The Humanities – Geography
Level 6 Geography Annotated Student Work Sample: My Neighbourhood
Context
This sample was derived from a two part activity in which students investigated their local
neighbourhood.
In the first part of the activity, students worked in small groups and used a web-based mapping tool to
explore their neighbourhood. They specifically looked at main streets as well as familiar landmarks in the
surrounding areas such as homes, schools, parks and shops. Learning from prior local excursions were
also used to assist with their interpretations. Students had a prior understanding of scale through a series
of Mathematics lessons.
The time allocated to this part of the task was 40 minutes.
In the second part of the activity, students drafted sketch maps of their neighbourhood on graph paper,
incorporating familiar landmarks and complying with mapping conventions. Students were then asked to
complete a questionnaire that asked them to describe distance, direction and location of three landmarks
on their map from the school.
The time allocated to this part of the task was 80 minutes.
The work sample below relates to this second part of the activity – drawing a sketch map and completing
a questionnaire.
The elements of the Geospatial skills standard addressed by this task are:
Students use atlases, street directories and town plan maps to accurately describe the distance,
direction and location of places.
They identify features from maps, satellite images and oblique photographs.
They draw sketch maps of their neighbourhood using simple mapping conventions such as title,
scale, north point and legend.
Sample
The following samples illustrate the kinds of responses that students typically produce when they have
achieved the elements of the standard addressed by the task.
©VCAA May 2013
The Humanities – Geography
Annotation
A. Uses title, scale, north point and legend to draw a sketch map of the neighbourhood.
Landmarks are identified in the legend.
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The Humanities – Geography
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The Humanities – Geography
Annotation
A. Uses geographical language of distance and direction in describing how to get to the
landmarks from the school.
B. Uses direction and references on sketch map to accurately describe the location of the
chosen landmarks
C. Demonstrates an understanding of distance in relation to scale
D. Interprets map to calculate shortest distance.
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