“The study of geography is about more than just memorizing places on a map. It’s about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exists across continents. And in the end, it’s about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together.”
– Barack Obama
In Geography you will study a wide range of Physical and Human topics that will enhance your understanding of the world that you live in. You will learn how geographical processes create distinctive human and physical landscapes and develop the skills needed to question, assess and analyse the impacts that humans have on these landscapes and impacts that these landscapes have on humans.
Key Skills
In Geography you will develop a wide range of skills that will enable you to think like a geographer. You will learn to describe and explain the formation of natural features found in rivers and along our coastline, as well as tectonic processes such as the causes of earthquakes. You will analyse the impacts of natural hazards on people in a range of global locations and evaluate the responses to specific events that have caused devastation to communities around the world. You will be encouraged to develop your skills in assessing the causes and effects of man-made environmental disasters and what the possible solutions to them could be.
KS3 Topics
At Key Stage 3 students are taught one major unit a term, each unit is broken down into key questions that will be assessed throughout the year.
Year 7
What is Geography and how do we read maps?
Weather
Population
Year 8
Ecosystems
Development and globalisation
Urban areas
Year 9
Earthquakes and Volcanoes
Industry
Rivers and Coasts
At KS4 the students follow the AQA GCSE Geography Syllabus which builds on the skills that have been developed at KS3. The course is divided into two main themes, Living with the physical world and Challenges of the human environment, each of which is divided into three sections and examined with two 1½hr papers. Fieldwork is carried out in York and assessed in a third exam of 1¼ hrs titled Geographical Applications
The breakdown of the course is:
Paper 1 Living with the physical environment
3 sections
Exam 1.5hrs
35% of total GCSE
Natural Hazards which includes the study of tectonic theory, case study of two earthquakes, formation and case study of tropical storms and causes, effects and mitigation of climate change.
Ecosystems which includes identifying characteristics of major world biomes and detailed study of tropical rainforests and hot deserts.
UK landscapes which includes an overview of UK highlands and rivers, coastal processes, landforms and the impact of coastal erosion and river processes and landforms and the management of flooding.
Paper 2 Challenges of the human environment
3 sections
Exam 1.5hrs
35% of total GCSE
Urban issues and challenges which includes the causes and effects of global urbanisation, in depth study of a Rio de Janiero and Leeds as well as the study of the characteristics of sustainable cities.
Changing economic world which includes how to measure development, describing and explaining the global development gap and strategies to reduce it, impacts of tourism on low income countries, case study of a TNC in an LIC or NEE and the changing UK economy.
Challenge of resource management which includes issues around the supply and demand of managing water, food and energy both globally and nationally.
Paper 3 Geographical applications
2 sections
Exam 1.5hrs
30% of total GCSE
Section 1
Issue evaluation this includes questions based around a pre released information booklet and a decision making question.
Section 2
Fieldwork this includes questions based on the student’s fieldwork and unseen field work.
Exam board
KS4 study AQA GCSE Geography (8035). You can see the course specification here.
All students are given a York High School revision booklet that covers all the topics and case studies that we study.
Exam papers and other revision materials such as mind maps can be found on the L drive here L:FOUNDATIONGEOGRAPHYYear 11 Revision materials
Students have the option to purchase a revision guide for £2.50.
Useful websites for revision:
The Student Room is a forum where students can ask questions and access revision materials
You tube is an excellent resource for Geographical videos that can support learning, here are some links to useful videos for each topic.
Paper 1
Section A
Section B
Section C
Paper 2
Section A
Section B