Investigating places
The investigation and study of the locality and a range of other places is a major component of the geography curriculum. A knowledge and understanding of the distinctive attributes of various places is, after all, at the heart of geography. However, it is important that the study of places also provides a context in which apparently distinctive aspects of geography form an inter-related whole. The acquisition of a knowledge of human and natural environments and their interrelationships with each other, the development of geographical concepts and skills and the acquisition of important attitudes will therefore be interdependent elements in the learning process.
The exploration and study of the local area is included at all levels in the curriculum and takes acount of these three facets of learning and development. Well-planned local studies will gradually deepen the child's understanding of the peoples and features to be found in the locality; they will provide opportunities for the development of various geographical skills and investigative techniques and help to raise children's awareness of a range of environmental issues.
Although learning about the local area is a central element of the geography curriculum this does not mean that children's knowledge of the world should be limited to areas which they may visit or experience directly. Local investigations will provide an important reference point for the child with which he/she can compare and contrast other places and so will complement the study of a number of locations and peoples in Ireland, Europe and other areas. A broad and balanced curriculum will include a range of places, chosen to introduce children to a diversity of landscape, populations, natural and human features and environmental issues.
What should we learn about when investigating places?
Place is central to geography: understanding where a place is, what it is like and why, is one of the major concerns of the subject. So when children are engaged in the exploration of the locality and other environments they should be encouraged to discover where places and features are located, to study distribution patterns and look for order and reason in them, to identify links and lines of communication, and to search for causes, relationships and changes that occur.
To provide a framework for their investigations of environments, geographers use a number of key questions; indeed some people would argue that these questions provide a definition of the subject. The key questions are outlined in Exemplar 3 together with a number of further questions that may be derived from them.
All the key questions will be found to be relevant in almost all environments and they can provide a useful check-list when planning a unit of work on a particular place for children. Finding the answers to a range of questions such as these will also help to ensure that the unit of work preserves a balance between establishing where a place is located, what features are to be found in an environment and the equally important task of investigating why a place is as it is.
EXEMPLAR 3 - Key questions in the study of places