What this lesson teaches
I can explain how a community and the nature areas near it depend on and change each other.
Syllabus K335, Topic 1.1, Key Question 1. What is the relationship between people and nature in their neighbourhoods?
Make a guess
In 1854 John Snow found that cholera deaths in Soho clustered around one water pump on Broad Street. Did that cluster on its own prove the water caused cholera?
- No. A map cannot show anything about disease.
- Yes. Deaths that close to one pump settle the cause.
- No. He needed evidence about who drank from it.
Show the answer
No. He needed evidence about who drank from it.
A cluster shows an association, not a cause. Snow added evidence about who drank the pump water before he argued that cholera spread through water.
A named place with a date or figure, linked to your point, turns a general answer into a developed one.
This lesson collects the 4 named examples from the lessons in this chapter, so you can revise them in one place. Each one is also a recall card below, so you can save the whole set and review it before an exam.
Sense of place: Old National Library, Stamford Road; Bukit Brown Cemetery.
Regions, patterns and associations: John Snow's cholera map, London, 1854.
Neighbourhood scales and connections: Toa Payoh, Singapore.
To use a case, name the place or organisation, give its date or a figure, then say what it shows about the question. One developed case earns more than a list of names.
- Old National Library, Stamford Road
- Many Singaporeans were upset when the building closed in 2004 and was demolished in 2005, because it held memories of study and meeting friends.
- Bukit Brown Cemetery
- Plans in 2011 to build a road through the cemetery led to public debate, because many people valued its history and nature.
- John Snow's cholera map, London, 1854
- Snow mapped cholera deaths in Soho and found they clustered around one water pump on Broad Street. He used this association, with other evidence about who drank the water, to argue that cholera spread through water. A cluster alone did not prove the cause.
- Toa Payoh, Singapore
- Toa Payoh's town centre has an MRT station, a bus interchange and a public library that serve the whole town. Each neighbourhood also has smaller shops, playgrounds and void decks close to homes, so services are nested by how often people use them.
Step by step
Name it
The place, event or organisation.
Prove it
A date, number or specific fact.
Link it
Say what it shows about the question.
Worked example: From a name to a developed point
Weak: "There are real examples, such as Old National Library, Stamford Road." Strong: "Many Singaporeans were upset when the building closed in 2004 and was demolished in 2005, because it held memories of study and meeting friends." The strong version gives the place and the evidence, so it can earn a development mark.
Watch out for this
Naming a famous example is enough to earn the mark.
Examiners credit a developed case: a place, a date or figure, and a clear link to the question.
Check your understanding
Which is the strongest way to use a named example in an answer?
- Describe the example in general terms, without a place or figure.
- Give the place, a date or figure, and its link.
- List several example names, with no details.
Show the answer
Give the place, a date or figure, and its link.
Yes. A located, evidenced and linked case is what earns development marks.