Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← Geography
GeographyMaps, GIS and data skills25 min★★★ difficulty

Interpreting geographical data

Numbers and graphs only become geography once you ask what pattern they show and why it might be happening.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Geographical skills and fieldwork: Interpret and analyse a range of quantitative and qualitative data, including statistical data on trends and relationships between geographical phenomena

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Interpret and analyse a range of quantitative and qualitative data, including statistical data on trends and relationships between geographical phenomena

Key learning points

  • • Quantitative data
  • • Qualitative data
  • • Spotting relationships
  • • Being careful with data

This lesson at a glance

  • 25 minutes
  • 15 parts to scroll through
  • 3 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

interpretquantitativequalitativestatisticaltrends

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 15 · Discover7%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 15

Watch first

Interpreting geographical data

An English teaching video on this topic from Spatial Zone. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Interpret and analyse a range of quantitative and qualitative data, including statistical data on trends and relationships between geographical phenomena

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 15

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Quantitative data

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 15

Learn

Quantitative data

Quantitative data is numerical, such as rainfall totals, population figures or river discharge readings, and can be shown in bar charts, line graphs or scatter graphs to reveal trends over time or between places.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 15

Learn

Qualitative data

Qualitative data captures opinions or descriptions, such as interview responses about how residents feel about flood risk, or field sketches, adding depth that numbers alone cannot provide.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 15

Quick check

Which type of data captures numerical measurements like rainfall totals?

6

Quick check

Part 6 of 15

Quick check

What might reveal a relationship between two numerical variables?

7

Reset break

Part 7 of 15

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 15

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Spotting relationships

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 15

Learn

Spotting relationships

A scatter graph might show that as distance from a city centre increases, land use shifts from shops to housing, revealing a relationship geographers can then try to explain, for example using land value theory.

10

Explore the idea

Part 10 of 15

Learn

Being careful with data

Correlation is not the same as causation: two variables can rise together, like ice cream sales and drowning incidents, without one causing the other — both may instead be linked to a third factor, such as hot weather.

11

Quick check

Part 11 of 15

Quick check

What is the key difference between correlation and causation?

12

Challenge round

Part 12 of 15

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

13

Challenge round

Part 13 of 15

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

____ data is numerical, such as rainfall totals, population figures or river discharge readings, and can be shown in bar charts, line graphs or scatter graphs to reveal trends over time or between places.

____ data captures opinions or descriptions, such as interview responses about how residents feel about flood risk, or field sketches, adding depth that numbers alone cannot provide.

14

Mastery quiz

Part 14 of 15

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Interpreting geographical data

3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Which type of data captures numerical measurements like rainfall totals?

  2. 2. What might reveal a relationship between two numerical variables?

  3. 3. What is the key difference between correlation and causation?

15

Lesson round-up

Part 15 of 15

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Flooding on the River Calder

The town of Harbrook sits where a steep valley opens onto a flat floodplain. In December 2015, 120 mm of rain fell in 36 hours onto ground that was already saturated. The river rose 2.4 m in five hours, and 380 homes and 54 businesses flooded. Two roads and the railway closed for eleven days.

Geographers pointed to physical causes — steep slopes, impermeable rock, heavy rainfall — and human causes: moorland drained upstream, new housing built on the floodplain, and drains designed for smaller storms.

Since then the town has planted 40 hectares of woodland upstream, built leaky dams in small streams, and raised flood walls to 1.8 m. In the storm of 2020 the peak river level was 0.3 m lower and 40 homes flooded, not 380.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. List two physical and two human causes of the 2015 flood.
  2. Explain how planting woodland upstream lowers the river's peak level.
  3. Using the figures, judge how successful the scheme has been. Quote data in your answer.

  • Case study notes

    Writing

    Write the place, the facts and the figures from this lesson so you can revise them later.

    Half a page

  • Explain answer

    Writing

    Answer in full sentences, giving causes and effects. Use one figure or place name as evidence.

    8–10 sentences

  • Map or sketch

    Diagram

    Draw the map, cross-section or field sketch with a key, title and labels, then photograph it.

    1 map with a key

  • Data work

    Working out

    Plot your figures as a graph on paper and write one sentence about the pattern.

    1 graph + 1 sentence

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 15 · Watch & discover

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    Interpret and analyse a range of quantitative and qualitative data, including statistical data on trends and relationships between geographical phenomena

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