Met Office animation: the passage of a depression

A Met Office resource. 

Check out their other resources on Climate Change weather and adaptation.

AQA Pre-release 2022

I was told yesterday that the AQA GCSE pre-release material for the 2022 summer exam season was based in / or mentioned Ely, so I asked for a copy and discovered that it was based on an application by Amey to add an incinerator to their existing waste management park near Waterbeach / Denny Abbey to the south of Ely, along the A10.

The scheme was controversial, although the benefits were clearly stated by the company. A protest group was set up, and commissioned a report on the impact of the proposal, which included mention of the chimney which would be taller than Ely Cathedral and spoil the view towards it from Madingley (a place of geographical significance).

Interestingly, for a pre-release where students usually have to weigh up whether a planned development should go ahead, the decision has already been made in that the scheme was .... spoiler alert.... turned down in 2020.

I tried to add some local contexts - newspaper articles, campaign group reports, local landscape character analysis reports etc. into the mix and shared to the community - AQA is the most popular GCSE specification choice so there will be lots of teachers looking to prepare something on this, and we are all working at our limits at the moment with hybrid learning for many still due to students recovering at home from COVID.

Anthony Bennett has added a copy of the document to his page of pre-release materials. This is available to subscribers and non-subscribers of Internet Geography.

An editable version is below or on this link...

Feel free to download a copy and add your own ideas to the document - there have already been some deletions from the document which is a little disappointing, but I have been able to recover to previous versions.

Images: Alan Parkinson and shared under CC license

Chalk one up

An interesting long read in 'The Guardian' on chalk: a rock which makes up a large part of the UK's bedrock stretching all the way from East Anglia and the famous striped cliffs at Hunstanton all the way down to the south coast, and the famous Old Harry Rocks of the Foreland. 

It is one of the rocks that gets taught at KS3 very often because of its association with particular stretches of coastline, landforms, and as a rock type which is affected by solution. At GCSE it can lead to distinctive landscapes, although limestone and granite are more often selected.

If I was to dig down below the village where I live, I would reach chalk, as I would for most of Norfolk.

BGS Map Viewer for my village.

To find out what lies below your feet, visit the British Geological Survey mapping site, or download the MySoil app.

GCSE Changes and the GA Conference

Plenty of useful content for those teaching GCSE Geography to be gained at the GA Conference 2014
Materials from many of the sessions will be added to the GA Conference page in the weeks to come...
Here are some delegates looking at a really useful book for GCSE Fieldwork...

GCSEs are changing... are you ready ?

Published today by the DfE - new guidance on Subject Content for GCSE Geography.
Click here for PDF download.

Some interesting clarification on content, use of GIS, nature of FIELDWORK etc.

This includes the loss of Controlled Assessment as fieldwork is assessed 'through examination only'

There is mention of GIS to be used for certain tasks, and also guidance on the use of statistical techniques.
Some interesting physical and human geography also emerging.
I quite like the focus on urban challenges, something I've written about before...

Download the document and have a look yourself...

It's what you'll be teaching in a few year's time...

Remember that you can get ahead of your planning by checking out the BADGER BOOK

GCSE Geography request...

I'm interested in the support strategies for GCSE Geography that seem to work the best for you.

I've also set this post up to show the potential for using GOOGLE FORMS for collecting data. This can be used for data collection for KS3 and GCSE/'A' level projects. It features in a new book on 'Fieldwork through Enquiry', which I wrote for the Geographical Association, and will be published later this year.

If you have a GMail account, you will already have a Google Drive available to you, which you can claim by visiting the site.
There is a HELP PAGE here.

If you had a minute or so to fill in the few questions that I've added below that would be much appreciated. As any entries are made, they will appear on a spreadsheet, and can then be analysed. There are also some immediate visualisation options....
Thanks in advance...

OSIRIS CPD for GCSE Geography

I have another new strand in my activities starting this year.

I have previously led hundreds of CPD events all over the country for the GA, and beyond the UK for digitalearth, but I will be doing some events for OSIRIS for the first time.

OSIRIS offer a range of courses for different subjects.

I will be leading two different courses, which will be put on several times at several different locations.

The first is a course called 'All Pupils pass GCSE Geography' 
This will be held twice during March, in London and Birmingham.
Details of this course can be read HERE.

This will draw on some of the ideas from the book that I wrote for Badger, and which you can read about in the book's accompanying blog HERE.

The second is a course on the 'Future of Secondary Geography', which will look at all the coming changes and equip you with strategies and resources to prepare for, and implement the coming changes at KS3 and 'A' level, and the introduction of the EBC....
This is a new course, which will be put on in London, Birmingham and Manchester in July - dates are still to be confirmed. It will draw on a new book that was published by Routledge in December 2012, and which I contributed a chapter too. Details can be read HERE.
I shall let you know when details are added to the website - we are finalising the details of the course, which will involve all new exciting  materials.

Both courses are, at heart, opportunities to get together and learn from the practice of others, as well as take time out of the daily stream of demands to plot a steady course through some of the changes ahead, and prepare students effectively for formal assessments.

Head over to the OSIRIS website to find out more about their courses in a range of subject areas.

I look forward to perhaps seeing some of you at these courses.

GCSE Results Day

Congratulations to all those who received GCSE results yesterday, particularly GCSE Geography and to the teachers who supported students as they worked towards their grades.
There has been a lot of press and other coverage of exams today, as was to be expected. There has been plenty of talk of political interference, changed grade boundaries and goalposts being moved...

If you want to support the next year's cohort of students as they work towards their GCSE Geography, this is a gentle reminder of the Badger GCSE book which will help you support students to get the best possible grades. I can't guarantee there won't be some external alterations of grade boundaries in the meantime, but at least you can be satisfied that you did all that was possible to prepare students.

Of course, we are still waiting for some of the final awarding body specifications to be accredited by OFQUAL, which a week before the start of the new academic year is a crazy situation....

New GA CPD courses 2012-13

You've bought the book (I hope) - now meet the author....

The latest GA courses for the new academic year have now been published and are on the Geographical Association WEBSITE.

The courses in red are the ones I am leading. Look forward to seeing some of you there...

You can download further information and a course flyer from the links. Feel free to use these with colleagues.

Leading urban fieldwork

For primary teachers and geography subject leaders

London - Tuesday 16 October 2012
Manchester - Monday 22 October 2012

Further information and online booking
Download course flyer

Price: From £150

Primary geography for the non-specialist

For non-specialist primary teachers, including those who may be taking on the subject responsibility within their school

Birmingham - Wednesday 17 October 2012
London - Wednesday 7 November 2012

Further information and online booking
Download course flyer

Price: From £150

Leading a successful geography department

For current and aspiring secondary geography subject leaders

Birmingham - Thursday 18 October 2012
London - Friday 19 October 2012

Further information and online booking
Download course flyer

Price: From £160

Google Earth and beyond: free online GIS

For secondary geography teachers

Leeds - Thursday 18 October 2012
London - Thursday 25 October 2012

Further information and online booking
Download course flyer

Price: From £160

Planning for Ofsted with the Quality Mark Self Evaluation Form

For secondary and post-16 geography teachers and subject leaders

London - Tuesday 23 October 2012
Birmingham - Friday 30 November 2012

Further information and online booking
Download course flyer

Price: From £160

NQT Conference: Making a difference in the classroom

For secondary geography NQTs

York - Thursday 8 November 2012
London - Thursday 15 November 2012

Further information and online booking
Download course flyer

Price: From £160

Outstanding teaching and learning in primary geography

For primary teachers and subject co-ordinators

Manchester - Monday 28 January 2013
York - Monday 4 March 2013
London - Friday 15 March 2013

Further information and online booking
Download course flyer

Price: From £150

Managing safe and effective fieldwork for IGCSE geography

For secondary geography teachers involved in delivering the new IGCSE

Leeds - Monday 4 February 2013
London - Tuesday 5 February 2013

Further information and online booking
Download course flyer

Price: From £160

Being Ofsted ready with the PGQM

For primary geography subject leaders, middle leaders and head teachers

London - Tuesday 5 March 2013
Nottingham - Monday 11 March 2013

Further information and online booking
Download course flyer

Price: From £150

Fieldwork and new technologies

For post-16 geography teachers

Birmingham - Thursday 7 March 2013
London - Thursday 14 March 2013

Further information and online booking
Download course flyer 

Price: From £160

Leading through primary geography

For primary teachers and geography subject leaders

Birmingham - Friday 3 May 2013
London - Wednesday 15 May 2013

Further information and online booking
Download course flyer

Price: From £150

The final push...

Students around the country are preparing for the final days and weeks of the Summer 2012 exam season.
Make sure that you have prepared as carefully as possible.
The Badger book provides various strategies for revision.

Best of luck to everyone sitting exams this week.

GCSE Geography Revision Questionnaire: 4 of 4

We are at the final of 4 posts which summarise some of the responses from the 94 students and teachers who answered my questionnaire earlier in the year...

This final question asked about Smartphones and whether they were used for revision and teaching and if so, which apps or features were used....

One teacher provided these specific recommendations:

Geography GCSE Revision App (£1.49)

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/geography-gcse-revision/id340221590?mt=8

GCSE Geography Bitesize Last-minute Learner (£1.49)

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/gcse-geography-bitesize-last/id410791814?mt=8

GCSE Geography Bitesize Podcasts

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/audio/geography/

Think Geography GCSE Geog Podcasts

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/think-geography-gcse-geog/id374013012

About a quarter of the respondents didn't own a smartphone, and one teacher said nicely "I am a technical dinosaur and my phone is a brick".

There were 15 people who owned a smartphone but hadn't as yet made use of many apps in their teaching, but that they would investigate further.

Some apps that were mentioned by name:

• iPlayer (for iPad)
• Flipbook
• The Guardian
• Bitesize App
• USGS Earhquake App
• AQA App
• Twitter
• National Geographic Atlas

One colleague had turned powerpoint slides into JPEGs so that they could be viewed on the phones.

Several teachers pointed out that many students had Blackberries because of the messaging, and wondered about the apps that might be available for these... any ideas ?

Google Docs are an area that could be more used.

James Mutton has just created one with the hope of creating a collaborative resource for Edexcel B

Check it out if you'd like to be involved...

Thanks to the teachers and students who took the time to fill in the document.

I shall be creating another document with some questions on the new curriculum later in the year to help guide another product. As before there'll be a prize on offer for all who take part...

GCSE Geography Revision Questionnaire: 2 of 4

Second of 4 posts summarising the 94 responses I had to my GCSE Geography revision questionnaire that I had on a Google Form earlier in the year....


The second part of the questionnaire asked teachers and students to assess the value of various common methods of revision.


I asked students to rate them on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 was never used / not useful and 5 was always used / really useful


Here are the average scores for each of the methods....


Copying out Notes: 2.4
Summarising Notes: 3.7
Flash Cards: 3.4
Revision Sessions at School: 4
BBC Bitesize: 3.2
Practising past paper: 4.3


The next question produced some very lengthy responses from some respondees, some of which are repeated below.
I hope that these might be useful for some last minute revision as we move into exam season after the May Day Bank Holiday....


How else do you revise / help students revise other than what has already been mentioned ?


I don't have room to go through them all here, but will be using some of them for future posts for purchasers of the Badger GCSE Book....


One teacher provided a 7 point programme for revision, which sounds quite useful:

Usual exam practice in class with students goes like this... 

(1) Deconstruct question by examining command words. 

(2) Identify content that needs to be addressed in the answer

(3) Generate a writing frame

(4) Have a go at writing an answer

(5) Peer assess work

(6) Compare with a model answer 

(7) Identify individual points for improvement.

Here's another sample of the respondees ideas that I particularly liked... a quick ten to kick us off...

1. Pass the parcel exam question answer formation

2. I use a lot of spider diagram / mind maps over a single sheet of A3 per section - colour them, use images etc

3. Blog with daily 20 minute activities in the run up to the exam

4. Dart board games - checkout requires students to hit the correct words in order.

5. Rely on good classroom teaching!

6. We have an integrated system of GCSE revision which we are gradually building. I have written 3 revision guides - one for each unit - specifically tailored to the course and the case studies we use - they are quite chunky but they become active workbooks during the revision lessons

7. Dealing with dyslexics - we make audio recordings for them to listen to on their MP3

8. Tarsia puzzles

9. Ridiculous actions to remember things 

10.  Visual prompts around school (this idea features in the Badger book with some examples....)

Next post - which topics are the 'hardest to revise' ??

GCSE Geography Revision Questionnaire: 1 of 4

Earlier in the year, as part of the preparation for the publication of the new Badger GCSE Grade Booster book (have I mentioned that  ?) I put a GCSE Revision Questionnaire online as a Google Form.

The Badger book has a section on using Google Docs to help revision by the way.

In this and the next three posts, I shall go through the results that came in.

Thanks to the 94 people who answered the questions...
There were 64 teachers and 30 students (thanks to Liz Smith's class who answered the questions in particular)

Specifications being taught (teacher responses only)

AQA A: 17 - the most popular

AQA B: 7

Edexcel A: 5

Edexcel B: 10

OCR A: 3

OCR B: 12 - the 2nd most popular

WJEC A: 5

WJEC B: 3

CCEA: 1

iGCSE: 1

Websites used to help with revision

BBC will be pleased to hear that BBC Bitesize got 65 mentions, the most of any other website by a long way.

S-Cool: 21

Nings: 8

You Tube: 2

Geography all the Way: 5

Anthony Bennett's seminal Internet Geography: 5

Cool Geography: 6

GeoBytesGCSE (Rob Chambers): 1

SAM Learning - mentioned by some of the students but not the teachers - probably relates to a school subscription

Funky Geography: Liz Smith’s blog

BBC Class Clips: 3

Staffordshire Learning Net and Forum: 5

Terry Jones also shared some Revision Flashcards on SLN: http://learningnet.co.uk/geoforum/index.php?topic=7122.0

Well done to Henry Scott for starting his own revision blog too....

Letts Revise: 1

Geography Lost: 1

School's own VLE: 7

Abbeyfield Humanities Blog got 2 mentions - nice work by Mr. Drake

Blythe Bridge School website - which apparently has "good revision sheets": 1

Share Geography: 1 

Geography Clinic: 1

Worldlywise Wiki from Chesterton Community College: 2

GeographyPods.com: 1

Revision World: 2

Revision Centre: 2

Geographyfieldwork.com: 1

NGFL: 1

Kerboodle: 1

Radical Geography: 1

NGFL Wales: 1

BBC News: 2

Edmodo: 1

TES: 3

In the next 3 posts: 

- how best to revise - techniques and tips from colleagues

- which topics are hardest to revise ?

- how can smartphones and apps help revision ?

And of course you know what to do if stuck for ideas....

Geography GCSE Booster now available to pre-order

Badger Learning is now live.

Badger Publishing's new site.
You can visit the site to see my new book. It brought together some of the ideas I'd been working on for a while, along with a few more that were kindly  lent to me by colleagues (who are all acknowledged in the book, and will also be listed here once I have my hands on a physical copy of the book....)

The book will be useful to those who are preparing students for external assessments, but I would say that a lot of the ideas are transferrable - they are basically good geography....

The book is now available to pre-order (it will be out in April)

GCSE Grade Boosters: Geography Contents

• Introduction – what does a C grade geographer look like, and how can students raise their grade to a C and beyond.
• Memorable geography – a range of geography activities which can be re-versioned for other topics or particular pupils; includes thinking graphs, lucky lines, maps from memory, and ideas funnel to name just a few.
• Students as experts – establishing students as experts and joint creators of resources.
• Enquiries – how to introduce, explore and communicate the Big Geographical Questions.
• Controlled assessment – how to approach controlled assessment, complete with examples to illustrate the support that can be provided.
• Revision techniques – graphic organisers, memory techniques and the power of blogging.
• Help from the examiners – exam specs and question types – where and how marks are gained and lost.
• Memorable vocabulary – key vocabulary for exam success plus techniques for learning it.
• Exciting new tools – word clouds, triptico, google docs and google earth.
• Geography after the exam – why a good grade in geography can take you places.

Author: Alan Parkinson an experienced and award-winning teacher with an international reputation for creative and innovative teaching. He has worked with thousands of teachers at hundreds of CPD events in the UK and Europe. This title draws extensively from the experience of successful schools around the country.
Featuring:

• A wide range of activities to make the topics covered memorable. Activities can be used for class, group, pair and homework tasks. They can be versioned by you for other topics or particular pupils
• Support for exam preparation including a distillation of examiners reports to pinpoint common errors and show
• how easily marks are lost and gained, as well as revision and memory techniques that have been shown to work
• Help with controlled assessment and how to approach it to get the best results
• The key vocabulary for exam success plus techniques for learning it
• 80 page photocopiable book with re-versionable activities on accompanying CD-ROM. 

A perfect gift for Easter.... :)

Using Google Forms

One of the sections in the forthcoming book for Badger explores the use of GOOGLE FORMS, with some suggestions for how they can be used, as part of the GOOGLE DOCS suite.
An element of 'getting better grades' is appropriate preparation for the written examination which comes at the end of the course.
The use of web tools can help with revision, and also other aspects of the teaching of the course.
With that in mind, as an example in the book, I have produced a Google Form to gather information, to show how it can be used to produce real data that can then be displayed and visualised.

The form is embedded below, and I would be really grateful if you could spend a few minutes filling it in, and if you find yourself in a room with some computers and a GCSE group to ask them to spend a few minutes filling it in too. It would be really great to get hundreds of responses that can then be shared to give a snapshot of the current thoughts on GCSE REVISION


Alternatively direct your students to this web address: http://bit.ly/gcserevision
You can fill the form in your browser by following this link, which can also be shared with colleagues....


It would be great to see hundreds of people filling this in, both staff and students.


Thanks in advance for your help.

If you are a teacher, please add your e-mail address into the final box along with your location, and I'll enter you into a prize draw which I shall draw on the 1st of April and one person (or maybe more than one if I'm feeling flush) will win a copy of my KS3 Toolkit book "Look at it this Way" (whether they want it or not...)

Changes to GCSE Qualifications (including Geography)

I have spent about 10 hours today so far assembling various sections that I have been working on for the last few months into coherent pages with associated documents / images / downloads etc.
Am pleased with the progress I've made and with the way that the book is looking...

Earlier today, Kate Russell over on SLN drew my attention to the results of an OFQUAL investigation into GCSEs including Geography, partly prompted by the Daily Telegraph investigation into the sessions being offered by some Chief Examiners.

Taken from Ofqual website ...

Awarding organisations are currently revising GCSE qualifications ready for the introduction of linear assessment and, in the cases of English literature, history, geography and religious studies, the separate assessment of spelling, punctuation and grammar. The revised specifications will be submitted to the regulators for accreditation soon. 

Given the suggestion that some GCSE qualifications may permit narrowing of the expected course of study, Ofqual, working with CCEA and DfES, are taking the opportunity to look closely at these revised specifications, to make sure that the standards set and the study requirements are what we expect.

The regulators will:

• review all GCSE geography specifications and assessment materials. Awarding organisations must make sure that their specifications meet all of the regulatory requirements, make clear the full course of study required of candidates and that the assessment arrangements support this. Awarding organisations will be informed of accreditation decisions by Friday, April 20, at the latest.
  
  review the current specifications for GCSE English literature, history and religious studies. Awarding organisations will be told by mid-February if there is any further action required to those qualifications before they can be accredited. We will provide a further update on this issue in mid-February.

Centres should be aware of the following:

• For those candidates already embarked on a course of study for GCSEs in English literature, geography, history and religious studies and certificating in 2013 the only changes to specifications will relate to the separate assessment of spelling, punctuation and the accurate use of grammar in the examination papers. Awarding organisations will make revised specimen assessment materials available for the current qualifications to illustrate how the requirement for the separate assessment of spelling, punctuation and the accurate use of grammar will be addressed.
  
  For courses beginning in September 2012 and candidates certificating in summer 2014, in addition to the introduction of linear assessment and the separate assessment of spelling, punctuation and grammar there may be revised specifications in GCSE geography together with changes to or fully revised specifications in GCSE English literature, history and religious studies.

Badger GCSE Geography book - due later in 2012

This new blog has been created to support a book which currently 'exists' - if it exists at all - in a large number of documents in a folder on the desktops of two computers, and in the cloud. Most of those documents are incomplete, or in draft form, but over the next 7 weeks I shall be shaping them with the not inconsiderable help of Maureen: my editor, and these will form a new publication by Badger Publishing.

When teaching. I made good use of Badger's 3 KS3 Starter books, and worked with a few of the authors of those books when we served on the Geographical Association's Secondary Committee. I also used their Thinking together in Geography book which had some nice ideas that could be adapted to various contexts.

The new book that I am writing is aimed at supporting teachers with GCSE Geography teaching. It has a number of sections which include ideas for teaching, learning, revising, blogging (of course) and otherwise adding some extra inspiration for those involved in GCSE Geography courses. There are sections looking at the examination and various options for preparing for it. There's also a healthy dose of social media suggestions in there of course.

I'll keep you up to date with the progress on the book as we pull it together, and also assemble the content for the accompanying CD - I've just been preparing some folders of images for key GCSE topics which will be included as part of the contents, and it's looking very promising... I'd buy it !