Exam Skill: Describing Distribution

Most Geography exams will have at least one question that goes something like this, "Describe the distribution of...." It could be a biome such as rainforest or tundra, it could be world population, it could be earthquakes or volcanoes.  These questions will be accompanied by a map.  Something like this....

From AQA Unit 1 (H) paper, May 2015

And a question like this...

From AQA Unit 1 (H) paper, May 2015

But what is this actually asking you to do?  Something that trips up a lot of students on questions like this is that they don't actually know what distribution means.  It was something highlighted in the Examiners Report for this particular exam...

For the full report on this exam go to http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/subjects/AQA-90301H-WRE-JUN15.PDF 

So distribution is about how something (in this case, temperate deciduous forest) is spread out.  It's about looking for patterns in location rather than listing or stating different locations they can be found.  Let's look at the mark scheme for this particular question...

From AQA Unit 1 (H) paper, May 2015

So instead of describing the location of the forests you need to describe how these forests are spread out over the world.  This can be confusing for many students as you obviously need to describe location to some extent, but it goes further than that.  Here's the examiner comments for this particular question...

For the full report on this exam go to http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/subjects/AQA-90301H-WRE-JUN15.PDF 

So don't just say "they can be found in Europe, USA, Southeast Asia, New Zealand and East Australia".

Do describe patterns in their location.  "The vast majority of temperate deciduous forests can be found in the Northern Hemisphere, North of the Tropic of Cancer.  The biggest expanse being in Western Europe reaching into Russia and West Asia.  A smaller cluster can be found South of the Tropic of Capricorn on the East coast of Australia and all over New Zealand.  These forests do not occur within the tropics...."

It's not an easy skill for a lot of a students so it's worth practising key words and skills that help describe distribution.

• Confidence using North, South, East and West
• Naming important lines of latitude (Equator and Tropics, but point out these are often marked on their maps!)
• Continents (though again, they're often labelled on the maps)
• Main oceans
• Even, uneven, sparse, dense, clustered

I hope this is helpful for teachers, students and parents.  Please leave a comment if this was useful, or if there's anything else you'd like to know!

Good luck!

Lose yourself with GeoGuessr

I love GeoGuessr!

It's more than just a game, it's a chance to explore the world.  You could find yourself in a bustling city, on a deserted road or, as I once found myself, underwater!  The challenge is to work out where in the world you are using your powers of observation, keen wit, general knowledge and a dash of common sense.  All skills that make a good Geographer!

How does it work?

Go to the GeoGuessr website https://www.geoguessr.com/ and choose a game.  The original game is there on the first page and a 'single player' game is the best way to get started.  You can create an account (which keeps track of scores and allows to challenge friends) or play as a guest.  

You then get dropped into a Google StreetView image in a random location anywhere on Earth.  You can move around, look around and explore to work out where you are but without usual helpful StreetView features such as road names!

You then place a pin on a map to show where you think you are and get awarded points based on how far away you were from your location.

The obsession begins

The usual way of finding out where you are is to stroll or drive (whatever your imagination decides!) until you come across a road sign and you can work from there.  Fortunately it's not always that straightforward.  Us Geographers like a challenge.  In previous games I have played I have worked out my location by:

• reading road signs 
• looking up the address of a museum I was outside
• recognising a famous castle I could see in the distance
• Using Google Translate to decipher graffiti on the side of a bus stop!

Sometimes no matter how hard you search there is nothing that obviously gives away your location, so you kind of just have to pick a country and hope for the best.  Try to make an educated guess though.  You can get climate clues by looking at vegetation, location clues by looking at the geology or country clues by looking at architecture and wealth.

Taking it further

You can now limit GeoGuessr by city or country using official maps.  This is useful if you are interested in, teaching or studying a particular place.  Or you can play challenges based on 'pro maps' created by users, such as 'European football stadiums', or 'places with volcanoes'.  

The possibilities are as endless as the Earth.