town-mouse and discuss the types of environments that are included. Use geographical terms such as 'rural', 'urban', 'isolated', 'city', 'farming', 'community', 'population' and 'density', rather than subjective descriptions such as 'horrible', 'lovely', 'scary', 'uncomfortable', 'boring', 'exciting' or 'friendly'. List new geographical vocabulary, for example:
     • country (distinguish between two meanings as in Australia the country and rural country)
     • community
     • town
     • urban
     • rural
     • city
     • regional city
     • regional area
     • suburb
     • farm
     • isolated station
     • population-dense
     • population-sparse
     • coastal.
  3. Divide students into groups and provide each group with two or three images from the gallery of photographs. Instruct them to carefully examine each photo and describe what they see. Ask students:
     • What do these photos tell us about each place?
     • How is each place the same, and how is it different?
  4. Ask students to write down group responses and attach them to each photo.
  4. Provide each group with copies of the remaining photos and ask them to group them according to their own classifications. Explain that there are no right or wrong answers but they will need to justify their decisions to others in the class.
  5. Invite two groups to join together to share their written responses to their first photographs. Then ask both groups to discuss how they classified the remaining photos and why they chose to classify them that way.
  6. Provide support by engaging with each group. Ask questions such as:
     • Do you have similar descriptions?
     • Has the other group used geographical language?
     • What other words would best describe the environment in this picture?
     • What categories have you used to group photos?
       Note: refer to the teacher background information and suggested vocabulary that accompanies the photographs.
  6. Draw the class back together for a short summary discussion about the group activity. Add any new geographical vocabulary to the vocabulary list.