OCR A Level Geography: Changing spaces; making places: Place Perception

An engaging, fully resourced OCR A Level Geography lesson for Changing Spaces; Making Places, focusing on the enquiry question “How do we understand place?” Students investigate why people can experience and perceive the same place differently, exploring the influence of age, gender, sexuality, role, lived experience, familiarity and identity on place perception and sense of place. The lesson moves beyond simple theory through retrieval practice, characteristic-or-perception checks, contrasting-person scenarios, causal chains and opportunities to challenge assumptions and stereotypes. Students then apply their understanding independently to the unfamiliar Riverside regeneration scenario, developing important AO2 skills by distinguishing evidence from inference and explaining how different people may attach contrasting meanings to the same environment. The lesson concludes with judgement tasks, an OCR-style 6-mark Exam Lab, model response, structured improvement and exit retrieval. An accompanying editable student worksheet provides dedicated space for the main activities, AO2 application and exam practice, making this a polished, ready-to-teach lesson suitable for the OCR A Level Geography Changing Spaces; Making Places unit.