Lesson video

Hello there.

My name is Mr. Robertson, and I'm delighted to welcome you to this geography lesson.

Today's lesson is in our unit, Europe: What is it like to live in northern Italy?

And today we're going to be looking at a city in northern Italy, the beautiful city of Brescia.

So geographers, we're going to be backpacking through a city.

We need to make sure we've got on our geography rucksack.

We need to make sure we've got our eyes finely tuned to look for features and be ready to experience the amazing beauty of northern Italy.

Let's go, shall we?

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to use multiple sources of information to investigate what a city in northern Italy is like.

As always, geographers, we have some keywords to help us really understand this lesson.

I'm going to say the first words and then I'm gonna ask you to repeat them back.

Are you ready, geographers?

Our first word is investigate.

Fantastic.

Our second word is locality.

Amazing.

And our third words are digital mapping tools.

Brilliant, all of you.

So what do these words mean?

Well, to investigate something is to carefully study the facts and data to be able to find an answer or form a conclusion.

Locality is a particular location.

The features of each locality will differ.

And digital mapping tools allow us to zoom in on places to investigate features using online maps.

Pay attention, geographers, as these words come up throughout our lesson today.

So our lesson about a city in northern Italy has two parts.

For the first part of this lesson, we're going to look at using photographs to investigate a place.

Let's go, shall we?

So what are cities?

Where do you live?

Is there a city near to you, I wonder?

You might want to pause the video and say the word city.

Think what we mean by it.

Well, cities are large settlements, with often 10 or hundreds of thousands of people living there.

Some cities have millions of people living there.

And cities usually have many homes, lots of schools, shops, and hospitals, and cities often have train stations, bus service, and even airports.

I wonder whether the city nearest to you has any of those things as well.

And there are cities found in northern Italy as well, and we're going to be investigating one of them today.

The city that we are going to be looking at is called Brescia.

And Brescia is a small city in northern Italy.

On your screen, you can see a map of northern Italy, and can you see that purple circle?

That is where Brescia is found.

I wonder what you can learn from the map about its location.

You might want to pause the video and whisper to the person next to you.

Can you see any other cities nearby?

What do you think it might be like in that part of the world?

Some of you have noticed there's a city to the left of it called Milan.

That's quite a famous city.

Some of you may have heard of some of the football teams, such as AC or Inter Milan.

They play in the Champions League a lot.

That's a really big city in northern Italy.

Laura says, "Brescia is in the center of northern Italy, near the Dolomites.

It has good road links.

" Yes, Laura, you're right, aren't you?

Because when I look at that map, I can see some lines which are showing roads and some of them have letters and numbers in yellow, in a green box.

I can see it is in the center of northern Italy, isn't it?

And just to the north of it are some features which are the mountains, the Dolomites.

Excellent, Laura.

Did you spot some of those things too?

Let's just check our understanding so far, geographers.

I've got a multiple choice question for you.

When I've asked the questions, you might want to pause the video and think of your answer.

Which of the following describes a city?

And I want you to select two answers, please.

a, it may have an airport.

b, has facilities such as shops, schools, libraries, and medical centers.

c, has a population of a few hundred.

d, is smaller than a village.

Select two answers, geographers.

Good luck.

Wow, what did we think?

Yes, it's a, a city may have an airport, and b, lots of facilities such as shops, schools, libraries, and medical centers.

Brilliant if you got that right.

Now, you're going to be detectives, geography detectives, and investigate what this city is like.

I wonder what sources of information you could use to find out about this city.

Hmm.

How could we find out more about Brescia?

You might want to pause the video and talk to the person next to you.

What did you come up with?

Well, you could look at some maps.

We could search the internet for some images and information.

We could look at some climate data to find out what the climate might be like in Brescia.

We may have some information books about Italy, and we could see if Brescia's in there.

Or we could look at some photographs.

I wonder which sources you would use.

So we're going to focus on some photographs.

Now, photographs are really helpful because they give us lots of clues about what it might be like to live in a locality.

Photographs might help us work out some information about what the climate is like.

It might tell us what the physical landscape is like, whether there are trees or mountains.

It might tell us about land use.

What is the land?

Is there some for farming?

Is there some for shops?

What different types of buildings do we get in this city?

How do people travel around it?

And what sort of jobs do they do?

So we can get loads of really helpful geographical information by looking at photographs.

So let put on our geography investigation glasses.

Here is a photograph of Brescia.

Now, at the moment, all we know about Brescia is that it's in northern Italy.

But I think if you look really, really carefully at this photograph, you're going to be able to work out quite a lot more about it.

So I suggest you pause the video and you have a really careful look.

Look at the buildings, look right at the top of the picture to see what's in the distance.

What sort of information, what might we know about this city just from looking at the image?

Off you go, geographers.

Oh, wow.

I could hear loads of incredible geographical conversations going on there.

I wonder what you've said.

Here's some things which I spotted.

So right at the back I could see it looks very bright, so it makes me think that there's probably lots of good weather in Brescia.

Secondly, at the top of the photograph, I can see some blocks, apartment blocks.

And that might give me some clues that lots of people live there and people in Italy often live in apartment blocks.

I can see a road, and that's telling me there are gonna be lots of people traveling around.

And finally, I can see some trees and green areas as well.

I think I can also see a big church in the middle and lots of beautiful buildings, which might give me a clue that this is a very old city as well.

Let's just check our understanding again.

True or false?

Photographs can give us clues about what a locality is like.

Pause the video and have a think.

Excellent, geographers.

It's true, isn't it?

Now, let's think why it's true.

Is it true because a, photographers' photographs might give us clues about different things such as the climate, physical landscape, and land use or b, photographs tell us about the specific location of a place?

Think about what we were just doing.

Which one of those is most likely?

Excellent.

It's a, isn't it?

Because we've been using that photograph to look at clues about Brescia.

It can't tell us necessarily the specific location of a place.

A map is a much better tool for that.

Right then, geographers, I have a task for you.

We've got four different photographs of Brescia.

One of them is the one you've already had a chance to look at and think about, but we've also got one, two, and three with some different views of the city.

I'd like you to do three things for me.

First of all, describe what you can see, what materials might be there, what buildings can you see?

Can you speculate what those buildings are used for?

Next I'd like you to say, what do you think this city might be like if you were living there?

What kind of city would it be like?

What sort of facilities might it have?

And thirdly, do you have any further questions that come into your mind when you've looked at these photographs?

Please record those as well.

I'd like you to record all this incredible geographical information on a table.

So for each one you can write the photograph, a, and then write in the table what you can see, what you think the city might be like from that photograph, and any questions the art makes you ask.

And if you've got time, you might want to repeat that activity using other photographs of the city as well.

Good luck, geographers.

Really exciting to see you use your detective skills.

Look really carefully at those photographs, and I can't wait to see what you've come up with.

Wow, you've worked so hard.

Here's an example of a completed table for one of the photographs.

I chose photograph one, and I can see a fancy old building, and I can see a square with people talking and an outdoor cafe.

I think it's warm, as those people look like they're wearing summer clothes.

And my question is, do these people live here or are they tourists?

I wonder what you came up with.

Did you come up with some similar things or did you spot anything different?

And did you manage to do that for any of the other photographs as well?

Brilliant detective work, geographers.

Now, for the second part of this lesson, we're going to use digital maps to investigate a place.

Let's go.

So photographs are one source of information that we can use to investigate what a place is like, but using multiple sources or more than one source of information helps us to build up a better picture of what a place is like.

Photographs are fantastic, but if we also look at maps and climate data and information books, we can really understand what this place might be like.

Let's just check our understanding.

Name a source of information that could be used to investigate what a place is like.

Think about what we were just talking about.

Pauses the video.

Good luck.

Excellent, so you might have thought of looking at maps, information book, the internet, climate data, or photographs.

Brilliant if you managed to name some of those.

Now, digital mapping tools can also be used to investigate what a place is like.

Something like Google Earth can be used to zoom in from a globe view of Earth where it shows Earth with a view that appears like a three-dimensional globe model, to smaller-scale map views, satellite images or aerial images of a place.

It could be really amazing to start all the way back and zoom in closer and closer and closer.

And then we get more and more detail, which will help us learn more and more about what a place is like.

Google Earth uses satellite images and aerial photographs to show what localities are like.

And it's a really useful tool because the images are updated fairly regularly.

So for example, if a new building is built or some new roads are built, then over time the image will be updated and you'll be able to see that on the map.

It's possible to view features from different angles.

So for example, you can look at the street and you can see what a building might look like from the ground up, or you can look at it as an aerial photograph as a plan view.

You can zoom in to explore features in more depth.

So you can use Google Earth to zoom in and out of different areas of Brescia and investigate using Street View.

Let's just check our understanding about Google Earth.

Again, I'd like you to select two answers here, please.

Google Earth, a, gives a view that appears like a three-dimensional globe model of Earth, b, is a two-dimensional model, c, allows you to view features from different angles, d, only allows you to view angles from above.

Think about what we were just talking about and choose two answers, please.

Excellent.

It's a, isn't it?

You can get a view from Google Earth that appears like a three-dimensional globe model of Earth, and c, it allows you to look at features from different angles so you could really investigate them.

Fantastic if you got that right.

Okay, our final task today is to use Google Earth to help you find out about Brescia.

I'd like you to use Google Earth, and specifically Street View, to zoom in and out to get a better understanding of what Brescia is like and what there is to see.

And I'd like you to record that in a simple table.

So you may, for example, want to zoom over it, get a view of the whole city and then zoom in perhaps to the center, and then you might want to drop yourself into Street View and have a look around.

You can walk up some of the city streets, and don't forget to look at different angles so you can see what it's like.

As you do that, record some of the information.

What's it like?

What kind of material is it made from?

Is it steep?

Is it flat?

Does it look like it's hot there?

And now, what else is there to see and do there?

Can you find any shops?

Can you find any interesting museums or buildings that might be there to visit?

Are there any parks or open spaces?

I'd like you to record all that information in the table.

And then when you've done that, I'd like you to think about this question.

Would you like to live in Brescia?

So you might want to use the information you found using Street View and Google Earth.

You also might want to use any further information you found from other sources.

And I'd like you to give some reasons for your answer.

What is it about Brescia that you think, "Yeah, I'd really like to live there," or what might you think, "No, I like where I am, actually"?

Okay, geographers, time to do some investigation skills and then some reflection skills.

Really good luck, everyone.

Wow, you've done so much investigations, haven't you?

So what do you think that Brescia was like from looking at it on Google Earth?

You may have noticed that the streets are very narrow.

It's a very old city with some beautiful buildings, but it's also got modern buildings as well.

You may have noticed that on the east side of the city there's some steep hills, and you may have noticed other things as well.

So what could you see and do in Brescia?

Well, you may have found that there's a big railway station.

There's lots of main roads.

You may have seen there's an old castle to visit and there are lots of hotels and bed and breakfasts or tourists.

And there's also museums.

You may have found some other things as well.

Brilliant if you managed to find them.

And what about Brescia?

Would you like to live there?

I've got a model answer for you.

I said I would like to live in Brescia as the city center has lots of beautiful buildings and cafes to visit.

And the countryside and mountains look exciting to walk in.

There looks to be lots of jobs looking after the tourists.

I wonder what you thought.

Is that a place you think would be nice to live in, and why?

If you didn't want to, why not?

Brilliant work, geographers.

Fantastic investigation and thinking skills.

Let's summarize what we've learned today.

We've been thinking about a city in northern Italy.

We've learned that different sources of information can be used to investigate different localities.

We've learned that photographs allow us to investigate a locality by looking for clues in the photos.

We've learned that digital mapping tools could be used to investigate buildings and land use.

And finally, we've learned there may be many different reasons why someone would like to live in a locality.

I hope you've enjoyed investigating the city of Brescia today, and I hope you've enjoyed your geography investigations.

Look forward to seeing you in another lesson soon.

Thank you.