Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to lesson seven of the geography field work unit.

In this lesson, we're going to be looking at how do geographers develop an enquiry question? Let's look at the agenda together now.

So the first thing that we're going to look at in this lesson, is what is an enquiry question? Secondly, we'll look at what kind of enquiry questions do geographers ask? And then lastly, we'll look at what enquiry question will you use for your field work study? Because very excitingly in the next lesson, you'll do your very own field work study.

Now for this lesson, you will need an exercise book or paper, a pencil, or a pen, and most importantly, your brain.

So pause the video now, make sure you've got all those things and then resume when you're ready to get started with the learning.

So in this first part of the lesson, we're going to be exploring what is an enquiry question? And this is something that we did speak about in some detail in lesson one.

So I'm going to give it- I'll leave it to you.

What do you remember is an enquiry question? Just think for a moment and then if, you know, say it to the screen.

Did you get it? Okay, if you didn't, don't worry.

It was a few lessons ago.

Here is what an enquiry question is, and it's nice and simple.

An enquiry question is the question the geographer is trying to answer in depth field work study.

And so let's break down in a bit more detail, like what specifically are enquiry questions? So enquiry questions in geography can focus on either human features, for example, such as towns and cities and how people use those towns and cities, or they can focus on physical features, such as rivers, lakes, beaches, coastlines.

There's a huge list of physical and human features that enquiry questions can focus on, which is one of the fantastic things about geography.

Now with enquiry questions, they usually focus on the organisation of human features or physical features.

So how those features are organised or they tend to focus as well on the importance of either human features or physical features of geography.

So I'm going to show you now three enquiry questions that some geography students have written about beautiful Hawkins Bay, which is below me right now.

I don't know about you, but I would love to visit Hawkins Bay, it looks great.

So for each of these questions, you need to decide, is this a geographical enquiry question or not? So let's look at the first one.

So student A has written, how has coastal erosion impacted Hawkins Bay? Now, do you think that is an example of a geography enquiry question or not? Think for yourself for a moment and then shout it at the screen or whisper at the screen, whatever.

What do you think? Okay, well, I can tell you, it is a geography enquiry question because it is focusing on a physical feature of geography because it's focusing on coastal erosion and how that has impacted Hawkins Bay.

So definitely a geography enquiry question.

Good job student A.

Let's have a look at what student B wrote.

So student B wrote, how do local residents use Hawkins Bay? Interesting, It's slightly different this one, isn't it? What do you think? Is this a geography enquiry question? Have you said it to the screen? Sorry, I didn't hear it.

I'll tell you what it is.

It is a geography enquiry question because actually this is looking at, It's like human features and physical features.

'Cause it's looking at human features in terms of like the local residents and then how they are using a physical feature, which is Hawkins Bay itself.

Let's look at student C.

What did they write? What is the history of Hawkins Bay? What do you think? Geography enquiry question or not? Say it to the screen.

Okay, hopefully you've just said to the screen, "Mr. Barber, that ain't a geography enquiry question "or if that isn't a geography enquiry question." Because this isn't focused on human features of geography or physical features of geography.

This is just broadly about history.

If we're studying history, I thought it would be a great historical question, but it is not an example of a geography enquiry question.

So based on that exercise that we've just been through together, I want you to read each of the following questions and decide which of them is not an example of a geographical enquiry question.

So here's what you could do.

Just write down the numbers of the questions, which you don't think are a geographical or geography enquiry question.

And remember, we're thinking about, Is this focusing on the human features of geography? Is this focused on physical features of geography? And then you can use that category, it'll help you answer this question.

So when you are ready, pause the video to complete your task and then resume once you're finished.

Let's go through this task together and we'll start with sentence or question number one.

What modes of transport do people in my community use? Interesting, I would suggest that this is an enquiry question because it's focusing on human features of geography, so people in a community.

And then also remember I said earlier that geography enquiry questions focus on as well, like how things are organised and modes of transport.

That is a way that we, as humans are organising our society for sure.

And therefore that is an example.

So that is one, let's look at question number two.

I'm very suspicious about question number two already.

Where were the most important battles of world war one fought? Well, is this talking about a location? So thumbs up like geography is about places, isn't it? However, I think this is more about history, isn't it? And so therefore that is not a geographical enquiry question.

Sentence or question number three, very intriguing.

How has my town changed over the last three years? Tricky this, because it is focusing on a feature, a human feature of geography, which is towns and how that has changed over the last three years.

But it's not history? Well, I can tell you, this actually is a great example of a geographical or geography enquiry question because it's focusing on human features and lots of geography enquiry questions, will look at either human or physical features and how those things change over time.

Question four.

How could my school become more environmentally friendly? Interesting.

It absolutely is a geography enquiry question.

It's focusing on human and physical features 'cause it's focusing on like a human feature, which is the school, but also the environment becoming environmentally friendly is all about, helping the physical environment.

So that's definitely a geography enquiry question.

And then the last one.

Which counties have the highest salaries? Interesting, I would quite like to know, 'cause it'd be good to move to those counties with the highest salaries, but this is geography.

And even though it's talking about counties, which is a place, this is not a geography question because focusing on salaries, that is something called economics, which is a topic all to do with money.

So well done on completing that task.

I wonder how many you got? I know some of them were a bit tricky.

Let's move on now to the second part of the lesson.

In this second part of the lesson, we're going to be thinking about what kind of enquiry questions do geographers ask? And a good way of thinking about this is just taking a physical location and thinking about all the different questions that you might want to ask about that location as a geographer.

So this lovely stream, which is, nope.

No, not that way.

There it is.

Is in Sweden, lovely stream isn't it? With a beautiful forest around it.

And so let's have a look at this picture and think about how as geographers, what questions we want to ask about it and what are the features that enquiry questions in geography focus on? What's that? Human and physical features.

To help with that, here's some like sort of question starters that will help you formulate questions in your mind.

So for example, why? How? And what? To have a look at that image.

Think of some questions that you might want to ask.

It could be an enquiry question.

Okay, what did you come up with? Well, here is some of the questions I came up with.

I did this earlier, I'm not that quick.

So I thought, well, why do tourists travel to Gaddede? Gaddede is the name of where this is in Sweden.

I thought about in terms of more physical features, how has climate change impacted this area? That could be a great inquiry question actually.

And then I also thought about what, and again, I was thinking about human features.

I thought what human activities take place on the river? So do people go fishing? Do people use it for boating or transporting goods and things like that.

So that why, how and what are great ways of thinking of enquiry questions about a place or a real environment, which is what field work is all about, remember? So here's another location for you.

It is Cannon street in London, that is where Bank Underground Station is.

What I would like you to do is take a very careful look at this picture.

Take note of the buildings, the people, the streets, and any other thing that you spot in that feature.

And what I'd like you to do is come up with your own questions or enquiry questions that you could ask about this place.

And you need to come up with three by using the why, the how and the what as your starters to your question.

So when you're ready, pause the video, look very carefully at this image, decide on your questions and then resume once you're finished.

Okay, how did you get on with that task? I bet you have just absolutely done a 10 out of 10 job and I'd love to know what questions that you have about this.

Would you like to see my questions? "Was that, yes, Mr. Barber? "You would like to see my question? "Okay, Wilkit let's have a look.

Here's what I came up with.

So my first question was, why do people travel to Cannon street? Because as I can see, there's lots of people there using lots of different types of transport.

I want to know why people are travelling to Cannon street.

And that is definitely a geography inquiry question.

It's focusing on human features.

Like why are people going to this place? My next question that I came up with was, how has Cannon street changed since 2012? So remember, that like geography questions can focus on how things have changed over time.

And so I just thought, it'd be very interesting to know how has this place changed? It looks quite modern.

And how has it changed since 2012? And then my last question that I came up with was, what modes of transport do people use in Cannon street? Again, focusing on human features, but you know, it's an urban environment.

So more likely to be focused on human features.

And as I saw in the photo, there's lots of different types of transport.

So I'm very interested in what are all the different ways that people travel in Cannon street? So those are my examples.

Your examples might have been very different, but as long as they meet our criteria of focusing on human or physical features, as I said, probably more likely human isn't it? And if they are about the importance or organisation of those features.

Let's move on to the final parts of this lesson.

In this final part of the lesson, we're going to be looking at what enquiry question will you use for your field work study? Because, very, very, very excitingly, in the next lesson, you will be planning and actually doing your own field work study.

Now don't worry, I will not be asking you to travel to the Amazon river and, measuring biodiversity.

It will be a nice, simple field work study that you can do in your local community or even from the comfort of your own home.

But in order to do that, what's the first thing that field work always start with? What's that? An enquiry question? So we need to decide what enquiry question we are going to use.

So our field work study or your field work study, as I said, it's going to focus on your local community.

And that could be just, the streets that your house is on or the village you're in, the town you're in, it'll be up to you.

But the focus will be on the different modes of transport that people use in your community, because that is an example of human features of geography and how that organised transport a human feature and it's how it's organised because that is how people are able to move around towns, cities, villages, the country.

So based on that knowledge, the knowledge that is in a local, is going to be based in our local communities.

And it's about modes of transport that people use.

Here's what you need to do now.

What enquiry question would you use for a field work study on transport use in your community? So think about the different types of enquiry question that we came up with earlier.

And think about those question starters that we used.

They're actually in the word bank below me now.

So you could start it off with how, what, or which.

I know why was one of our questions starters earlier, but I'd rather you use, which instead if you're going to use that.

So when you're ready, pause the video to complete your task and then resume once you're finished.

I wonder what the enquiry question that you came up with is.

Here's what I came up with and it may be different from yours.

And I don't mean to sound like a dictator, but this is the enquiry question we are going to use for our field work study that will start in the next lesson.

So drum roll, please.

The enquiry question that we are going to use is, what modes of transport do people in my community use? So nice and simple.

And again, yours might be very similar to mine.

Fantastic, If yours is slightly different, but it does focus on transport using the community.

Hey, good job.

But this is the enquiry question that we are going to use in our very next lesson.

That brings us to the end of this lesson.

Well done on all the fantastic learning that you've achieved.

Before we finish, there are just two things that you need to do.

First of all, remember to write down three key things that you'll remember from this lesson.

And then lastly, please remember to complete the exit quiz.

That's going to be a great way of solidifying knowledge and seeing how much fantastic progress you're making in this year.

I look forward to teaching you again soon and have a fantastic rest of your day.