Academic | Geography

What is Geography?

Geography is about people and places. The study of Geography allows us to explore different parts of the world, experience different environments and discover different cultures and different ways of life. It helps us understand how people adapt to living in different parts of the world and the effect people have on their environment.

We are all concerned with issues that affect our lives. It may be something local such as the building of a new road by-pass, the redevelopment of town centre shopping or even something as simple as “What is the weather like today?” It may be something on a regional scale, such as how the building of a new motorway will affect the region in which we live. Current national scale issues include the proposed changes in the European Union and how they will affect us in the United Kingdom. Global issues such as famine in Africa and global warming also affect the way in which we live our lives. The world around us is constantly changing – the study of Geography helps us to understand and explain these changes.

Geography can be split into three sections:

  • Physical Geography is concerned with the ‘natural environment’, for example, weather and climate, the processes that shape the land (such as weathering, the work of rivers, ice and sea), different vegetation patterns, and earthquakes and volcanoes.
  • Human Geography studies people and the activities they are engaged in, for example, population, towns and cities, industry, transport and shopping patterns.
  • Environmental Geography is concerned with the impact that human activities are having on the natural environment. The most common topics under this section include pollution and conservation.

It is important to realise that each of the three different sections are linked together. A change in one section can set of a chain reaction which can affect many other areas.

Questions which geographers should be encouraged to ask include: What and where is it? What is it like? How did it get like this? How and why is it changing? How will the changes affect the people living there, the landscape and the environment?

Aims of Geography Department at Aysgarth.

  • To instil in the pupils a knowledge of the physical world around them and the human interactions with it.
  • To encourage them to be inquisitive and open-minded about these interactions.
  • To give the children the skills required to understand them.
  • To encourage an enjoyment of the subject from which a real interest and concern will develop.
  • To equip the boys with the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding to cope confidently with whichever examination they are aiming for at the end of their Aysgarth career.

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