Lesson video

Hello geographers, it's Mr. Robertson here and welcome to Lesson four of our unit inquiry question.

Europe, what is it like to live in northern Italy? So far in this unit, we have looked at the location of Italy and we've planned a route there.

We've learned about some of the human and physical features in northern Italy.

In the last lesson, we looked at village life in northern Italy.

Today, we are going to look at a town in northern Italy.

So we're going to be investigating life in a bustling, amazing, beautiful Italian town.

And because of this, we will definitely need to have on our geography caps and we will need a very well stocked with plenty of water and some investigative tools in our explorer, rucksacks.

I can't wait to get started.

Let's go.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to use multiple sources of information to investigate what a town in northern Italy is like.

We have three key words and as always, I will say the first word to you and I'd like you to say it back.

So our first key word is investigate.

Marvellous.

Our next key word is locality.

Fantastic.

And our final key word is digital mapping tools.

Brilliant.

Well done.

So what do these words mean? Well, to investigate something is to carefully study the facts and data to be able to find an answer or form a conclusion.

Locality describes a particular location, the features of each locality will differ.

And digital mapping tools allow us to zoom in on places to investigate features using online maps.

We're going to be using all of these keywords today as we learn about a town in northern Italy.

So this lesson has two parts.

For the first part of the lesson, we're going to be looking at using photographs to investigate a place.

And in the second part of the lesson, we're going to be using digital maps to investigate a place.

Are you ready? Let's go.

In our previous lesson, we looked at villages in northern Italy.

Towns are another type of settlement in northern Italy.

These may have a population of a few thousand.

There are more houses and facilities such as schools and shops, and there might be a railway station or a hospital.

We could see a photograph of a town in northern Italy there.

I wonder what you can see that shows you its town.

Well, I can see that it's definitely a large place because the settlement stretches out into the distance.

I can see the towers of some churches showing there's places of worship.

I can see the beautiful terracotta tiles of those traditional Italian houses.

But in the background I can see some more modern apartments as well.

All of these things are suggesting to me that we are looking at a town.

We are going to be focusing on the town of Brescia.

Brescia is a town in northern Italy and you can see its location on that digital map.

It's surrounded by the circle.

What can you learn from the map about its location? Look carefully.

Think about what we've been learning in previous lessons about what we know about northern Italy.

Pause the video.

Talk to your geography buddy and see what you can come up with.

Oh, I am hearing some really interesting ideas here.

I can see those geographical cogs turning and I can see you making connections in your learning from what we've learned already.

Laura's also been doing some thinking and she says this, she says, "Brescia is in the centre of northern Italy, near the Dolomites.

It has good road links." Yes, Laura is right, isn't she? Brescia is right in the centre of northern Italy.

We have the city of Milan to the west and Verona to the east.

If I look carefully to the north, I can see the higher ground and higher altitude of the Dolomite Mountains and I can also see a number of important roads going through the town of Brescia.

Well done if you spotted some of those things as well.

Let's check our understanding so far.

Which of these describes a town? I want you to select two answers here.

A, a town has an airport.

B, a town has facilities such as shops, schools, libraries and medical centres.

C, a town has a population of a few thousand, or D, is smaller than a village.

Which of these two describe a town? Pause the video, have a think, or great thinking, geographers.

Yes.

B, a town might have facilities such as shops, schools, libraries and medical centres.

And C, has a population of a few thousand.

A, isn't right? 'Cause not every town will have an airport, some might.

And D, a town is definitely not smaller than a village because in fact it's larger than a village.

Well done if you got those right.

Now, you're going to be detectives in this lesson and you're going to investigate what this town is like.

What sources of information could you use to find out about the town of Brescia? Think about some previous learning we might have done in geography.

Pause the video, talk to your geography buddy.

Off you go.

Oh, I can hear some brilliant ideas.

Well done, geographers.

You might have come up with some of these ideas.

You might be able to investigate the town using some maps.

We might be able to use the internet to find out some information.

We might be able to look at some climate data to see what the climate of this town is like.

We might find out about this town in some information books or we might use some photographs of the town to find out a bit more about it.

How many of those did you manage to name? Well done if you're named nearly all of them.

Now, photographs can give us clues about different aspects of a locality.

They're a really useful tool for geographers and we can learn a lot from them.

Photographs can give us clues about the climate of a locality.

Looking carefully at them, we might be able to see what the physical landscape is like.

We can see how the land is used.

We can look for different types of buildings.

We might be able to find out how people travel around.

And by looking carefully, we might be able to find some information out about the jobs that people do.

So photographs are a really important thing that we need to look at when we're being geography investigators.

So let's apply some of this learning.

Here, you can see a photograph of the town of Brescia.

I want you to look really closely at it and I want you to think what clues this image gives about what the town might be like.

So what I want you to do is this.

I want you to pause the video.

I want you to look really, really carefully and come up with some ideas.

Then I want you to turn to your talk partner or your geography buddy and tell them, and let's see how many things we might be able to infer from this photograph.

Let's go, geographers.

Let's see what we've come up with.

Maybe you've found some of these things yourselves.

So we might have noticed that the sky is blue and that might mean that there's lots of good weather in Brescia.

We might also have noticed some mountains on the edge of the city and maybe people might come and visit to go and explore in those mountains.

We might also have noticed some apartment blocks and that might give us a clue that lots of people live in Brescia.

We can see a main road in the left of this photograph.

So maybe there are lots of people travelling around.

And finally, there's lots of trees and green areas in and around a city which is gonna be provide some lovely shade, isn't it? On hot days, but also maybe a chance to see some lovely wildlife as well and help cool the city.

So let's check our understanding so far.

True or false? Photographs can give us clues about what a locality is like.

Is that true or false? Pause the video.

Have a think.

Oh, well done.

It's definitely true, isn't it? But why is it true? Which of these is a better answer? Is it A, photographs might give us clues about different things such as the climate, physical landscape and land use? Or is it B, photographs tell us the specific location of a place? Which of these answers makes more sense? Absolutely.

It's A, isn't it? Photographs can give us clues about different things.

They don't necessarily tell us the specific location of a place.

That's really why we might look at a map, an atlas, that's gonna give us the specific location.

Well done if you've got that right.

Okay, so this is the first practise task that you're going to have a look at.

We're going to be looking at some different photographs from Brescia.

You can see we've got four different photographs to look at here with different views of the city.

I'd like you to look at these and I'd like you to look at them very carefully and note down three things for me.

Firstly, what can you see? So use your observation skills here and describe what you can see.

So you might say, I could see a building.

You might wanna say the kind of building it might be.

The next thing I want you to do is think what the town might be like.

So use some of your inference skills here.

Look very carefully at the buildings.

Are they modern buildings? Are they old buildings? Like, that give us some clues.

Have you any idea what sort of buildings they might be or why they might be used? And then the final thing I want you to do is note down any questions you have to ask.

So you might look at a particular photograph and that you might think, Hmm, oh, I wonder, I wonder what that might be.

Or I wonder what might be going on there.

Those questions are really important, geographers.

So make sure you note down those as well.

So four photographs, three things to do.

I want you to note those down in a table.

So I want you first of all to write the name of the photograph and then I'd like you to, in the table, write down in the left hand side what you can see, in the middle what you can think and in the final column, some questions to ask.

Now, you might only have time to choose one of the photographs, but if you have got time, try and do more.

And so maybe you might write photograph two of what you can see, think and some questions to ask.

And if you get time, do a few more.

Brilliant at work, geographers.

I'm really intrigued to see what you spot your inferences and what questions you have to ask.

Off you go.

Wow, what a lot of amazing ideas I could see you coming up with.

Thank you so much, geographers.

I had a go at the first photograph and you could see I looked very carefully and I wrote that I can see a fancy old building, a square with people talking and an outdoor cafe.

And whilst I was looking really carefully, I started to think about this and I thought, oh, I think it's warm as it looks like they're wearing summer clothes.

You can see people there in short sleeves, shorts and T-shirts.

So I think it's kind of warm place Brescia, but it's also made me ask some questions because I'm thinking, hmm, do those people live here or are they tourists? Because if I was a tourist visiting there, I'd love to go and look at some of those beautiful buildings.

And I would absolutely, definitely want to stop at that outdoor cafe and have a nice refreshing drink and maybe a beautiful Italian cake or some fresh pasta.

I wonder what you came up with.

Did you spot some different things? Did you do some inferences? What about the other three photographs? What ideas did you come up for there? Well done for all your geographical thinking.

So our second part of the lesson is going to be all about using digital maps to investigate a place.

Are you ready? Let's go.

So photographs are one source of information that we can use to investigate what a place is like.

But it's better if we use multiple sources of information 'cause that means we can build up a better picture of what a place is like.

I mean, photographs can tell me something but they don't tell me everything.

If I look at a map, I can find out a bit more specifically where this place is.

Using the internet and information books will help me understand a little bit about the history of the place, a little bit about what it might be like, maybe some festivals or football teams or famous buildings.

And climate data can give me lots of really information about climate so I can find out what's it generally like in winter or summer, where is it located? Is it going to be a Mediterranean climate or an Alpine climate? Bringing all of these sources together gives me a really rich understanding of a place.

Let's just check what we've been thinking about.

Hmm, I'd like you to do this.

Can you name a source of information that could be used to investigate what a place is like? Think back to the slide we were looking at together.

How many of those can you remember? Pause the video, have a think.

Good luck.

Oh yes, I can hear all those ideas.

You remembered those, didn't you? Which of these did you come up with? We said maps, the internet, climate data, information books and photographs.

How many of those did you get? Did you get all five? Did you find four? Well done if you managed to find most of them.

Brilliant work, geographers.

Now, digital mapping tools can be used to investigate what a place is like.

A really famous digital mapping tool is Google Earth.

This is a fantastically useful resource 'cause you can use it to zoom in from a globe view.

So you start by looking at the globe view, which shows a three-dimensional model.

Then you can zoom further and further in to get smaller scale views.

And these are generally made up from satellite images or aerial images.

I tell you what I like to do.

I like to zoom in really closely to see what I can find.

Google Earth uses satellite images and aerial photographs to show what localities are like.

And really helpful thing about Google Earth is that the images are updated fairly regularly, which means that when you're looking at a photograph, you know it's a pretty recent photo.

And so showing you something that looks very, very real, you can view it from different angles.

If you down and look at Google Street View, you could look at each side of the city, you could go along a road and find out how it changes.

You can zoom in to examine features in more detail.

So Brescia is a place you can investigate using Google Earth.

You could find northern Italy and zoom in with more and more detail until you get closer and closer to Brescia.

So you can investigate it area and see what it's like.

And then you could really drill down by going into Street View and actually walking along the streets of Brescia and saying, "Wow, what is this place like? Oh, can I find out what's around this corner? What beautiful buildings or scenery might I find using Google Maps, Google Earth?" Okay, quick check our understanding about Google Earth.

I want you to select two answers here.

Google Earth.

A, gives a view that appears like a three-dimensional globe model of Earth.

B, is a two-dimensional model.

C, allows you to view features from different angles, or D, only allows you to view angles from above.

Which two of those are true? Pause the video and have a think.

Oh, amazing thinking, everybody.

Yes, it's A, gives a view that appears like a three-dimensional globe model of Earth.

Because remember if you zoom right out, you will get that three-dimensional view.

And C, allows you to view features from different angles because you can zoom right in and look at Street View.

So you can look at things side on as well as from aerial views.

So A and C are correct.

Well done if you got those right.

So this is our second practise task.

We're going to use Google Earth to help you find out a bit more about the city of Brescia in northern Italy.

Firstly, I'd like you to do this.

I'd like you to zoom in and out and use Street View to get a better understanding of what Brescia is like and what there is to see and do.

So you might want to start by finding the very, very centre of Brescia and zooming right in.

And from there, you could take a plot of route and find out different parts of the city.

It might be worth also, 'cause it's quite a large place, dragging and dropping to a different part of the city, maybe from an aerial view might look a bit interesting and see what you can find there as well.

Spend a bit of time looking at different parts of the city so you get a big picture of what's going on there.

And I'd like you to record that information in a simple table for me.

So in the left hand side, I'd like you to say, what is Brescia like? And in a second part of the table, what is there to see and do? Once you've done that research and you've filled in that table, I'd like you to have a look at the second task.

In the second task, you're gonna be answering this question for me, would you like to live in Brescia? And for this you can use the information that you found out now, but also any other information.

You might think of some of the information we've gathered during this lesson but if you want to, you might be able to find out some other information as well.

So as well as the photographs we looked at in this lesson, you might also want to look at an information book or on the internet to see if there's anything else you can find out about Brescia.

When you write your answer, give me some reasons about why you might want to live there.

Maybe it's something to do with the climate, maybe it's something to do with some of the interesting features of Brescia that you found out.

Maybe it's something about what you know about northern Italy in general.

Good luck, geographers.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you found out.

Wow, what a lot of hard work you've been doing.

You have found out so much about the city of Brescia.

I've had a go at this too.

Now, remember I found out some answers, but you might have found out lots of different ones as well.

So firstly, using Google Earth, I looked around on Street View and I noticed that the streets are very narrow and that there are many old, beautiful buildings, but there's also many modern buildings too.

I also found out there are steep hills on the east side of the town.

So that's what the city of Brescia is like.

Next, I also want to find out what there was to see and do.

I found out that there was a really big railway station and lots of main roads.

I also found out that there was an old castle to visit and I really like castles.

I'm quite excited about that.

I found out there are lots of hotels and bed and breakfast for tourists and there are museums. So I've now got quite a good picture of what Brescia is like.

So then I reflected would I like to live there? And actually I said, "Yes, I would." I would like to live in Brescia as the city centre has lots of beautiful buildings and cafes to visit, and the countryside and mountains look exciting to walk in.

There looks to be lots of jobs looking after the tourists.

So maybe I'm gonna do that.

I'm gonna move to Italy, live in Brescia, have a beautiful food, walk out to the mountains, spend my time in cafes and museums. What did you think? Did you want to live in Brescia or didn't you? Could you give some reasons why? Well done if you were able to express yourself using some geographical vocabulary and using the information you learned today.

Well done.

So let's summarise what we've learned today.

We've been thinking all about a town in northern Italy.

We've learned that different sources of information can be used to investigate different localities.

We've learned that photographs allow us to investigate a locality, by looking for clues In the photos.

We've learned that digital mapping tools can be used to investigate buildings and land use.

And finally, we've learned there may be different reasons why someone would like to live in a locality.

I've really enjoyed learning this with you.

Thank you very much for coming on this lesson with me.

In our next lesson, we're going to focus on the city of Venice in northern Italy.

So make sure you have packed your gondola.

Thank you very much.