Geography pupils are given opportunities to investigate places and themes across a range of scales from local to global. The studies focus on geographical questions, e.g. 'What/where is it?', 'What is it like?', 'How did it get like this?', 'How and why is it changing?, 'What are the implications?'. Studies involve fieldwork and classroom activities, the development of skills, and the development of knowledge and understanding about places and themes. They explain geographical patterns, and physical and human processes. Pupils consider the issues that arise from peoples' interaction with their environments and become aware of the global context within which places are set.

Pupils use globes and atlases to locate places, draw and use maps and diagrams, and interpret photographs and satellite images. They use IT to gain access to additional information, and to assist in the collection, handling and interpretation of data, e.g. the automatic weather station, CD-ROMS, the Internet and word processing packages. Both developed countries, e.g. the UK, Italy and Japan, and less developed countries like Peru and the Ivory Coast are examined.

Geographical themes studied include earthquakes and volcanoes, rivers and coastal features, weather and climate, various ecosystems, e.g. tropical rainforests, population issues, settlement, economic activity, differences in the development of countries, energy supply, and environment issues.