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

400 posts

This is one of my lesser fringe blogs, but always good to reach a bit of a milestone. Thanks for reading. If you're visiting here for the first time, please check out my main blog over at LivingGeography - you've got a lot to catch up on.

Threads

This is not related to the 1980s TV drama featuring a nuclear bomb being dropped on Sheffield...

Threads is a new online game from the Global Goals Centre, which has had the involvement of a number of organisations.

Thanks to Verity Jones for the tipoff.

Go here to play the game.

The activity explores the product life cycle of an item of clothing, with different routes depending on what the product is, and several other decisions that are taken during the course of the journey... This is revealed at the end.

Usefully, the team has also created a set of lesson plans which are helpful for those in KS2 and KS3, and with a strong cross-curricular / Global Goals theme. There are 8 lessons, each with a PPT and an accompanying overview document.

Here are the details of the team that created the game and accompanying resources.

This is well worth taking a look at, as there might be something here that can slot nicely into, or alongside existing curriculum content and activities.

People behind the statistics

A useful and timely post from Catherine Owen (given the recent eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano).

Image: Catherine Owen

It looks at the way that teachers use statistics following disasters, and how that might be developed to ensure that the actual people involved are not forgotten.

Catherine refers to a video in the post, and that can be found on the Encounter Edu website along with some teaching materials.

Here's the original tweet as well - Catherine asks for your own ideas on what you could do to share your stories of the people behind the statistics, so please get in touch if you have some.

NEW BLOG: The people behind the statistics. I would love to hear how you have shared stories of the people behind the statistics with your students. @NFUEducation @jfpayne @TheFloodHub https://t.co/18h7exj5Hg #geographyteacher

— Catherine Owen (@GeogMum) January 16, 2022

GeogLive - Fieldwork Session

"Studying geography is so important for children, regardless of their age or stage of learning. Geography helps them to make sense of the world around them and piques their curiosity in places and people. Done well, it engages pupils in their world, often spurring them into action, and is fun!" 

(Ofsted, 2021)

The GeogLive! Team are busy planning the next GeogLive! event, which will be at 5-6pm on Wednesday 30th June. 

This is part of the activity of the GA's Early Years and Primary Phase Committee to support teachers who may or may not be GA members (but you need to be a GA member)

They have chosen to focus on fieldwork, prompted by Iain Freeland’s comments in the blog about geography in outstanding primary schools, and feedback from those who attended the first event. They will also, of course, be referring to the Research Report published by Ofsted yesterday. We will be using the same format as at our first GeogLive! event, as this worked well for us and provoked plenty of positive feedback from participants.

If you are able, and would like to join the event, then please do register through this link below.

A recording of the first event can be seen below:

'Why Study Geography?' - now available to buy

Geography is the big-picture subject for our times. It encompasses subjects ranging from the microscopic – how soils form, and how those soils can be protected and managed well to grow food, for example – through to things as large-scale as the future trajectory of megacities and the threat of ever more warming of the planet. Alan Parkinson’s guide clearly and carefully explains why geography is worthy of study, at GCSE, at A level and at university. It is bang up to date. Students, their teachers and parents are all likely to find it essential reading.

Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography, University of Oxford

Just ahead of lockdown, I met with Richard and Sam from the London Publishing Partnership about writing a book in a series explaining why students should study different curriculum subjects. The History book is already published, and others are on the way. The lockdown gave me the time and the inclination to meet a quite tight deadline, and after several drafts, hundreds of edits and tweaks and rewriting, the book is now about to go to print, and is set for publication in October.

The book explores why the study of geography is so important. It looks at how the subject developed, links between school and academic geography, how to apply to study geography at university, the different types of courses, how to make the most of your time at university, what careers geography can lead you into and with case studies of individuals who studied geography and who went on to do interesting things with it, and others who came into a geographical field later. There are also suggestions for how you can develop your geographical thinking, and make the most of your powerful geographical knowledge. Thanks to those people who kindly contributed to the creation of this book, which helped me shape my own thoughts, and has also led to me starting to write another related book to connect with my planned GA Presidential theme for 2021-22.

I think this book would be helpful for several different groups of people:

- for teachers of Geography, who are keen to find out about how the subject developed, and what contemporary geography courses look like
- for parents of students who have shown an interest in studying geography at HE or undergraduate level
- for those staff whose role includes preparing students for UCAS choices and university applications, or writing EPQs and related activities to support a move into academic study
- for those staff who are involved in helping with careers options for those who may want to secure a job or internship or apprenticeship instead of
- for those who simply want a few copies of a book around the place to direct those who they know might go on to study Geography at university to read to find out more...
- as a gift for Y13s who do particularly well, and head off to university (hopefully to study geography)

Please let your UCAS / Careers teachers at school know about the book - great for Options evening as well to have around to show the value of the subject to so many careers.

It would be great to get this book into as many schools as possible. Although the book is UK-focussed, it would also be useful to those in the USA and other countries, including in International Schools and those that follow UK-based exam specifications.

Go HERE to pre-order your copy and if you think you might want a small (or large) order o multiple copies then let me know and I'll put you in touch with the publishers to see whether we can arrange a discount.

And why the beans on the front cover? If you get a copy you'll find out why :)

New GA Chair of Trustees Role

The Geographical Association is looking for a Chair of Trustees to support the existing Governing Body fulfil its role in a fascinating and ever-changing educational landscape. It will also involve working with the current Presidential team - JVP (me), VP (Susan Pike), President (Gill Miller) and Past President (Stephen Scoffham) along with other key members of the GA's group of trustees. This is an interesting change in the governance of the Association, and we are looking for someone who has significant experience and skills which will allow us to learn from each other.
This is an exciting opportunity for someone. Please share with people you think may be available and ideal for the role.

Details are here on Guardian Jobs. Feel free to get in touch via Ricky Buck / Gill Miller for more details and information.

Deadline is the 20th of February.

Documents are available from the Guardian Jobs page.