Welcome to the Geography Department at York High School!

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Geography Subject staff

Mr M Pattinson (subject leader): m.pattinson@yorkhigh.southbank.academy

Mrs C Stephens-Davies

Mrs E Callan

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KS3 Overview

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.

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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 formation 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.

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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?

What is a continent?

What is Europe?

What is the UK?

How do we read maps?

Weather

What is the difference between weather and climate?

How do we measure weather?

What is a microclimate?

What weather is extreme weather?

Why do people migrate?

Population

What is a census?

How does population grow?

What are sparse and dense population?

 

Year 8

Ecosystems

What is an ecosystem?

Where are the world’s major ecosystems and why?

What are tropical rainforests like?

What are the threats to tropical rainforests?

What are deserts like?

What is desertification?

Development and globalisation

What is development and why do we measure it?

How does war affect development?

What is Fairtrade?

What is globalisation?

Is globalisation good?

Industry

What are the different types of industry?

What are TNCs?

Is Apple good?

What is tourism?

 

Year 9

Rivers and Coasts

What are the features and processes in rivers?

Why do rivers flood?

What are the features and processes along the coast?

How is erosion causing problems along the coast?

Urban areas

What are rural and urban areas?

Why do settlements have different shapes?

What are the challenges faced by people in urban areas?

How do we map crime?

Earthquakes and Volcanoes

What is a natural hazard?

What is plate tectonic theory?

What is an earthquake?

How can the impact of earthquakes be reduced?

Why do volcanoes erupt?

Can volcanic eruptions be predicted?

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KS4 Overview

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 1.25hrs

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.

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Exam board links

KS4 study AQA GCSE Geography (8035)

https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/geography/gcse/geography-8035

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Revision materials

All students are given a York High School revision booklet that covers all the topics and case studies that we study.

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Exam papers and other revision materials such as mind maps can be found on the L drive here L:\FOUNDATION\GEOGRAPHY\Year 11 Revision materials

Students have the option to purchase a revision guide for £2.50

Useful websites for revision:

BBC bite size https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zkw76sg

The student room is a forum where students can ask questions and access revision materials https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/

PiXL App has a range of revision materials that may support revision. https://geographyapp.pixl.org.uk/Geography%20App2.html

YouTube 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

What is a natural hazard? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3AbzfFm7IM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n73qtEojP_Y

What is plate tectonic theory? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA2-Vc4PIOY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg_UBLFUpYQ

What are primary and secondary effects of earthquakes? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FowixCmKNKs

What is atmospheric circulation? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZVMUOqzP50

What is a tropical storm and how does it form? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qn6jdK5loE

How might climate change affect tropical storms? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsSxopt_Kn8

Primary and secondary effects of tropical storms

Typhoon Haiyan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jao74uKz2M

How can monitoring, prediction, protection and planning reduce the effects of tropical storms? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bOrkn3eYSI

Is the UK climate more extreme? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwjogWGGtpY

The “Beast from the East” an example of extreme UK weather https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIKLdDWFKnA

What is climate change? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aynyO_rXN4Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wI8ADF1ruQ

Section B

Relationships in a small UK ecosystem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbNoS_e_8m0

Distribution of Biomes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_RhR694LLw

What are tropical rainforests and how have plants and animals adapted to the rainforest? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCEvEwx_pdg

What is nutrient cycling? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPos3oOWFMQ

What are the causes and impact of deforestation? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lO2sKYtwmw

How can tropical rainforests be sustainably managed? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwbNCAcRCSI

What are hot deserts like? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMDjE-i3PbY 

Opportunities and challenges in the Sahara https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7XrabWYHSg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u6amqRikX0

Causes and solutions to desertification https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meYBvs73aXY

Section C

Overview of major upland and lowland areas of the UK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmU0ybfCrDg

Coastal processes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDm8Ve3-KAo

Formation of erosional coastal landforms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX5yeQLg1OY

Formation of depositional coastal landforms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI8fO_B20tA

Hard and soft engineering strategies at the coast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjnvkArg_60

Erosion along the Holderness coast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWEJq03NBao

Long and cross profile of rivers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGTplOSkhfc

River processes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gyIRVgptBM

Landforms in the upper course of a river  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbGWcXxa7rc

Landforms in the lower and middle course of the river https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KviqtG2LyGY

The river Tees from source to mouth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlwgwSvb6Rg

Human and physical causes of flooding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB1OWj2a1a8

Hard and soft engineering strategies in rivers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghFNNlIgqrE

Paper 2

Section A

What is urbanisation? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKnAJCSGSdk

What is rural to urban migration? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXmOJ-fYMyc

What is a mega city? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqKe7ygkkzs

What is Rio like? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X_evEIh2hw&t=5s

What are the challenges in Rio? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3BRTlHFpBU

What are the opportunities in Rio? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ciJfVkNN_k

General Rio revision https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVNmqhOWCRE

What is a sustainable city? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4sumpEqnlY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etDMYX_mSm0

Section B

Different ways of classifying development https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSjWc5pJrBg

How can development be measured? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXT33rN5Lf0

What is the demographic transition model? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9xrwtqhTmw

What causes uneven development? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysPP4la2KF0

How is wealth different around the world? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWSxzjyMNpU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hE9rgzFGF0

How can the development gap be reduced? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZAhq2RWrio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhJ8XJ9Fwjg

What is India like?

Economic futures of the UK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYKTX-qQc-4

How is the UK economy changing? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yEsngz9YzE

How is modern industry more sustainable than heavy industry? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzCPp3vLDTk

Is there a north south divide in the UK? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOpNd-khY1E

What is HS2? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ao3nEJ376o

Why build a new runway at Heathrow? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0TXsabfoF4

What is London Port? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bc7glMK5Cs

The UK in the wider world https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itH1m8lxLdc

Section C

Is there global inequality in the supply and consumption of resources? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlD_iMaidL0

How do we provide food in the UK? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuL2PhKdjsw

What are the issues around water supply in the UK? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM2j5g9KbIo

What are the issues around energy supply in the UK? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpRgAr5f3NE