Geography is the study of the world you live in, so you already know a lot of it. You know the way from home to school, which path turns to mud when it rains, where the nearest borehole is and which month the rains usually come. In this subject you will learn to look at those everyday things like a geographer: asking where something is, what it is like, why it is there, and how people and places affect each other.
Geography is a looking-and-doing subject. Every lesson has a "Try this" box that sends you outside: drawing a sketch map of your compound, finding north with the rising sun, counting boda bodas at the trading centre, keeping a weather diary. Please do them. Ten minutes of real fieldwork near your home will teach you more than an hour of reading. Keep a Geography notebook for your sketches, new words, tallies and graphs, and always draw in pencil first so you can correct mistakes.
Some parts, like scale, grid references and working out time from longitude, are a little like Mathematics. Go slowly, follow the worked examples step by step, and check your answers with the ones given. Study a little every day: one lesson of about 15 to 20 minutes, then the quick checks (answer honestly before you look at the reasons). Finish each topic with the Activity of Integration, where you use everything you learnt to help a real person in a real Ugandan situation. Be curious, ask older people what they know about your area, and enjoy discovering how much Geography is around you.
- 💧 A glass of water before you start
- 📵 Phone on silent, one subject at a time
- ⏱️ About 25 minutes, then a 5-minute break
- ✍️ Keep an exercise book for the “Try this” tasks
Term 1 6 topics
1Introduction to GeographyWhat Geography is, the meaning of environment, natural and built features, why Geography matters in daily life, and how we can care for our environment.
- What is Geography?15 min
- Our environment: natural and built features15 min
- Why study Geography? Caring for our environment15 min
- AOIActivity of Integration · auto-marked
2Showing the Local Area on a MapWhat a map is, how a map differs from a photograph, drawing a sketch map with symbols and a key, finding directions with the compass and the sun, and following routes in the local area.
- What is a map?15 min
- Drawing a sketch map with symbols and a key20 min
- Finding directions on a map15 min
- Following routes and reading the local area from a map15 min
- AOIActivity of Integration · auto-marked
3Maps and their UsesMap scale (statement, R.F. and linear), measuring distance and area, compass bearings, four- and six-figure grid references, latitude and longitude, and the different types of maps and their uses.
- What is scale?15 min
- Using scale to measure distance and area20 min
- Compass bearings15 min
- Grid references: finding places on a map20 min
- Latitude and longitude20 min
- Types of maps and their uses15 min
- AOIActivity of Integration · auto-marked
4Ways of Studying Geography: Fieldwork, Photographs, Statistics, Charts and GraphsWays of finding out about places, planning and carrying out fieldwork, presenting statistics in tables and graphs, reading ground, oblique and vertical photographs, sketching from photographs and writing a field report.
- How do geographers find out about places?15 min
- Fieldwork techniques: collecting information20 min
- Presenting statistics: tables, graphs and charts20 min
- Using photographs in Geography20 min
- Sketching from photographs and writing up fieldwork15 min
- AOIActivity of Integration · auto-marked
5The Earth and its MovementsThe shape of the Earth, rotation and day and night, revolution and the seasons, the sun's rays and the heat zones, latitude lines, longitude and time, and how these movements affect the way people live.
- The Earth spins: day and night15 min
- The Earth travels round the sun: revolution and seasons20 min
- The sun's rays, special lines and heat zones15 min
- Longitude and time20 min
- How the Earth's movements affect our lives15 min
- AOIActivity of Integration · auto-marked
6Weather and ClimateThe difference between weather and climate, the elements of weather and the instruments that measure them, the Stevenson screen, clouds and types of rainfall, recording weather on diaries, maps and climate graphs, and how weather affects our lives.
- Weather and climate15 min
- Measuring the weather: instruments and the weather station20 min
- Clouds and types of rainfall20 min
- Recording weather: diaries, maps and climate graphs20 min
- How weather and climate affect our lives15 min
- AOIActivity of Integration · auto-marked