Lesson video

Hello there, my name is Chloe and I'm a geography field studies tutor.

That means I teach children all about the outdoors.

This lesson is called, "Examining our Geographical Data".

It's part of a unit of work called, "How can we investigate the sustainability of our school?" In this lesson, we're going to be looking at the data that we have presented and that we have collected, and we're really going to be looking at it carefully to think about how can we answer our big inquiry question? Let's get started.

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to answer your inquiry question using the data you've collected and presented.

There are three key terms that we need to think about first of all.

Compare, this is looking at data to see where there are similarities and where there are differences.

Summarizing is bringing all the key information together at the end of the inquiry.

And a hypothesis is a prediction that geographers make about the results of their inquiry.

This lesson is in two parts.

Firstly, how do we compare the scores in our data? And then, how do we use data to reach a conclusion? Let's start the lesson by looking at that first question about comparing the scores in our data.

We can now look closely at our data in order to see what it tells us.

So here we are at the fourth stage of our inquiry cycle, reflecting on our findings.

Sam is looking carefully at the bar chart that she drew.

You can see it in the picture here.

She wants to compare the scores.

Which location got the highest score? Look carefully at the graph.

Sam recognizes that the bar that represents the main roof of the school building is the tallest.

You can see it there, the purple one and it stretches up to a score of eight out of nine.

This means it got the highest score.

But which location got the lowest score? Look at the bar chart again.

Now, Sam can see that the bar that represents the school garden is the shortest, the red one there.

This means it got the lowest score.

It actually got four out of nine.

When we compare our results, it is a good idea to start with the highest and lowest scores.

Let's check our understanding now.

Write the locations in this bar chart from highest scoring to lowest.

Use the letter codes to help you.

So look carefully at the height of each bar, start with the highest and then go down to the lowest.

Pause the video here and once you've had a go, check if you've got the same as somebody nearby.

Right, what order did you get? Let's start with the tallest.

It's C, isn't it, the green one? Our car park, that had got score of eight out of nine.

Next is B, the main roof.

Then it's E, the infant playground.

A, the school field.

F, the school garden.

And finally, D was the lowest, the junior playground.

Well done if you've got those in the right order.

So far we've been focused on the total scores that we had for each location, but if we look at the completed scores table for all the locations, we can see more detail in the data.

You can see here we've got the individual scores for sunlight, the size of the area and the land use.

We can now see that the main problem with the school field was land use.

Look at the data carefully.

You can see that for sunlight, it scored three, the maximum score it could get.

For area, it also scored three again, the maximum, but for land use, it dropped right down to a one.

So you can see that that was a big problem with the school field.

Izzy's having a think about this and she makes this observation.

"The school field is used for all our PE lessons and it's where we play at break time.

If we put solar panels on the school field, we wouldn't be able to play football or do athletics." So she's explaining why it is that the school field got such a low land use score.

What other details can you see in our data table here? Are there anything unusual or something that stands out against the normal pattern? What's Aisha spotted? She's looking at the infant playground.

It's got score of one under sunlight.

The infant playground is the only location that was in complete shade.

Let's just check that.

If we look at all of the other locations, they score three, three, two, two and two.

The infant playground is the only place that scored a one, meaning it's the only place that was in the shade.

What's Andeep spotted? Ah, so Andeep's looking at the school field, but in terms of the area.

He says, "The school field was the only place big enough to hold a lot of solar panels." So if we look down the area column, we can see that the school field is the only one that scores three.

All of the others score twos and then one.

Let's check our understanding again.

So when geographers look at data, they only look at the highest scores.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a think about what we've just been learning.

So is that statement true or false? It's false, but now pause the video again and tell me why.

Yes, geographers also look in more detail at their data to see how different variables compare with each other.

They do look at the highest and lowest scores, but they also look in more detail as well.

Our first practice task now.

Look carefully at your data from your bar chart and your table of scores.

Use your observations to complete these sentences.

So there's two sentences I'd like you to complete.

The first one.

My bar chart tells me that the location with the highest score was.

You complete that sentence.

And then secondly, from my more detailed data table, I can see that.

And find something to mention there as well.

Pause the video and have a really close look at your bar chart and your data table in order to complete those sentences.

So here's some examples that I've used.

Your answers will be slightly different, because you will have different data to mine.

My bar chart tells me that the location with the highest score was the roof of the main school building.

Then my second sentence.

From my more detailed data table, I can see that the school field was the only place big enough to hold a lot of solar panels.

Now let's move on to the second part of our lesson.

How do we use data to reach a conclusion? You can see now that we're moving on to the fifth stage of our inquiry cycle.

We can now communicate our findings in a conclusion and we return to our hypotheses.

Before we write a conclusion, it is a good idea to be reminded of our inquiry questions.

So let's just bring that back up so that we can be reminded of it.

Where would be the best place to put solar panels in our school grounds? We now need to answer our inquiry question and summarize our results to explain our findings.

We start by answering the question based on our results.

So you're gonna be answering it based on your results.

We found that the roof of the main school building would be the best place to have solar panels in our school grounds.

That's a great start from Jacob.

We then summarize what it is about that location that makes it so suitable for solar panels.

He carries on and says, "The roof is very sunny and importantly, it is not used for anything, unlike every other location we surveyed.

It is also a fairly large area, making it suitable for quite a lot of solar panels." Jacob has really developed his answer there and explained and summarized well what it is about the school roof that makes it so suitable for solar panels.

Let's check our understanding now.

Fill in the gaps using the correct word from the box.

You'll notice that there are three gaps and there are four words.

So there's gonna be one word that won't be used at all.

Pause the video so you can have a look through the paragraph and the words on offer and then see if you can get those words in the right place.

How did you get on? I hope you managed to get the words in the right place, but let's check together.

To write a conclusion, we answer our inquiry question directly.

Then we summarize the reasons why that location got the highest score.

Well done if you got those three correct.

We can now look back at the hypothesis we made to see if we were right.

Let's remind ourselves of one of our hypotheses.

Laura's going to be talking about hers.

"I think the best place to put solar panels will be on the school field, because it is a large area." So that's what she thought before she'd carried out her data collection.

Does our data show that Laura's hypothesis is correct? Look really carefully at the map.

Was the school field the best place to put solar panels? The school field did get a high score for size, but it did not get the highest score overall.

So Laura's hypothesis is not correct.

You can see the place that did get the highest score was the main roof.

On our map that shows eight out of nine squares been colored, whereas our school field shows seven.

Let's see what Lucas's hypothesis was.

He said, "I think the best place would be on the roof of the main building, because it's not used for anything." Does our data show that Lucas's hypothesis is correct? The roof of the main school building did get the highest score overall and for land use.

So Lucas's hypothesis is correct.

Let's take a look at Sophia's hypothesis now.

She says, "I think the school garden will be the worst place for solar panels." So true or false, Sophia's hypothesis is correct? Pause the video and have a look at our data table to see if Sophia's hypothesis is correct or not.

So well done if you can see that this hypothesis is correct, it's true.

So why is that the case? What is it about that data table that tells us that Sophia's hypothesis is correct? Pause the video again and then tell me why.

Yes, so if we look at the data table, we can see that the school garden has a total score of four.

That's the lowest in that table.

So yes, that means that the school garden got the lowest overall score, it would be the worst place for solar panels.

We'll now move on to our third practice task.

Write a conclusion that directly answers your inquiry question.

It's likely that that will simply be a sentence.

Then summarize your results to explain why you got that answer.

So this can take a little bit more thought and a little bit more effort to make sure that you've really explained why you got that answer to your inquiry question.

Thirdly, write whether your hypothesis was correct or not.

Pause the video here so you can really think carefully about your data and your inquiry question.

Then come back to me and I'll show you some examples of the kind of thing you might have written.

So let's see what kind of ideas you had.

Your answer may include wording like this.

We found that the roof of the main school building would be the best place to have solar panels in our school grounds.

In terms of my summary, your answer might include ideas like this.

The roof is very sunny and importantly, it is not used for anything unlike every other location we surveyed.

It is also a fairly large area, making it suitable for quite a lot of solar panels.

Finally, I had to ask myself whether my hypothesis was correct or not.

Your answer might look at a little bit like this.

I thought the best place for solar panels would be on the roof of the main building, because it is not used for anything.

The roof of the main school building got the highest score overall and for land use, so my hypothesis was correct.

Let's just end the lesson by summarizing our learning.

Geographers often start examining data by describing the highest and lowest scores or values.

Looking at more detailed data can reveal more detailed information.

In our conclusion, we answer our inquiry question and summarize the main reason for our answer.

Well done, I hope you managed to answer your inquiry question.

Now, don't worry if you found that your hypothesis was incorrect.

It happens all the time to geographers.

What it means is, is that it was worth doing the field work, because we found out some new information and challenged how we thought the world was going to be.

That's a really important skill to learn.