http://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk

ThisisoneofaseriesofteachingresourcesforusewithDigimapforSchools.Formoredetailsaboutthisservice,visithttp://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk

UsingAerialImageryQuickideas:schoolgrounds

PaulaOwens

Geographyteachingresource5–7years

http://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk

Somequickideasfortheschoolgrounds

Level Context Location

5–7years Usingaerialimageryandfieldwork Schoolgroundsandvarious

Knowledge Usingaerialimagerywithmaps

Curriculumlinks(England)

GeographyKS1

• useaerialphotographsandplanperspectivestorecogniselandmarksandbasichumanandphysicalfeatures.

• usesimplefieldworkandobservationalskillstostudythegeographyoftheirschoolanditsgroundsandthekeyhumanandphysicalfeaturesofitssurroundingenvironment.

Curriculumlinks(Wales)

KnowledgeandUnderstandingoftheWorld

• useandmakesimplemaps,tofindwhereplacesareandhowplacesrelatetootherplaces

• Identifynaturalfeatures,e.g.rivers,hills,beaches,andthehumanfeatures,e.g.buildings,roads,bridges,oftheirownlocality.

ScottishCurriculumforExcellence

Socialstudies

Experiencesandoutcomes

• Icandescribeandrecreatethecharacteristicsofmylocalenvironmentbyexploringthefeaturesofthelandscape.SOC1-07a

Identifyingfeatures

Locate your school using a post code search. Select an appropriately scaledmap that shows theschool grounds and which allows you to toggle between this and its aerial imagery layer. Askchildrento identify,nameand label features foundontheaerialviewusingthe ‘AnnotationTool’.Developthelabelledaerialviewoftheschoolandgroundsintoalargewalldisplayusingcollageorpaintandaddtothevocabulary.Youcouldalsolateraddmeasurementsandphotographs.Besuretoaddthecompasspointstothedisplaytogetchildrenthinkingaboutorientation.

MatchtheImage

Getchildrentotaketheirownphotographsofprominentfeatures intheschoolgrounds(or inthesurrounding locality) and then find the corresponding feature on the aerial image view. Add thephotographtotherelevantfeatureusingthe‘PhotoTool’.Thentoggletomapviewtoseewhatthemapsaysandhowthefeatureisshown.

http://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk

placeto…?

playfootball? haveapicnic? watchwildlife?

meetafriend? sitintheshade? meetafriend?

Lookatanaerialimageofyourschoolandgroundsanddiscussthelandscapeanditsfeatureswithchildren.Askchildrentoidentifythebestplacetodoaparticularactivity.Thechildrencouldmakeup theirown list. Once the listof activities andcorresponding ‘best’placeshavebeen identified,thesecanbemarkedon theaerial imageand labelledusing the ‘AnnotationTool’. Toggleback tomapviewandsavethemap.Theclasscouldcompileonemaponwhichtheyareallagreedandthiscouldbethestimulusforapieceofwritingabout‘MySchool’.

MeasuringtheSchoolGrounds

Howbigistheschoolanditsgrounds?Howmuchoftheschoolgroundisplayground?Howmuchisgrass?Howmuchiscoveredbytrees?Howmuchareadoestheschoolroofcover?Usingtheaerialview,identifydifferenttypesofgrounduseandusethe‘AreaMap’tooltoclickaroundtheextentofeacharea.Youngerchildrenwillbeable tovisuallyappreciate theshapesandcomparativesizeofdifferent areas but they could also select the ‘Measurement Tool’ and click on an area to get ameasurementine.g.eithersquaremetresorkilometres.

Whatgoesonhere?

Useanaerial imageryviewoftheschoolandsurroundingareatoinvestigateevidenceofeverydayhumanactivity.Havingfoundtheappropriatemapandtoggledthroughtothecorrespondingaerialimage,selectthe‘BufferTool’(withtheradiussettoeither0.5Kilometres)andaskpupilstoclickontheirschool(ortheirhouse)tosetthecentreofthe‘bufferzone’.Investigateanddiscusstheviewwithinthebufferzone.Cananypeoplebeseen?Whataboutcarsandothertraffic?Howbusyisit?Isparkingaproblemhere?

Thiscouldthenberepeatedwithanotherschooloratanotherlocationtocomparedifferentplaces.Forexample,childrenmightcomparetrafficvolumeinanurbanandruralschoolsetting.Arethereanyclues in the image that revealwhat the season isor the timeofday?Whymight thismakeadifferencetohowbusyanareaseemstobe?

http://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk

MapMatch

Printoffandlaminateamapandthecorrespondingaerialimageoftheschoolgroundsatthesamescale.Cuteachupintoequalsectionse.g.9(3x3)or12(4x3).Sharethemapcardsoutbetweenasmallgroupofchildren,givingthemjustthreeorfoureach.Spreadtheaerialimagesfacedownonatable.Thechildrentakeit inturnstoselectandturnoveranimage.If itmatchesoneoftheirmappiecestheycankeepit.Ifnot,theyreplacethecardupsidedown.Thewinneristheonewho

matches all their cards first. In a simpler version, children just work collaboratively as a team tomatchmapandaerialviewscorrectly.Theycouldcompetetodothisquickerthanotherteams.

Fieldwork

Aswithallmappingactivitiesinvolvingtheschoolgrounds,oranylocalityyoucaneasilyaccess,itishelpfultotakeyoungchildrenoutsidetoexploreaterrainatfirst–hand,notingsignificantfeaturesinmulti– sensoryways.Takeacompasswithyou to talkaboutdirection.Reinforce thenamesofgeographicalfeaturestooandtheirrelativepositiontootherfeatures.Familiarisingyoungchildrenwithaspectsoftherealworld intandemwithdigitalmappingactivities isavitalpartofsuccessfulmapwork.

Weblinks

GeographforSchoolshttp://schools.geograph.org.uk/

©EDINAattheUniversityofEdinburgh2016

ThisworkislicensedunderaCreativeCommonsAttribution-NonCommercialLicence