Geography and numeracy

   Bright idea

Investigating trade
Access websites such as Global Exchange or Labour behind the label, or bookmark certain web pages for more able readers. Prepare information for children on the costs involved in producing, for example, trainers, footballs, coffee or bananas (eg workers' hours, wages, working conditions, cost of living, price product is sold for). Children can work out, for example, how much of the profit made goes back to the people who produce the goods. They can then make comparisons with goods which are sold under the Fairtrade banner (eg using the Fairtrade Foundation or Dubble) and make the case for and against buying fairly traded goods.

   Bright idea

Using sporting events
Ask each child, or small groups of children, to find out about one of the countries entering a team in a current world sporting event. They can use reference books and/or websites such as the CIA World Fact Book. Display the information on a large world map as well as collating it in a table under the headings: size, population, GDP. This table can be used to:

• find out whether area is related to population
• rank the countries in order of size of population (we might assume that a larger population offers selectors more choice and so will produce a better team)
• rank the countries in order of wealth (we might assume that a rich country will have better facilities, more money available for training, etc)
• on the basis of these two lists, predict who will win and where (approximately) their team will finish.

The children can then follow the progress of their country's team and see whether its final position fulfils their prediction. They can also suggest whether there are other factors that could be taken into account (eg the climate of the host country could suit some teams more than others).

More developed ideas

Geography plus