This blog will be a record of the students and my attempts to explore Islay and Jura in as many ways as possible
For those who are doing two subjects and a need a plan please see below! Fill in the second subject that you are doing
Whether the Weather be good or Whether the Weather be bad..
You will need to know a number of different aspects of weather
· How to measure it
· How to intepret weather circles
· The difference between Depressions and Anticyclones
· The main weather masses and the type of weather they bring
How to measure it?
These are generaly questions found on the foundation paper and perhaps on the General , BBC bite size has a nice summary here http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/learning/bitesize/standard/geography/weather_climate/recording_data_rev1.shtml
The extension to the basic what measures what is where you should place the weather station:
“They are usually placed out in the open on grass so that rain gauges can be put in the ground. They are not usually situated on tarmac or concrete because these surfaces can radiate heat up and effect temperature readings.”
How to interpret weather circles?
The diagram below shows the different symbols used with the circles. You may be asked to draw your own for given conditions so try the task underneath the daigram
1. A day of heavy rain, 7/8th overcast, wind of 35knots from a south westerly direction, 10 degrees
2. A sunny day no cloud, calm, 21 degrees
3. A foggy day, completely overcast, wind of 5knots from the North West
4. A day of drizzle, 5/8th overcast, wind of 25knots from a southerly direction
5. A day of snow showers, 6/8th overcast, wind of 20knots from a northerly direction
You could also do these..
(download)
A popular question is to give you two or three circles and a synoptic chart and ask you to identify which is the correct one, you can answer this by identifying the correct one and giving reasons why and then saying why the incorrect ones do not match – what to watch for
Don’t get caught out by anti-cyclones check the date of the synoptic chart is it a summer or winter one
The difference between depressions and anticyclones
We have done a lot of work on this – the bit that always causes problems is the names of the depression fronts and what weather you expect to find at each point – remember they are usually moving from the south west towards the north east.
This requires practice and revision!!
This is a Warm Front – it brings ..........
This is a Cold Front it brings................
This is an Occluded front it brings....
You can review and do the wonderful exercise from the fantastic radical geography site..
(download)
Finally Isobars
These show all the points at a particular pressure..
Below is the Atlantic Pressure Chart and the weather forecast for the same day see how they correspond (although 45mph gusts is nothing on Islay!)
(download)
Task – as an extra revision task draw the weather circle for Wednesday and answer this question
Miss Fuery was planning to take her Higher Geography class on Wednesday to investigate the River Sorn and its catchment area, why might she be having second thoughts? (there are several answers to this only one of them has anything to do with the weather!)
Practice Practice Practice - there are plenty of past papers in my room come and claim them and email me the answers, or post them below with the date of the paper and I will check them and let you know how you did.
The main weather masses and the type of weather they bring
This is a simple one it is just a case of learning them and Knowing which type of weather they bring BBC bite size has a great summary table and diagram if you don’t want to look for it in your jotters.
Development Indicators
Most exam questions on the higher paper that ask about development statistics are looking for students to
· Identify economic and social indicators
· Discuss how(valid) useful they are for measuring a countries development
The map, from world mapper, http://www.worldmapper.org/, shows adult literacy world wide - can you describe what it shows
Economic Indicators include
· GDP/GNP per capita – Gross Domestic/National Product – This is the measure of the country’s wealth per person – it represent an average
· Percentage of GNP that comes from primary products
Social Indicators include
· Access to Clean Water and Sanitation
· Adult Literacy rate
· Infant Mortality Rate
Composite Indicators
HDI – Human Development Index – combines both social and economic measures – includes life expectancy, literacy rates and GDP per capita
Task
For each of the indicators listed above explain how it shows the development of a country...some clues
Governments must pay for infrastructure – electricity, schools, and hospitals
Secondary industries require investment
So how are development indicators like a pancake, or why HDI is best
A pancake on its own is pretty tasteless, however when you add other ingredients – lemon and sugar it becomes a gourmet treat. Using one development indicator on its own to measure a countries development will often give you a false sense of development - three or more is best.
Task
Explain why in your own words HDI is better than using a single development statistic such as GNP per capita
What else?
You might be asked to comment on the link between two different statistics, below is graph from gapmider - Task describe and explain the link..remembe to mention any anomalies
You can read the powerpoint for more info..
Population Pyramids
In my classroom cupboard I have a large container of jelly babies, used for those times when we need to work out what is population density or to make population pyramids. As a revision technique I will raid my daughters extensive supply of Lego and we will do speed pyramids.
For both Standard Grade and Higher Geography you will need to be able to
Of course Higher answers need to be far more developed than Standard Grade answers, however you should all ensure that you
Try the task on the powerpoint
(download)
Places to go and look at on the net
1. Go here to look at different population pyramids, look at an EMDC and ELDC, compare pyramids today with those in the future... http://populationpyramid.net/
2. There is a good summary of the different types of pyramid here http://geographyfieldwork.com/PopulationStructure.htm
3. An animated population pyramid for the UK here http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/HTMLDocs/dvc1/UKPyramid.html
· Use to record key points - how a corrie is formed or how do I recognise a CBD
· Incorporate pictures, colour, highlighting – we are talking geography here – it’s a Monday morning activity using colours
· Draw a mind map – describe it to someone running your finger along each line as you do it – and underscoring each word – really it works
· Use pattern, colour, symbols and drawings
· Cover key points and topics
· Draw Diagrams – without labels – stick them on the wall add labels everytime you look at it
· Pin them up where you’ll see them often (above the TV?)
· Write down all the key words and phrases for a topic – associate them with memorable phrases
Who can tell me what a piddling stream is?
· Compare information, Summarise information – add colour – try filling one in without looking and then fill the bits not known in a separate colour
· Teach a topic to your mum, dad, sister, brother dog or even the cows!
· Fill in the gaps in your knowledge as you identify them
You will not learn it the first time! Review Review Review
Location Location Location
Practice is the only way to get better at exam questions, since we all need something to do rather than watching Big Fat Gypsy Weddings I am giving you a 15min exercise to do.. Remember if I would say Why at the end of your answer than you have not answered it!
Migration is an issue that most of us have a view about, we might go the way of the Daily Mail - they (meaning migrants) are responsible for all the evils around us. Or you might have the view that the world is one big happy interconnected place and everyone should be allowed to go where they wish.
Your examiner does not want to hear either view, your examiner wants a balanced view based on evidence (either given or not) regarding a specific movement of people that you have studied.
Ecomomic Migrants from Poland, can you answer these questions?
Words and phrases to focus on
STABLE/ LOW TURNOVER
WELL EDUCATED
MOTIVATED
LARGE LABOUR POOL
Make sure you can analyse how each of these contributes towards benefits to the UK economy and therefore businesses
There are many different views on Polish Migration to the UK from the positive http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/3248852/Polish-immigrants-leaving-Britain-What-the-Poles-did-for-us.html to the negative http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-464759/Polish-immigrants-1bn-UK-economy.html
Your aim in answering questions is to be balanced, to simply explain using the available evidence and not to be political!
An excellent summary video - watch this and read your notes and then answer the question posed in the title of the Blog.
This question will represent 50% of the marks on Paper 2. You need to..
· Know the economic and social opportunities offered by the landscape
· Know the conflicts that arise as a result of these activities (you must quote named examples)
· Know the solutions to these conflicts and be able to discuss their effectiveness
· The major landforms associated with the landscape and explain in detail how they are formed (you must quote examples from your case study area)
This is a map of the national parks, you must be aware of how the national parks relate to major settlement centres and road networks.
There are a number of land uses for National Parks in Glaciated areas
You should have a handout that details all the conflicts, use the table below to summarise them for revision.
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Conflict Location |
Who’s involved |
Details of conflict |
Solutions |
Problems with solution |
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Footpath Erosion
"By 1999, the whole of the National Park had been surveyed and 180 paths had been identifed as being in
need of repair. The huge scale of the problem highlighted the need for a long term management solution.
This led to the formation of the Upland Path Landscape Restoration Project (UPLRP) a 10 year project
(2002 to 2011) which sets out to repair the majority of landscape scars caused by the erosion of fells paths in
the Lake District." http://www.fixthefells.co.uk/path_erosion_factsheet.pdf
It would be a good idea to read and summarise (tables/cards/annotated diagrams) this Pdf from fix the fells, page 3 is great for named examples and also the benefits and problems of each solution.
In small schools you take on many roles. One of mine is RME, another is Modern Studies ( as well as responibilitty for foreign languages, history and Gaelic; although none of these, thankfully, I have to teach). RME for S3-S6 is an occasional conference on a Friday afternoon. They don't yet have the option for Modern Studies in S3-S6, although I am considering it, I have enough hours from teaching in S1 and S2.
With Scottish indendance all over the newspapers and the TV over the last few weeks and a conference coming up it seemed time to let rip on the subject. However with my rather English English accent perhaps a full debate without getting the students properly involved would not be best. Having decided that a full debate should involve guests and students and should take place after the exams I deicded on a different approach - English Independence from Scotland!
I set the stage, the conference was on the morality of exams (thats what we told the kids) on the day of the conference notes went in registers saying the RME confrence was cancelled and that all students had to be in the hall for a special announcement at 2.15.
This was up on the screen..
The Head came in and read this statement
and each student was was handed a letter -
After telling them that a serious conference would be down to them at a later date we then did a whole group decision making exercise - the powerpoint and options are below.
I love being a geography teacher, but I am beginning to enjoy the other non management aspects of my job - I have a long way to go delivering to whole school - each time there is a mistake of organisation - this time it was forgetting to get the students to move into groups before we started the decision making exercise but I'll get there.
I love the BBC, I really do. This week I have watched programmes on surviving an ice age, freedom in South Africa, social problems in Urban Areas (well 5mins accidently of Eastenders) and my favourite Toughest Place to be - a fisherman in Sierra Leone. I was not so impressed with the Cornish Fisherman sent out to experience fishing in Sierra Leone as I was with the Refuge Operater from the week before but.. the story was a good one. The film is still available on the iplayer and I would recommend it if you have not seen. Further more tonights edition promises to cover the many problems associated with the living and working in the Andes ( one for those doing the OCR extreme environments), useful for me as I have adapted the OCR scheme of work for my first years.
I liked the story, and with some familes still fishing on Islay, have borrowed it to create a mystery. I am still working on the assessment - there are local questions around fish farms which the students here are very aware of and I might use that as a starting point for students creating their own mystery, or a short documentary (depending on how much energy I have in the week we do it!!)
There are some videos that you could use with your students. I will probably use them after the mystery, they repeat basic information at the beginning so you might want to explore skipping part of the second one.
Deadly Catch from Environmental Justice Foundation on Vimeo.
ALL AT SEA-The Abuse of Human Rights on Illegal Fishing Vessels from Environmental Justice Foundation on Vimeo.
The powerpoint to go with the activity is here..
I will uodate the blog this week to include the assessment and criteria - these will CforE but you can adapt them if you are south of the border.
(download)
This blog will be a record of the students and my attempts to explore Islay and Jura in as many ways as possible
This blog will be a record of the students and my attempts to explore Islay and Jura in as many ways as possible
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