Lesson video

Hello, my name is Ms. Gilyeat, and I'm going to be your geography teacher for today.

Today's lesson, we are going to be learning about the locational knowledge of the world, which is the second lesson of the Becoming a Geographer topic.

I'm looking forward to teaching you.

We've got loads of interesting things to learn about.

Let's get going.

Your lesson outcome for today is that you can locate and describe where places are using maps at different scales.

Now, we have four keywords for today's lesson.

The first keyword is continent.

So a continent is a large landmass, and there are seven in the world: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania.

Our second keyword is ocean.

So an ocean is a very big area of salt water between the continents.

Our third keyword, scale.

The scale on the map shows what size the area that is represented in the map really is.

And finally, latitude.

So lines of latitude are imaginary lines on Earth, showing position north or south of the Equator, and we measure them in degrees.

We have two key learning cycles for today's lesson.

Our first learning cycle is we're going to learn about the locational knowledge of the world, and then we're gonna zoom in to the UK and Europe.

So our second learning cycle is locational knowledge of the UK and Europe.

Let's get going with learning cycle one.

Now, locational knowledge is what we know about where places are located around the world.

Okay, so it's thinking about where places are in relation to each other basically.

Now, if we have a look on the slide here, I have got an example of a world map.

Now, we build understanding about where places are by looking at maps.

Now, a world map is one of the biggest maps that you can get basically in terms of the area that's covered.

Okay, and from looking at this, we get an understanding of where the different continents are in relation to each other, and how they are connected to the different oceans as well.

We can see as well on the map, there is a north arrow.

Now, this shows us which way is pointing north.

There are some other special things located on this map as well.

So we've got a scale bar, and we'll talk about what that is later in the lesson, and we've also got a very important line of latitude located on the map, and that is the Equator.

Now, we use maps of different scales to help us find out where places are and how big they are.

On the slide, I have got three different maps.

Now, they are all of different scales.

However, they all show the same place, but at different, yeah, at different scales.

So on the left, we have got a map of Norfolk.

Okay, now that just shows the location of Norfolk.

So if we have a look at the map there, we can see which major towns and cities are located in the area.

We can see the roads.

We can see some of the names of the rivers as well.

Okay, now that is a larger scale map, and we can see the area in a little bit more detail.

Now, in the middle, we have got a map of the UK.

Now, Norfolk is located on there.

It's not actually been highlighted, but it's just under the bit where it says England.

Okay, so you might be able to match up the shapes with the maps on the left with the map in the middle.

Okay, so we've got a further zoomed out map.

And then on the right, we have got a map of Europe.

Now, if we can find the UK on the map, the area that has been highlighted green is where Norfolk is located.

So even though these three maps show the same place, they're at different scales.

So we can get an understanding of how big the place is in relation to other places in the UK and Europe, but we also get an understanding of the kind of more where it's located near to as well.

So there, we have Norfolk located in England, and there it is located in Europe.

The scale tells us how much the map is zoomed in or out compared to the actual size of the area.

On the right, we have got a map of Europe.

Now, we can see here there is a scale bar in the bottom left-hand corner of the map.

Now, that shows that that distance that the bar is on that map is 1,000 kilometres.

Okay, so if I was to get a ruler and measure that amount on the map and put it at any point, that represents 1,000 kilometres in real life.

So yeah, as I said, we can use a ruler or estimate distances using that scale bar.

So if we look at the length of the UK, we can see there that the length of the UK is actually roughly about the same size as the scale bar.

And therefore, we can infer that the UK is roughly 1,000 kilometres from the north to the south.

Okay, have a look at that.

Can you see any other places that are on the map, or countries that you would estimate at roughly 1,000 kilometres? Roughly, Finland is quite similar as well.

Okay, let's check our understanding of what we have learned.

Roughly how far is it from the west of Portugal to the east of the Black Sea? Is it A, 2,000 kilometres, B, 4,500 kilometres, or C, 6,000 kilometres? So pause the video, use the scale bar, and have a go.

Okay, the answer is B, 4,500 kilometres.

Now, world maps have a scale that allow us to see all of the continents and the oceans on one map.

Okay, so they might not cover a place in a lot of detail, but they do let us see a large area.

Now, if we have a look at the scale on this map, we can see the distance of the scale bar represents 5,000 kilometres.

That's a very long way.

Now, we call this a small-scale map.

So it covers a large area, but with a small map.

So you wouldn't use this map if you were going to go walking or hiking because it would be too, it wouldn't have enough detail to show you all the maps and the paths that you may go on.

Can you think of a reason why you would use a world map? Right, I've got a question for us there.

How many continents and oceans can you name? So you could do this by yourself, or you could do it with the person that you are sat next to.

How many did you get? So it is widely agreed that there are seven continents and five oceans of the world.

Now, we can see where they are located on the slide here.

Did you get them all? Okay, right.

Let's check our understanding then.

Pause the video, and see if you can do them all now.

Okay, let's go through them.

So we've got North America.

So some of the main countries in there, the United States and Canada.

We have got South America, the biggest country in there being Brazil.

We have got Europe.

So that's the continent the UK is located in.

Africa, Asia, and Oceania.

Okay.

Oh, there's one I've missed out.

Antarctica.

Now, that's a funny one because nobody actually permanently lives in Antarctica.

It's the only continent where it doesn't have permanent residency of populations.

Okay, let's have a go at naming the five oceans then.

So we've got the Pacific Ocean.

Now, the Pacific's been labelled twice here.

Now, the reason for that being is that the world map is obviously 2D, but the world's not 2D.

It's 3D.

So we've had to spread it out across like this.

But if you imagine that map will join again at the back, so the Pacific Ocean joins at the back of the world, so in between the continents of Asia and North and South America.

Okay, so oceans, we've got Atlantic Ocean.

Atlantic, that's located between the Americas, Africa, and Europe.

The Southern Ocean.

This is the ocean that surrounds the continent of Antarctica.

The Indian Ocean.

Okay, so the ocean just south of the country of India, which is the one that looks like an upside down triangle.

And finally, the Arctic Ocean.

Now, that's a special ocean because for a lot of the Earth, quite a lot of it is actually frozen, and it's the smallest ocean of the world.

Now, each continent has different characteristics in terms of its size, its population, and its physical features.

World maps are useful for comparing the relative sizes of the continents and the oceans.

So from looking at that, we can see which are the largest continents and which are the smallest.

So have a chat with the person you're sat next to.

Can you put them in order from what you think is the smallest to the largest? Okay, so the Pacific is the largest ocean in the world, the Arctic is the smallest ocean, and Asia is the largest continent, with Oceania being the smallest continent.

Looking at an area at the continental scale allows us to locate countries, major cities, and physical features like major rivers and mountain ranges.

Now, as a quick recap, a physical feature is something natural.

So like a river, a mountain, a volcano, a coastline.

So they're natural things that we have on our planet Earth.

Okay, so a political map shows country borders.

Okay, and they're called political maps because politics is important here, where between a country border, one government will rule one country, and another government will rule another country.

Okay, so that border line is very important because it depends what government rules you will follow, and what kind of societal things you will do, depending on which side of the border you are on.

Now, a physical map shows rivers and mountains, and also the height of the land.

So if we have a look here, we've got two Europe maps.

On the left, you've got the political ones.

So all the different countries have been coloured in different colours there, so it's quite easy to see the borders.

Now, on the right, we've still got the names of the countries, but what we can see is that the Europe map has actually been shaded in different colours.

Okay, now those different colours represent the height of the land.

Now, it's a little bit hard to see, but on the bottom left, you've got a key.

So the green represents quite low-lying land, so about zero metres above sea level, so close to the sea's level, up to the greyish colour, which shows land that's over 2,000 metres above sea level.

So if we look here, for example, we can see that there's a mountainous area that's located in France, Switzerland, and northern Italy, and that's where the Alps are located.

You might have heard of that area.

Also, on that map, we can see little blue faint lines.

Now, those are some of the major rivers of Europe.

Physical maps of the world help us locate major physical features, like the mountain ranges, the ice sheets, deserts, and rivers.

Now, on the slide here, we've got a world map.

Okay, so we can see that the white areas are actually where ice sheets are located.

So can you tell me which continent is almost completely covered in an ice sheet? Did you get Antarctica? Yeah, that's right.

Also, part of North America, so much of Greenland, is located in an ice sheet as well.

Deserts.

So these are areas that are shaded in yellow on the map, or a lighter green colour if you like.

So can you tell me any places or a continent which has got quite a lot of desert? Africa, that's right.

So the Sahara Desert is the largest hot desert in the world, and that covers a lot of northern Africa.

Okay, and the mountains as well.

So the areas that have been shaded in a darker colour here represents where mountains are located.

I'll show you some of the rivers.

So you've got the Amazon River there, okay? You've got the Andes mountain range, which runs down South America.

The Greenland ice sheet.

The Himalaya mountain range.

Now, that's a very important one because that is where the highest mountain in the world is located.

So that's Mount Everest, if you didn't know.

You've got the Sahara Desert, as I've just mentioned.

Okay, so we can see there, there's loads of physical features located on this world map.

Let's check our understanding.

True or false? A physical map shows capital cities where governments are based.

Is that true or false? That is false.

Can you tell me why? A physical map only shows physical features like mountains and rivers.

A political map may show where the capital cities and governments are based.

So political world maps are useful to see the size and relative position of the countries.

Okay, so we can see here the continents have been named.

Now, the countries haven't actually been named here, but you can see the country borders.

They're in a faint greyish colour.

So there's China.

So China is a large country in east Asia, and Madagascar is a large African island in the Indian Ocean.

Okay, so we can see there how big the countries are in comparison to each other.

Now, having a look at that slide, can you name any of the largest countries of the world? Have a quick chat with the person that you're sat next to.

Now, Russia is the largest country in the world, which is located in northern Asia and goes into Europe as well.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

True or false? World maps only show the names of countries.

That's false.

Can you tell me why? What else might they show? While world maps sometimes share the name of countries, they also sometimes share the names of continents, oceans, and seas.

This means that they are useful for comparing the size and relative position of countries, as well as the relative sizes of continents and oceans.

Now, to accurately describe where a place or country is located, we can use the acronym CLOCC, C-L-O-C-C.

So we're going to use this.

I'm going to teach you how to do it, and then you're going to practise using the acronym to describe where somewhere is located.

And if we use this acronym, then we get perfect descriptions.

Okay, so the first C stands for continent.

So which continent is it located in? The L stands for latitude.

So is it north or south of the Equator? Is it between the tropics or near the poles? So as a quick reminder, lines of latitudes are imaginary lines, but they run horizontally across our planet.

So some of the.

Well, the major line of latitude that we should be aware of is the Equator, which runs through the middle of the planet.

So if you are north of the Equator, you are classed as being in the Northern Hemisphere.

If you are south of the Equator, you are classed as being in the Southern Hemisphere.

But there are also some other major lines of latitude as well.

The O stands for oceans or seas.

So which ocean or sea is it located near to? The second C stands for countries or cities nearby.

So which countries or cities are located in the nearby area? And the final C stands for compass directions.

Really, really important in geography.

So which part of a country is it in or what direction is it from the nearest big city? Right, this is a perfect CLOCC description for the location of the Great Barrier Reef.

So I'll read this out to you, and then we'll make sure we can understand where the different acronym parts are.

Now, the Great Barrier Reef is in northeast Australia in the continent Oceania.

It is south of the Equator and north of the Tropic of Capricorn.

The Great Barrier Reef is in the Coral Sea.

The Great Barrier Reef is southeast of Papua New Guinea.

Okay, so that's a good description.

Let's see where we can find the different parts of CLOCC.

So first of all, I've told you which continent it's located in.

It's located in Oceania.

Second, I've told you which lines of latitude it is in relation to.

So it's south of the Equator, but it's north of the Tropic of Capricorn, and we can see those located on the map to the right.

O, I've told you which sea it's located in, so O stands for ocean/sea.

So the Great Barrier Reef is in the Coral Sea.

Countries and cities.

So the Great Barrier Reef is southeast of Papua New Guinea.

I've told you which country it's located near to.

And finally, I have given compass directions throughout my description.

Okay, we are moving on to our first task here.

Now, I would like you to use the CLOCC acronym and an atlas to write a locational description for one of the following.

So it could be the Grand Canyon, Mount Merapi, London, the UK, or the Iguazu Falls.

So there's the acronym there.

Pause the video, and have a go at writing your perfect CLOCC description, and then we'll go through an example.

Okay, here's my example for London.

Obviously, you may have done a different one, but we're looking out for similar things.

So London is the capital city of the UK, which is in the continent of Europe.

London is located in the southeast of England on latitudes 51.

5 degrees north.

The River Thames flows east through London to the North Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean and Ireland are west of London.

So let's have a look for the different points of the acronym.

So I've given the continent, Europe.

I've given a description of the latitude point.

I've said which ocean the River Thames flows into.

I've given some of the UK, the names of the countries and cities, and I've also included compass directions throughout my description.

How did you do? Is there anything you could add to your answer to make it even better? Right, we are moving on to our second learning cycle, which is looking at the locational knowledge of the UK and Europe.

Now, the UK is made up of four countries, each with their own capital cities.

Can you name the countries and the capital cities that go with them? Either do this by yourself or with the person you're sat next to.

Okay, let's go through it.

So we've got Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England.

Which one are you located in today? And the capital cities.

So we have got Belfast, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and London.

Now, London is the quite important one because that's the capital city of the whole of the UK together.

Now, one thing to be careful is that in Ireland, Ireland is split into Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, and the Republic of Ireland, which is not part of the UK.

Now, the Republic of Ireland, the capital city there is Dublin, but yeah, that's not part of the United Kingdom.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

So can you locate and name the capital cities on the UK map? Right, so we've got Belfast, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and London.

Did you get those all right? Now, atlases can be used to find out the location and information about places at different scales.

Okay, now if we were to use an atlas, we'd go to the contents page, and you'd look at what page number you need to go to that area.

Okay, now if we have a look here, we've got an example of a contents page.

Now, you may have a different atlas at home or at school, which will have different page numbers, but this is just an example of what you would look for.

Now, if we have a look here, we can see all the continents have been labelled with the page numbers that you can find them, and you'll notice there's actually quite a few pages for each continent.

So we'll talk about why that is at the moment.

Now, at the end of the atlas as well, you often have information about the world.

So this might have information about populations or people's jobs or life expectancies.

So they're quite useful tables to have a look at, and you should have a glossary and an index at the end of an atlas as well.

Okay, so within each continent within an atlas, you will find lots of different information.

Now, there should always be some sort of political and physical map.

So the political map will show the country borders.

So as an example here, we have got Europe, and we can quite clearly see the names and the borders of the different countries of Europe.

There's also a little bit of information about the population there and how many countries.

There are 44 countries located in Europe.

There should also be a physical map.

Now, as we learned earlier, physical maps tell you information about the physical and the natural features.

So we can see there that there's a physical map of Europe, and we can see the height of the land, so where some of the mountainous areas are.

We can also see where some of the major rivers are located.

Okay, so you should be able to find out quite a bit of information about a continent within an atlas.

Okay, so let's check our understanding.

What can atlases tell us about places? Now, you could write your answer down, or you could discuss this with the person you're sat next to.

Okay, so atlases can tell us information about places at different scales, from continents to countries.

Political maps tell us about cities, countries, and borders.

And physical maps tell us about features like rivers, mountains, and the shape and the height of the land.

Right then.

So there are a total of 44 countries in Europe.

I would like you to pause the video, and see how many you can name.

Either you could do this by yourself.

You could do it as a group.

You could do it with the person you are sat next to.

You could even do it as a whole class.

Let's see how many you can get.

Okay, so there they are on the slide there.

I'm not gonna read them all out to you, but pause the video, and see which ones you got and which ones you missed out.

Now, the UK is located in northern Europe, along with Scandinavian countries, such as Norway, Sweden, and Finland.

Now, because these countries are a bit further north, they tend to be a bit of cooler countries.

Italy and Greece are in southern Europe.

They're very warm countries 'cause they're closer to the Equator.

Ukraine is in eastern Europe, and Russia also spreads.

Well, Russia, the largest country in the world, is in Asia, but also spreads into Europe as well.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

Where are the following countries located on the map? The UK, Norway, Greece, Ukraine, and Russia.

Pause the video and see if you can locate them.

Okay, we've got the UK there, Norway, not far away in northern Europe, Greece in southern Europe, Ukraine in eastern Europe, and there is Russia.

Okay, we're moving on to our main task here.

I would like you to use an atlas contents page or index to find these countries.

Okay, so if you've got an atlas, brilliant.

If you don't have an atlas, what you could do is use the internet and find a world map to locate these countries.

So we've got Latvia, Slovakia, Moldova, and Belgium.

Then, your second part of the task is for one of these countries, write where it is located in Europe using the CLOCC acronym, and I'd like you to give the name of its capital city.

So I'd like you to pause the video and have a go at Task B.

Right then.

Your answer should be similar to this.

Latvia is located in northern Europe between the latitudes of 55.

5 degrees and 58 degrees north.

It is situated on the Baltic Sea.

Latvia's eastern border is with Russia.

The country is south of Estonia, and north of Lithuania and Belarus, and Latvia's capital city is Riga.

Okay, so check your answer.

Have you included all the things for the CLOCC acronym? Here, we have a summary for today's lesson.

There are seven continents and five oceans around the world.

Each continent has different characteristics in terms of its size, population, and physical features.

The UK is in the continent of Europe, which has 44 countries in total, and places have different physical and human features that mean different things to different people.

Okay, that's it for today's lesson.

There's been lots of information to take in.

I'm sure you've done an absolutely brilliant job.

I've had a great time teaching you.

Okay, see you soon, bye.