LAUNCH · Week 8 of 8

OS Map Skills: Unfamiliar Problem

Humanities · Migration & the Making of Modern Teesside

Progress SoW · Humanities Aut 1 · 2026–27 · LAUNCH · Week 8

Enquiry: How can map evidence solve an unfamiliar problem?

Success looks like

I can apply OS map skills to an unfamiliar problem
I can combine grid references, scale and symbols accurately
I can justify a route or site choice with map evidence

Aspire · GCSE reach: defend your choice against a rival route using map evidence alone.

Teacher Print Tools — Week 8

Arrival Task

Arrival Task – What Do You Already Know?

1. Assessed (Last week)

One word for how it went.

Any honest word.

2. Maps (Recall)

Index + grid reference find…?

Any place.

3. Symbols (Recall)

Never guess a symbol — check the…?

Key.

4. Scale (Recall)

Large scale shows…?

Detail — town/street level.

1. Retrieval (Last week)

Quote a degree word you used.

Substantially / partly / barely…

2. Grid (Apply)

Four-figure vs six-figure grid reference — the gain?

Six-figure locates within ~100 m.

3. Relief (Recall)

Contour lines close together mean…?

Steep ground.

4. Unfamiliar (Think)

Why practise on maps you've never seen?

Transfer — the skill must survive novelty.

1. Retrieval (Last week)

The clock rule under assessment?

A landed verdict beats one more example.

2. Evidence (Think)

What makes map evidence admissible in an argument?

Cited features + measured claims — grid refs and scale.

3. Problem (Think)

'Site a new relief road' — what map layers decide it?

Relief, existing routes, settlements, land use, drainage.

4. Bridge (Recall)

Which GCSE paper does OS work bridge to?

Geography fieldwork/skills papers — and history's map sources.

Starter

Starter: A Map You've Never Met

Key Question: An OS extract you've never seen. A problem nobody solved for you: 'Where should the new cycle route run?' Everything is on the sheet — if you can read it. Last week of term: prove the skills travel.

🗺️

The Extract

1:25 000, somewhere in the North East

Deliberately unfamiliar

❓

The Problem

Route the cycleway: safe, flat, connected

No worked example

📐

The Toolkit

Grid refs · scale · contours · key

Everything you own

🎓

The Point

Skills that survive novelty are yours

Transfer test

Pairs: 60 seconds with the extract — name ONE feature by grid reference before any planning starts.

I Do

I Do: Interrogating an Unfamiliar Extract

Key Idea: Unfamiliar maps yield to method: orient, key-check, grid the essentials, read relief — THEN touch the problem.

👀 Look: contours are not decoration. Read the relief first, and the route argues itself.

📖 First-Contact Method

Orient — North, scale, the settlement pattern's shape.

Grid the essentials — Six-figure the problem's fixed points.

Relief read — Contours before commitments — the land votes first.

🧠 Watch me think

Watch first contact, no shortcuts: north confirmed; 1:25 000 so 4 cm = 1 km; settlements string the valley floor. Cycle route endpoints gridded: 645 210 to 668 224. Now relief: contours crowd the direct line — a 90-metre climb. The pretty straight route just lost to the valley path. The land voted; I listened; NOW I plan.

We Do

We Do: Which Toolkit Skill Answers It?

How to play: Tap a question about the extract, then the skill that answers it. Score: 0/8

Step 1: Tap an item · Step 2: Tap its group

'Fix the route's two endpoints precisely'

'How long is the valley option in km?'

'Which line avoids the 90 m climb?'

'Is that a bridleway or a footpath?'

'Is the school within 2 km of the route?'

'Where does the land flatten by the river?'

'What does the blue dashed line mean?'

'Report the level crossing's exact position'

🔢 GRID REFERENCE

📏 SCALE & DISTANCE

⛰️ CONTOURS/RELIEF

🗝️ KEY & SYMBOLS

I Do

I Do: Map Evidence in an Argued Answer

Key Idea: The route recommendation is an essay in miniature: a thesis, map-cited proofs, a counter-route steel-manned, a verdict. It is LAUNCH's whole term on one sheet.

📖 The Miniature Essay

Thesis — 'The valley route serves best.'

Map-cited proofs — Grid refs, measured distances, contour counts.

Counter-route + verdict — The direct line's best case — beaten on the evidence.

🧠 Watch me think

Full circle, watch: 'The valley route (645 210 → via 652 216 → 668 224) runs 4.2 km on ground never exceeding a 10 m climb, passing the school at 655 218. The direct line saves 1.1 km — its best case — but buys a 90-metre ascent crossing the A-road unbridged at 660 219. On safety and gradient, the valley route wins.' Thesis, cited proofs, counter turned, verdict landed. That's the term, in coordinates.

We Do

We Do: Match the Route Factor → The Evidence That Decides It

How to play: Tap a card, then tap its correct partner. Score: 0/6

⛰️ Gradient

🚸 Safety

📏 Distance

🔗 Connections

💧 Ground

🚲 Rights of way

Marsh & drainage symbols by the river

Contour count along each line

School, station, estates gridded en route

Bridleway vs footpath in the key

Road crossings & their symbols

Scale-measured kilometres

Independent Work

Independent Work — Show What You Know

Instructions: Work at your level on the printed sheet. Move up a level when you are ready — this is your call to make.

Supported

Task: Toolkit circuit: four station cards (grid, scale, relief, key) on the unfamiliar extract — one measured answer each.

Steps: Station by station · answer with the evidence type named · circuit card stamped complete.

Standard

Task: The route recommendation: thesis, three map-cited proofs, counter-route acknowledged, verdict — one page.

Steps: First-contact method run · both routes assessed · citations as grid refs + measurements · verdict in degree words.

Stretch

Task: Recommendation plus the constraints memo: two problems your route still faces (from map evidence) and the survey data you'd commission.

Steps: Full recommendation · constraints gridded and evidenced · commissioned data named with its job · one line on what maps alone can't settle.

Lundy Loop

Lundy Loop — Your Voice in This Enquiry

Why: Article 12 — your view on this history counts, and it changes what we do next week.

🚪 SPACE

Floor maps, table extracts, corridor route-wall — the room is a map room this week; occupy it as planners.

📣 VOICE

Term testimony: two minutes each — the tool you'll keep, the moment it clicked; recorded for the anthology.

👥 AUDIENCE

Route recommendations post to the corridor wall with tracing overlays — the school walks past your evidence.

⭐ INFLUENCE

The binding one: your term review (keep/change/add, one line each) goes into the SoW meeting for next year's LAUNCH. Last year's cohort put THIS map week here.

Exit Ticket

Instructions: Answer independently. No notes.

1.

Six-figure grid references locate within about…?

100 metres.

2.

Contours close together mean…?

Steep ground.

3.

Which route won, and on what factor?

Own answer — factor named.

1.

Quote one map-cited proof from your recommendation.

Own answer with grid ref/measurement.

2.

What was the counter-route's best case?

Own answer — usually distance.

3.

Why practise on unfamiliar extracts?

Transfer — skills must survive novelty.

1.

What can the map alone not settle about your route?

E.g. traffic counts, land ownership, ground truth — surveyed data.

2.

How was today's answer 'the term in miniature'?

Thesis, cited proofs, counter, verdict — the spine on a map sheet.

3.

Your one-line SoW verdict: keep, change, add.

Own testimony — it genuinely goes to the review.

Knowledge Organiser (LAUNCH W8): OS Map Skills: Unfamiliar Problem

Humanities Aut 1 · 2026–27 · Enquiry: How can map evidence solve an unfamiliar problem?

Key Word	Definition
Six-figure reference	Locates within ~100 m
Scale measurement	Map distance → real distance
Contour reading	Relief — the land's vote
First-contact method	Orient · key · grid · relief, then plan
Map-cited proof	Grid refs + measurements as evidence
Transfer	Skills that survive unfamiliar ground

Key Facts

1:25 000 means 4 cm to the kilometre — the walker's and planner's scale.
The land votes first: contours before commitments.
A route recommendation is an essay with coordinates.
Your term review shapes next year's LAUNCH — the influence is real and annual.

Arrival Task

1) One word for how it went.

2) Index + grid reference find…?

3) Never guess a symbol — check the…?

4) Large scale shows…?

1) Quote a degree word you used.

2) Four-figure vs six-figure grid reference — the gain?

3) Contour lines close together mean…?

4) Why practise on maps you've never seen?

1) The clock rule under assessment?

2) What makes map evidence admissible in an argument?

3) 'Site a new relief road' — what map layers decide it?

4) Which GCSE paper does OS work bridge to?

Starter: A Map You've Never Met

We Do 1: Which Toolkit Skill Answers It?

Groups: 🔢 GRID REFERENCE, 📏 SCALE & DISTANCE, ⛰️ CONTOURS/RELIEF, 🗝️ KEY & SYMBOLS. Sort: 'Fix the route's two endpoints precisely', 'How long is the valley option in km?', 'Which line avoids the 90 m climb?', 'Is that a bridleway or a footpath?', 'Is the school within 2 km of the route?', 'Where does the land flatten by the river?', 'What does the blue dashed line mean?', 'Report the level crossing's exact position'

We Do 2: Match the Route Factor → The Evidence That Decides It

Draw lines to match:

⛰️ Gradient · 🚸 Safety · 📏 Distance · 🔗 Connections · 💧 Ground · 🚲 Rights of way

Marsh & drainage symbols by the river · Contour count along each line · School, station, estates gridded en route · Bridleway vs footpath in the key · Road crossings & their symbols · Scale-measured kilometres

Scaffolding – Supported

Word Bank

grid reference, scale, contour, key, route, because

Frames

"At ___ ___ there is…" | "The route measures…" | "The contours show…"

Scaffolding – Standard

Recommendation Structure

Thesis: the route named. Proofs ×3: grid ref/measure each. Counter-route: its best case. Verdict: factor + degree words.

Scaffolding – Stretch

Constraints memo frames

"The route still faces ___ at ___ (evidence: ___)" | "I would commission ___ to establish ___" | "The map cannot settle ___ because ___"

📘 Reference Zone — keep this beside your work

Contours before commitments. The land votes first.

First-contact method — before you touch the problem

Step	What you do
1. Orient	North confirmed. Scale read. The settlement pattern’s shape noted.
2. Key-check	Read the key for anything unfamiliar before you need it.
3. Grid the essentials	Six-figure the problem’s fixed points and write them down.
4. Read relief	Contours. Crowded lines mean climb. The land votes here.

Scale — 1:25 000

4 cm on the map = 1 km on the ground. Measure with the edge of a page, mark it, then lay it on the scale bar.

The recommendation is an essay in miniature

Thesis — the route named. Proofs ×3 — a grid reference or a measurement on every one. Counter-route — its best case, stated fairly. Verdict — the deciding factor, in degree words.

Cite like this: “the valley route (645 210 → 652 216 → 668 224) runs 4.2 km on ground never exceeding a 10 m climb”. A claim with no grid reference is not map evidence.

Independent Work – Supported

Toolkit Circuit Card

GRID station — my six-figure ref: ______

SCALE station — my measured distance: ______

RELIEF station — steepest ground found at: ______

KEY station — symbol decoded: ______

Independent Work – Standard

The Route Recommendation

1) Thesis (route + endpoints gridded):

2) Proof 1 / 2 / 3 (cited):

3) Counter-route's best case:

4) Verdict:

Independent Work – Stretch

Recommendation + Constraints Memo

1) Recommendation (attach Standard sheet if used).

2) Constraint 1 (gridded + evidenced):

3) Constraint 2 (gridded + evidenced):

4) Commissioned data + its job:

5) What maps alone can't settle:

Exit Ticket – Supported

1) Six-figure grid references locate within about…?

2) Contours close together mean…?

3) Which route won, and on what factor?

Lundy Loop — this lesson

Space → Voice → Audience → Influence. The adult’s first job is Space: regulate before you educate.

Space	Floor maps, table extracts, corridor route-wall — the room is a map room this week; occupy it as planners.
Voice	Term testimony: two minutes each — the tool you'll keep, the moment it clicked; recorded for the anthology.
Audience	Route recommendations post to the corridor wall with tracing overlays — the school walks past your evidence.
Influence	The binding one: your term review (keep/change/add, one line each) goes into the SoW meeting for next year's LAUNCH. Last year's cohort put THIS map week here.

Closing the loop: this one ends on paper — your own hand, or your words scribed by an adult. Saying it aloud starts the loop; writing it is what closes it. Pass is always allowed.

What I said, and what it changed: