Mapping Everyday Geographies Paula Owens Hirwaun Primary School

Words from MYWALKS Its about voicing our own opinions on our neighbourhoods… Its about exploring what you hear and/or notice yourself hearing as you walk through your local environment… Its about running your fingers along a wall, picking leaves off a hedge, walking barefoot in the summer… Its about the smells that take us back to very specific places and times in our past…

MYWALKS Its about… What flicks our switches? What turns us on? What tickles us? What makes us look? What makes us listen? What makes us touch? What disgusts us? What makes us sigh? What frustrates or irritates? What intrigues us? What makes us ask 'how' or why'?

What makes us smile? What makes us feel warm inside? What makes us slow down? What makes us forget where we're going, or where we came from? What makes us take the long way round? What makes us make a beeline? What stops us in our tracks? What makes us LOOK again ? What makes us think? What do we LOVE? What do we HATE?

Theres water down there (checks sand around gingerly) Oh its not too bad! I found a worm! Theres sharks in there! And snakes and worms! Is it a crab? I found a crab! I think it was pinching someone and someone stomped on it. I think this crab has lost his body! From Primary Geographer Autumn 2008

Can you see the unexpected in the everyday? How can you record your responses geographically?

Task: using the range of maps provided, walk around the short route suggested or choose one of your own. Work in small groups and capture your own impressions of the walk. You may wish to use one or more of the suggested techniques and prompts to help structure your walk or you can develop your own. Journey strings: tie souvenirs and finds from your walk onto the string in sequential order – use these prompts to recall and map. Emotional mapping: focus on feelings along the way, either choosing the range of responses before hand or freely responding in different places. Activity mapping: what are people doing? Sound and textures: rubbings and / or recording sounds along the way Environmental Quality: focus on the quality of the environment – what criteria will you use? What will your focus be?

Emotional mapping? Texture mapping? Special spots? Sketching? Digital recording? Activity mapping? Environmental quality? Sound mapping? Using journey strings?

How will you record your impressions along the way? Sketches, drawings, rubbings? Digital images, audio or video? Words? Symbols? Artefacts? Over to you!

When you get back, make a map of your journey You have: Large sheets of paper, A range of pens, stickers, glue, post its and crayons Internet connection to upload digital media and use digital mapping REMEMBER – THIS IS REAL WORLD MESSY MAPPING!

- postcode search OS map view Choose one of the following maps – printed off and laminated - to help you

- postcode search aerial view

- map view

map view add emoticons, routes, comments

Some outcomes Mapping Sounds and Signs We used different colour post -its to map human and natural sounds – as you can see we found very little of the latter!

Activity Mapping – what are people doing here? We didnt want to follow the suggested route but went instead to St Pancras Station and mapped everyday activities using a floor plan provided to give us some idea of outlines and direction.

Food for thought – going global in your local! We were amazed by the range and diversity of the eating outlets on offer and the links to the global dimension. Our journey string was used to collect food related items along the way.

We called our map Looking up and taking this viewpoint we found lots of exciting views and noticed things we wouldnt have normally paid attention to. Looking Up!

Maps and Geography Maps provide geographical information to help appreciate … where somewhere is planning or seeing a route what an area is like distributions and patterns on the land sense of scale and size a sense of place comparison with other places Simon Catling How much of this did our activity cover? – Quite a lot!

The Elements of the map Perspective: the view from above [using plan shapes, aerial/spatial layout] Symbols: how features are shown [using pictorial and symbolic, and a key] Location: where features are [using relative locations and grid systems] Direction: which way [using relative directions and compass directions] Scale: distance and size [using proximity, relative distances and sizes, and metric measurements] Purpose: what is to be shown [using a title] Selection: what is to be included [exploring decisions about content] Simon Catling What elements did our messy maps have? Quite a lot!

Mapping our Globe - Links & Further Reading Primary Geography Handbook Extension Project - Maps and Stories (4-7, 6 – 9, 8 – 11) This presentation will also be available to download from our professional networking site for the Geography Champions network Developing maps and affective mapping More Ideas