Case Study Updates...

One of the challenges for GCSE teachers is to keep case studies up to date.

The ARAL SEA remains one of the most important examples of the consequences of a mis-management of a resource by humans.

This Al Jazeera English video is a good example of one source of additional information on this area, which is obviously continuing to develop and change over time. It's important to follow up case studies which might be featured in text books, particularly as the publication date gets further and further away from the present day....


Al Jazeera often focus on topics that are familiar to UK students, but sometimes approach them from a slightly different angle.

Of course whichever case studies you use, or specification you have selected, the Badger book provides a range of ideas for making the most of them.

A longer Al Jazeera programme, on the 'People of the Lake' is here, although there's a lot of subtitle reading to do... Would this be a video that you would use ?
If you were using it, how could it be made more 'accessible' for learners ?
Do we want to do all the work for the students ??

Another customer on Twitter...

Picture is of an idea by Sam Atkins of Priory School, Portsmouth, which I borrowed for Chapter 2, with a nice image by Richard Allaway to complete the diagram...

World Food Day - simple actions...

Chapter 3 of the Badger Book is about memorable teaching, and suggests that topics are often best taught to coincide with particular events or special days where the profile of that subject is higher, and there are more stories in the media to reinforce the relevance of the learning...
Today (October 16th) is World Food Day, so this would be a good event to tie in with teaching about food, agriculture, food aid and related topics from the GCSE specification....

For World Food Day

For example, a simple action for students to take in the lesson would be....

Watch this video and take the quiz - 3 simple questions to answer...
You can feed a child...

Do this with a group, using school e-mails and a group of children the same size will get a healthy meal.
Bear in mind that over 100 000 people in the UK have relied on Food Banks since April this year....

It's worth perhaps doing a quick 5-10 minute starter today...
Ask students to follow up three leads from the #worldfoodday feed on Twitter, and then 'feed'back to the class...

Badger book review in 'Teaching Geography'

Thanks to Emma Johns for her nice review of my Badger GCSE Grade Booster book in the latest issue of 'Teaching Geography'.

The book is available to purchase from the Badger store.

Sustainable Fishing Resources - for Edexcel 'B' Geography

Some resources which I wrote for the most excellent DIGITAL EXPLORER site have been posted on the site. They are looking really rather nice. 

Sustainable Fishing is the theme of the resource.

It goes along with the report that nef produced recently on sustainable fishing and fish dependence.
You can see the nef report here.

An enquiry-based scheme of work investigating the seas around the UK and EU. The lesson plans and activities cover why fish stocks are decreasing, the issues and impacts associated with overfishing, and marine ecosystems and sustainability.

The activities examine different stakeholder views and use current data from the UN FAO, MMO and the new economics foundation.

Particularly suited for use with the Edexcel B ‘Oceans on the Edge’ unit.

Includes the lesson booklet and all accompanying slideshows and activities.

You need to register to download the resources.

Thanks to the Digital Explorer team for their work on the resources...

Good for Edexcel B - Oceans on the Edge unit

GCSE key concepts: Interdependence

You can now download a special PDF 'version' of the Mission:Explore Food book that we've produced for the National Geographic Education team's materials for Geography Awareness Week.

It focuses on the theme of Interdependence.

Link (PDF download - 5Mb)

It's really rather tasty....