Lesson video

Hello, 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 "Presenting 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 take our data that we've currently got in a big table full of numbers and we're going to try and present it in a different way.

We're going to be thinking about how we can use pictures and graphs and maps in order to show our data in a more exciting and meaningful way.

So let's get started.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to present data in a way that will help you answer your inquiry question.

Before we get started, there are three keywords and phrases that we need to think about.

First of all, bar chart.

This is a graphic that allows geographers to compare data values.

A key is a section of a map that tells the reader what the symbols and colors mean.

And geolocated data is data that is drawn onto a map in the position where that data was collected.

This lesson is in two parts.

First of all, we're going to be thinking about this question: how can a bar chart help us understand data? Then in the second part of the lesson, we're going to be thinking about how a map can help us understand our data as well.

Let's start with that first section.

So what we're doing here is presenting our data, and this is going to help us answer our inquiry question.

So you can see here we are at the third stage of our inquiry cycle.

Jun has got the table of results here.

It's only showing the total scores for each location.

He wants to show this data in a graph.

One way of doing this is to draw a bar chart.

Here's an example of one.

A bar chart helps geographers to compare one location with another.

Let's look at some of the key features of a bar chart now.

First of all, it has a title, you can see it at the top there, and a key, and this helps us to read the graph.

The side axis is marked with the possible survey scores.

The bottom axis is marked with the six different locations.

You can see them with their letter codes there, A through to F.

The height of the bar shows us the score for each location.

Let's have a think about this question now.

What equipment might Jun need to draw a neat bar chart? He's going to need a writing pencil, some color pencils.

He might need an eraser in case he makes a mistake.

Some squared paper, and very importantly, a ruler.

Let's check our understanding now.

Take a look at this bar chart.

What mistake did Aisha make when she drew this bar chart? Have a really close look at the bar chart and tell me what she's done wrong here.

Pause the video, maybe have a chat with someone nearby, and then come back to me.

Well, hopefully you recognized that there's a key piece of equipment that Aisha has not used.

Well done if you recognized she did not use a ruler to draw her lines.

You can see her lines in her graph are all wibbly wobbly.

That's no good.

We need to use a ruler to make them nice and straight and neat.

Here's how we draw a bar chart.

First of all, we draw the bottom axis.

In our case, we're going to need one that's 11 squares wide.

We also draw a side axis on the left hand side, and that's seven squares tall.

We label the bottom axis with the six locations, A through to F, and the side axis with the scores three to nine.

We also give the side axis a title.

You might remember, our maximum score for any location is nine and our minimum is three, and that's why we've chosen those numbers to be represented on the side axis.

Next, we draw a bar at the right score height for each location.

We then color each bar a different color so we can clearly see the difference between them.

We add a title and a key to our graph.

Let's check our understanding now.

Have a close look at this bar chart.

What's missing from it? Is it A, a title; B, a key; or C, the scores? Pause the video and have a close look, what's missing from this bar chart? Well done if you spotted that it's the title that is missing.

It should appear at the top of our bar chart there.

Now our first practice task.

You can probably guess what you're going to be asked to do.

Use the correct equipment to draw a neat bar chart with the data you collected from your school grounds.

Remember to include all the parts that make it readable.

You will definitely want to pause the video here and do take your time over this, making sure that your bar chart is as neat as possible because a neat bar chart is much, much easier to read.

Pause the video and have a go.

So how did you get on? Let's have a look at your bar charts now.

Hopefully your answer will look something a bit like this.

You can see that I've used a ruler to draw my lines and I've colored in each bar a different color.

I have a title at the top of my bar chart, and I've also got a key so I know which bar represents which location that was surveyed.

Along my side axis, you can see I've not only put the numbers three to nine, but I've also put a title.

Do check your own bar chart and check that it's got all of the different elements in it.

We now move on to the second part of our lesson, thinking about maps and how they can help us with our data as well.

Andeep and Sofia have got a map of their school grounds.

At the moment, they've got the six locations that they surveyed marked on with pink dots.

Andeep says, "We've already used a map to work out where to collect our data." And as Sofia points out, "Now we can use our map to show geolocated data." As our data was collected in particular places, it makes sense to present this data on a map.

Izzy says, "We could write the recorded scores in each of the six locations on the map." So you can see here in our case, our school field has a score of seven and the playground has a score of five.

So we've simply put the numbers next to the right location on the map.

Let's check our understanding now.

True or false? Maps are only used to find out where places are.

Have a think about that statement.

Pause the video and then come back to me and tell me if it's true or false.

So what do you think? True or false? Yes.

Well done if you think it's false.

Now tell me why it's false.

Well done if you recognized that using maps is not only a way of finding out where places are, but it's also a brilliant way of presenting information such as data, and that's what we're going to be doing in this lesson.

Let's have a look what Lucas thinks about this idea of just putting the numbers on the map.

Oh dear.

He says, "I don't want to just write numbers.

There must be another way.

The maximum score possible is nine, so we need something that will show a score out of nine at each location." He's thinking quite creatively here about how he can show his data without just writing the numbers on the map.

How else could we show our total scores on the map? Here's one thing that we could do.

We could carefully cut out six 3 by 3 grids of squares from some squared paper.

You can see an example of what that would look like here, three across and three down.

We could stick one grid square onto each of the six locations on our map.

For each location, we would color in the number of squares that equals the score given to that place.

We'd need to use a different color for each location.

So as Alex points out with our example here, we gave the junior playground a score of five, so we are coloring in five out of the nine squares.

Of course, our map isn't complete yet.

We would also need to write a key to show which locations correspond to which color.

And finally, we would write a title for our map so that the whole thing makes sense.

Let's check our understanding now.

What is missing from this data presentation map? You can see an example of a map drawn here, but something's been left out.

What is it? Pause the video and have a think.

Did you spot it? Yes, well done.

It's the key.

The key has been missed out, and that's really important because we need to know what each color is representing on our map.

Here's our second practice task now.

Create a map showing your survey score data.

Use a large map of your school grounds and three by three grids of squares.

Remember to include a key and to add a title to your map.

Pause the video here and again, do take your time over this exercise.

It is worth spending those extra few moments to check that everything is as accurate as possible.

When you come back, I'll show you an example of one that I've done.

So let's look at a map that I've drawn now.

Yours of course will look different, but it might look a little bit like this in some of its elements.

You can see I've got my six squares all colored in in the right numbers according to the scores that we collected in our school grounds.

I've got a title on my map and I've got a key, so I can see very clearly that, for example, the school field, which is a pink color, it scored seven out of nine, but my school garden, which is the red, scored four out of nine.

So I can very easily read my map.

Double check your map to check that it's got all of the right information on it and that it's as neat and as accurate as possible.

Let's now summarize our learning.

A bar chart can help us to compare one of our solar panel survey locations with another.

We can use geolocated data on our map by using a representation of our scores, such as a grid of colored squares.

Well done for all of your efforts drawing your bar chart and your map.

Don't worry if you made some mistakes along the way.

Everybody does when they first start out trying to present data in new and interesting ways.

The key is to keep practicing.

So well done.

Keep going.

Next, we need to think about what does all of this information tell us about our solar panel locations.