Geography — Year 9

 

Geography Overview

Term 1: Development in South East Asia

Development is one of the key themes of this academic year. Students will get to grips with the concept of development and the factors which allow or hinder it. Students will look specifically at development within the context of South East Asia. They will study the development of Indonesia in detail and use development indicators to explain the development of this country over time.

A longer written essay on how Indonesia has changed over time. Students must use development indicators and data to support their written work. Some students may go on to extend their written work by comparing the development of Indonesia to Malaysia through the use of their own research.

colonialism

the policy of acquiring other countries to rule as colonies

infrastructure

– communication links and utilities, e.g. roads, electricity

life expectancy

– the average age a person is likely to reach

literacy rate

the percentage of people aged 15 and over who can read and write

Human Development Index (HDI)

a way of measuring a country’s development, scoring from 0.000 to 1

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Students consider multiple perspectives on what development is and reflect on their context; how developed is the U.K and what does quality of life and standard of living mean to them.

Create a supportive community:

Students learn to appreciate that everyone has a different starting point in life and this can be applied to different countries too. They will develop an appreciation of the concept of global citizenship.

Term 2: Natural Hazards

Students look at the cause, effect of these two devastating natural hazards and what creates them. Plate boundaries are explored in detail, and social, economic and environmental impacts of these disasters are explored.

Students look in detail at the Japan Tsunami and build a fact file of information to be used in a full report. This is then used to compare to the Indian Ocean Tsunami – how were LIC countries affected differently? In addition to looking at how a country’s lack of development can cause more problems in the future.

A short multi-question test with a range of shorter and longer answer questions.

The circular movement of the mantle caused by heat from the earths core.

The circular movement of the mantle caused by heat from the earths core.

Plate boundary

the location at which two tectonic plates meet

Tectonic plate

An oceanic or continental mass of crust which moves on the surface of the earth

Crust

Very thin outer rocky shell of the earth comprised of thicker and less dense continental (land) and thinner and more dense oceanic crust

Richter scale

A numerical scale which shows the magnitude of an earthquake based on vibrations from the earth

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Considering the viewpoints of others

Create a supportive community:

Students work in groups and teams to develop social skills

Term 3: Tourism and development

The focus of this unit of work is exploring how human processes have influenced the development and spread of tourism. We start locally and then develop our inquiry outwards to look at global examples of the good and bad side of tourism.

Students will look at the concept 'synoptically', by considering how tourism acts at multiple scales and has a range of social, economic and environmental impacts. Students will also look at whether tourism can ever be sustainable, making links to work in year 8 as well as previous work within the year.

Students will engage in a gcse style question paper that has a range of short, medium and long answer questions.

Tourist

a person who is travelling or visiting a place for pleasure.

Attraction

A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement.

Sustainable Tourism

Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities”

VFR

VFR travel is a form of travel involving a visit whereby either (or both) the purpose of the trip or the type of accommodation involves visiting friends and / or relatives"

Mass Tourism

Mass tourism is a form of tourism that involves tens of thousands of people going to the same resort often at the same time of year.

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Students consider the impacts of tourism for themselves and others.

Create a supportive community:

Students develop a sense of empathy and awareness over their rights to travel and the rights of others.

Term 3: Geography of Fashion

The aim of this module is to introduce students to the huge variation in geography that exists across the world. A variety of human and physical factors influence why we see 'rich' nations and 'poor' nations.

Ultimately, students will learn that improving people’s lives in a continent that is often perceived to be a ‘hopeless case’ is dependent on a range of physical and human factors both within the individual countries, across the continent and on an international scale. This unit looks at the impact of trade through the eyes of the fashion industry. How much does it cost to make a T-shirt and what is the impact on the people who work in this industry?

Students will be assessed through a written examination. They will be required to know two case studies.

Global Fashion

Global fashion is when different parts of the clothing are being made in different countries because it is cheap. This encourages countries to interact.

Globalisation

is the process by which the world is becoming increasingly interconnected as a result of massively increased trade and cultural exchange.

Transnational Company (TNC)

is a huge company that does business in several countries.  E.g Nike or Coca Cola. They have their headquarters in HIC and use LIC’s for resources and manufacturing.

Rana Plaza

The 2013 Dhaka garment factory collapse (also referred to as the 2013 Savar building collapse or the Rana Plaza collapse)

GDP

Gross Domestic Product—the total value of goods produced and services provided in a country during one year.

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Students will gain an appreciation for their position in the world.

Create a supportive community:

Students will gain an appreciation for individual differences.

Term 4: The changing geography of the middle east

Conflict is a state of disagreement caused by the perceived or actual opposition of needs, values and interests between people. Geographically, it is often about opposing views about the ways in which a resource may be developed or used. This unit of work looks at conflict in the middle east and explores the human and physical reasons for this. Is a changing climate responsible for the growing Syrian conflict?

Students will complete a longer written question that seeks to explore how far climate can be blamed for the Syrian conflict.

Conflict

Conflict geography studies the distribution of conflicting interests over space. ... This aspect of geography considers the causes of conflict, the ways in which conflict may manifest itself, the impacts of conflict, and how conflict may be resolved.

Climate Change

Climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth's local, regional and global climates.

Geopolitics

Geopolitics is a study of interest which focuses on factors such as; geography, economics, and demography of policy and foreign policy of a state, country or region.

Middle East

The Middle East is a geopolitical term that commonly refers to the region spanning the Levant, Arabian Peninsula, Anatolia, Egypt, Iran and Iraq.

Hydropolitics

The politics of allocating and managing water resources, particularly between countries.

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Students will benefit from understanding how conflict can occur at multiple scales.

Create a supportive community:

Students can appreciate the reasons why conflict occurs.

Term 6: Fieldwork - Using a geographical model to investigate tourism in Weston Super Mare

In this module, students will develop the use of a model to plan and build a fieldwork inquiry. Using their knowledge from tourism in Term 3 and building on fieldwork experiences from year 7&8, our students will use the Butler model to investigate whether Weston Super Mare is an improving tourist destination. Students will build on their independent fieldwork skills and create their own inquiry questions as well as designing questionnaire surveys too. Students will be supported to select appropriate methods to investigate, report and draw conclusions about the environment.

Students will be assessed through a fieldwork poster which looks at their ability to analyse and draw conclusions using a fieldwork model.

Primary Data

data that you have personally collected eg. EQS or Beach profile

Secondary Data

data that has been collected from someone else eg. house prices or wind direction.

Data presentation

how you display your data in a visual format e.g. Line graphs for a beach profile

Data Analysis

how you break down the different data sets and compare them to identify trends or findings relevant to your aim. It can be done numerically, for example looking at the median rate of long shore drift.

Evaluation

you critically appraise the usefulness and accuracy of your methods and the certainty of your findings in your investigation.

Conclusion

Do you accept or reject your initial hypothesis based on the evidence you have collected?

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Students will consider the role of ethics in survey and questionnaire design

Create a supportive community:

Students will work in teams to meet deadlines and present fieldwork.