Geography

Head of Department: Miss Alford

Content:

People and the Natural Environment

• The Restless Earth
• Water on the Land
• The Coastal Zone

People and the Human Environment

• Changing Urban Environment
• The Development Gap
• Tourism

Local Fieldwork Investigation

Coursework of approximately 2000 words based on a fieldwork investigation.

Activities:

• Students will work through these topics and build an organised file/book of homeworks/classwork and case studies.
• Students will undertake fieldwork visits. Past locations have included Devizes, Lulworth and the Netherlands. We are hoping to run a field visit to Italy in 2012.
• Students are required to interpret OS maps, interrogate websites and geography textbooks, develop descriptive, analytical and imaginative writing, give balanced argument and express a personal opinion, undertake graph work, sketches, record data, study photographs and make observations.
• Activities will be undertaken individually or in small groups.

Skills:

Students will develop essential skills such as problem solving, decision making, synthesising ideas, identifying issues and communicating findings through the undertaking of a fieldwork investigation individually and as part of a team.

Students must be well organised, work hard and be thorough in their approach over the 2 years. All tasks must be completed to meet the set deadlines. Students must be willing to learn. The course has strong links with other subjects, including ICT and maths and areas of the curriculum such as science which focus on sustainability and the global dimension.

Homework activities:

Tasks will be set to compliment and extend work done in class such as reading, note taking, exam questions, research or practising skills. Either one or two homeworks are set each week. Typically a student should be spending 1.5 hours on homework/personal study each week.

Assessed coursework:

The current focus for the local fieldwork investigation is a river study. The data collection is started in March/April of Year 10 and the write up completed by the October half term in Year 11.

Examination details:

• Local Fieldwork Investigation 25% of the full GCSE.
• Physical Geography Paper 37.5% of the full GCSE taken at the end of Year 10.
• Human Geography Paper 37.5% of the full GCSE taken at the end of year 11.
• Entry at Higher or Foundation tier at GCSE.

Examination Entry requirements:

• To complete the Local Fieldwork Investigation
• Have a set of notes for every topic

Revision advice:

• Class time is scheduled for revision and exam techniques
• Attend school revision sessions
• Make use of past papers
• Case study knowledge is crucial
• Follow events in the news.

Parental contribution:

Support homework regime. Visit locations linked to the course where possible. Encouragement/monitoring of extended tasks to ensure deadlines are met. Discuss events in the news.

Useful resources and equipment:

• Access to daily newspapers / TV and internet to keep up to date with current affairs
• Watch Geography programmes/read geographical magazines
• Watch the BBC News.

Other relevant information:

During the first term, students will be given the opportunity to purchase a revision guide through school.