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Category: Geography

DISCOVER SOME OF EUROPE’S GEOGRAPHY ROAD SCHOOLING HIGHLIGHTS…..

Roadschooling our children each week has allowed us to seek out new travel/education or adventure opportunities across Europe. So if you’re considering planning your own road trip or just adding something educational to an extended family holiday, we hope it gives offers ideas for educational family fun across Europe.

  • Education
  • Geography
  • History

SO WHY DO WE BELIEVE IT IS IMPORTANT?

Geography is a fairly unique subject as it looks at both the physical structure of the planet and the social structure (i.e. how we affect our environment and how it affects us) . Across the past, present and future. Geography has been called the 'Mother of all Sciences' but we feel it best explains our whole trip.... it advocates the need to encourage exploration in order to discover new places/people!

The study of geography is more than just memorising places on a maps. Its about understanding the complexity of our world -President Barack Obama 

WHAT ARE WE HOPING TO ACHIEVE?

​In addition to knowing about our planet and its people, we want our girls to learn to think critically, research, and communicate their thoughts through writing and other means of communication independently. Geography offers all of these opportunities to them
  • CLICK HERE - Online series of downloadable lessons
  • CLICK HERE or CLICK HERE - For those of you on twitter, look who to follow for tips, resources and views
  • CLICK HERE - Links to National Curriculum teaching resources / schemes of work
  • CLICK HERE - For those that love a good app, here's some geography based apps for you to look at for inspiration
  • CLICK HERE - Useful 5mins challenges website, can be easy way to break up topics
  • CLICK HERE - Great school based collection of primary aged Geography resources
  • CLICK HERE - Good multimedia site from BBC Geography
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TOPIC ​COVERED
ACTIVITY ​(click for blog)
LEARNING ​FOCUS
LOCATION
ENVIRONMENTALGEOGRAPHY
  • View sustainable energy methods and compare / contrast with those seen across Europe this year (i.e HEP Power in Norway)
Various
URBAN GEOGRAPHY
  • Understanding urban development including transport links, location, CBD model and its impressive food markets
Valenica, Spain
HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY
  • Exploring the reasons behind why a location was chosen for one of France's most important citadels
Leucate,  France
TRANSPORT
  • Riding a section of the Canal du Midi to understand how transport links differ now and in the past
Canal du Midi, France
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
  • Visit the observatory at the top of the cable car in the Pyrenees,   looking the physical geography from 3,000m
Pic du Midi, Spain
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
  • Taking the opportunity to see wave cut platforms in the sand... to compare with those in Northumberland and Cornwall
Torre del Sol, Spain
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
  • Visiting Caves across Europe, contrasting the physical differences at Gibraltar (St Michaels), Slovenia (Postojna) and Spain (Nerja)
Gibraltar, Slovenia, Spain
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
  • Exploring one of the more unique landscapes across Europe, a town covered in sand near Seville. Understanding what may have caused this unusual situation to occur
El Rocio, Spain
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
  • Taking the opportunity to explore areas with Igneous Rocks (GlenCoe), Sedimentary (East Anglia) or Metamorphic (Etna)
Scotland, UK, Sicily
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
  • Using the trip to Lulworth Cove / Sandbanks. Explore why caves, stacks, stumps and arches form.
Lulworth, UK
PHYSICAL / HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
  • Describing the difference between the calderas of  Solfatara, Vesuvius & Mt Etna (this comparison included an overnight stay in a volcano!)
  • Understanding how it has led to lasting impacts on its local people
Naples, Italy ​Sicily
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
  • Using the personal accounts of being inside a Sirocco, discover the effects of trade winds on places in Europe
Bahira, Sicily
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
  • Walk around the underground caves and understand both the erosion, Karst landscape formation and how stalactites and stalicmites form
Postojna Caves, Slovenia
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
Glacial Formation - Stubai Glacier ​- Fjords Norway
  • Understanding the reasons behind the formation of a glacier and how it forms U shaped valleys (as opposed to V Shaped valleys) - compare/contrast Austria with Fjords of Norway
Stubai, Austria ​Flam, Norway
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
  • Using the river rafting down the Cetina (Croatia), understand the 3 stages of the river and its landforms enroute over the 15km journey
Cetina, Croatia
HUMAN/ PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
Primary Industry - Mining History
Deutsche Museum Munich, Germany
HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
Secondary Industries -Manufacturing
  • Taking tours of both Truma and Adria factories, understand how manufacturing industry operates
  • Discover other industries that may locate nearby
Slovenia, Germany
HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
  • Cycle alongside the Roman aqueduct that connects the old/new towns.
  • Discuss how it could have been built, and by whom
  • Discover the difference between aqueducts and viaducts
Segovia, Spain
HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
Settlement Factors - Ancient Roman City (Ruins)
  • Walk around the ruined town/port discovering the uses of the buildings and why they are laid out as they are
  • Using  the information around the site, describe the key features of a roman settlement
Ostia Antica, Italy
ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY
  • Consider how such an important part of the countries heritage has been protected.
  • Compare with places seen such as Dartmoor, Cairngorms, Sierra Nevada
Krka, Croatia
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
  • Visit the fjords around Flam with 7 different methods of transport including guided Safari Fjord tour
  • Understand the formation and subsequent preservation of these natural wonders (Flam & Geirangerfjord)
  • Whilst kayaking across Eidfjord, compare the rock formations that differ from other fjords
Flam & Geirangerfjord,  Eidfjord, Norway
POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY
  • Walk around the buildings in Strasbourg, undertaking a tour of the EU buildings. P{using question, why did they chose Strasbourg?
  • Evaluate how the geography of Europe has changed and how the EU operates across such a wide area of responsibilities
Strasbourg, France
HUMAN/ PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
  • Travelling through the Sierra Nevada to the villages at 2,500m in the Las Alpujarras
  • Understand the challenges this must present to its people
Andalusia, Spain
HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
  • Following the route of the Pueblos Blancos, understand why these settlements have grown up across stunning Andalusia
Ronda, Spain
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
  • Comparing the spectacular  Voringfossen with others across Norway (7 sisters, Tvindefossen) and understand how each waterfall is formed (+ its unique landforms that it creates)
Eidfjord, Norway
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
  • Visit the DenBlaa Aquarium and compare the variety of ecosystems (oceans, rainforests etc)
  • Understand how this affects the wildlife that exist there.
Copenhagen, Denmark
HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
  • Learn about the history of the EU and the individual member countries
  • Understand by seeing models (& exhibition) the variety of urban landscapes across Europe
  • Compare these with places seen and describe difference
Brussels, Belgium
PHYSICAL / ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY
  • Understanding how Sustainable Tourism on the salt marshes of Ile de Re can be made into a family activity / adventure
  • ​Develop a better understanding of the ecosystem behind a salt marsh and experiment with the plants, vegetation within it.
  • Compare / Contrast this with the Poitevin Marsh near Coulon ​- how does a fresh / salt water ecosystem differ?
Ile de Re, France

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