First Post!

Having just completed my degree in BSc Geography and Geology, I was very aware that it would be my human geography knowledge that needed working on before I started my PGCE course. On completing my subject knowledge audit I have chosen settlement as the focus of my blog. This topic covers both rural and urban environments as well as the geography of crime.

As a gentle introduction, I will go through a few key words before I start getting my teeth into the topic…

The first four that jump to mind are: settlement, rural, urban and crime. On flicking through a few geography text books and a quick search on the internet, the general consensus is that within geography, a settlement is any place where people live. It can vary in sizes and be temporary or permanent. The definition of rural is “of the country” and urban “of the city or town”. Crime is any violation of the law.

Any other words which are vital to our understanding will be explained as and when they pop up in the blog.

The way I would introduce this topic when teaching…

KS3: I would ask the students (in pairs) to match up words with their corresponding picture for key words such as detached houses, semi-detached houses, terraced houses, countryside, hamlet, village, town, city and farming. Following this would be a discussion on each picture as to whether it belongs in a rural or urban environment.

KS4 and 5: Ask the students to create a spider diagram of what they can remember from previously studying settlement. This could possibly be something they then add to later in the term in different colours as they gain more understanding and specific case studies.

Until next time,

Fiona