A reminder that while I am away on Monday I would like you to think about hydrographs.
I would like you to sketch a typical hydrograph for an urban area, and a typical hydrograph for a rural area. Label the key characteristics of each (eg steep rising limb, etc.) and write a brief comparison of the two.
This is (or should be!) revision of GCSE work...
I would like this ready for when I see you on Monday 6th October.
Have fun!!
Saturday 27 September 2008
Wet and windy Wales!
The Met Office, the BBC and MetCheck all have slightly different versions of the forecast for next week, but it looks like we are going to need our waterproofs...
Wednesday 24 September 2008
Study Geography
I've mentioned this before, but in light of our conversations this morning I thought that it would be worth reminding Yr13 of the RGS Study Geography website (and no reason why Yr12 shouldn't be looking at it already as well!!):
Glacial Landforms...
Some interesting mini-lessons this morning!
We took rather a long time to work our way through the glaciation "dominoes" - we'll have another go tomorrow and see if we can be a bit speedier!
We then had a look at various glacial erosional landforms (glacial troughs; truncated spurs; corries; aretes; pyramidal peaks; ribbon lakes; hanging valleys...) and glacial depositional landforms (moraines - terminal, lateral, medial, recessional; roches moutonnees; drumlins...) and how they are formed. We still need to have a look at fluvioglacial and periglacial landforms.
We took rather a long time to work our way through the glaciation "dominoes" - we'll have another go tomorrow and see if we can be a bit speedier!
We then had a look at various glacial erosional landforms (glacial troughs; truncated spurs; corries; aretes; pyramidal peaks; ribbon lakes; hanging valleys...) and glacial depositional landforms (moraines - terminal, lateral, medial, recessional; roches moutonnees; drumlins...) and how they are formed. We still need to have a look at fluvioglacial and periglacial landforms.
Some pictures for you.... what features can you spot? And where were the pictures taken?
Tuesday 23 September 2008
Year 13
Some well-thought out presentations about the areas we'll be visiting next week in Miss Bradford's lesson. Some of you still falling into the old "reading from the ppt" trap though!! Argh!!
We then finished our Las Vegas case study posters - remember, an example of a secondary tourism resource.
The essay question that we didn't have time to consider was:
With reference to one or more areas that you have studied, discuss the extent to which tourism is dependent on primary resources.
With Wales next week, and a coastal statistics/fieldwork exercise that I am going to give you tomorrow, you don't need to be writing this essay yet. However, if you want to have a bit of a think about it, and brainstorm ideas/points/examples that you might want to include, then that would be a good idea.
Don't forget that if you haven't completed your East Midlands tourism work (apart from Lucy) that I need it tomorrow, or else there will be trouble! Also, I am expecting you to come with examples of 5 glacial landforms/features tomorrow - Laura/Ed/Amy's group gave you three this morning if you're struggling!
We also had a quick look at the itinerary for next week, and reminded you of our expectations of you. If you still haven't returned your medical form, you need to make sure that I get this as a matter of urgency!!
We then finished our Las Vegas case study posters - remember, an example of a secondary tourism resource.
The essay question that we didn't have time to consider was:
With reference to one or more areas that you have studied, discuss the extent to which tourism is dependent on primary resources.
With Wales next week, and a coastal statistics/fieldwork exercise that I am going to give you tomorrow, you don't need to be writing this essay yet. However, if you want to have a bit of a think about it, and brainstorm ideas/points/examples that you might want to include, then that would be a good idea.
Don't forget that if you haven't completed your East Midlands tourism work (apart from Lucy) that I need it tomorrow, or else there will be trouble! Also, I am expecting you to come with examples of 5 glacial landforms/features tomorrow - Laura/Ed/Amy's group gave you three this morning if you're struggling!
We also had a quick look at the itinerary for next week, and reminded you of our expectations of you. If you still haven't returned your medical form, you need to make sure that I get this as a matter of urgency!!
Friday 19 September 2008
Leading & Learning Gap Year Scholarships
Those of you in Year 13 might be interested in this fantastic opportunity from the RGS Leading and Learning project...
If you are intending to study Geography at university, you might be eligible for a scholarship of up to £4000 "to support an overseas gap experience"...
There is more information on the RGS site here but you will have to get a wriggle on as the closing date for applications is Friday 3rd October.
If you're interested, have a look at the information, draft out an application, and then speak to me when I see you on Tuesday.
If you are intending to study Geography at university, you might be eligible for a scholarship of up to £4000 "to support an overseas gap experience"...
There is more information on the RGS site here but you will have to get a wriggle on as the closing date for applications is Friday 3rd October.
If you're interested, have a look at the information, draft out an application, and then speak to me when I see you on Tuesday.
Year 12
On Monday, we started by looking at the systems approach - we talked about the global hydrological system as a closed system, and the drainage basin hydrological cycle as an open system.
We converted the drainage basin hydrological cycle diagrams you'd done for homework into flow diagrams, and had a look at a couple of exam questions.
We went on to look at the water balance and soil moisture budgets, and then river regimes.
Almost all of you managed yesterday to hand in your river regimes work via the new system - unfortunately two people have their first homework warning already!
On Thursday morning, we were out and about measuring infiltration rates around the school grounds. Remember that when you are writing up the investigation, you will need to include:
Aim
Hypothesis
Method
Results
Analysis/Discussion
Conclusion
Evaluation
Your graphs should be line graphs showing how the water level dropped over time.
As you know, I am not in school on Monday as it is Year 11's Burbage visit. In my absence, I would like you to look back at your flow diagram from Monday's lesson. For each component, I would like you to write a sentence or two to explain what that component is, and then to consider the factors that affect each component - eg when we talked about infiltration rates, we said that the permeability of the surface, soil compaction, antecedent moisture, etc. would all cause variations in the rates of infiltration.
Both your investigation write-up and the work I'd like you to do on Monday need to be ready for Thursday's lesson to hand in to me.
Don't forget, if you have any problems with it, email me or come and find me on Tuesday or Wednesday - don't just turn up on Thursday without having done the work!
We converted the drainage basin hydrological cycle diagrams you'd done for homework into flow diagrams, and had a look at a couple of exam questions.
We went on to look at the water balance and soil moisture budgets, and then river regimes.
Almost all of you managed yesterday to hand in your river regimes work via the new system - unfortunately two people have their first homework warning already!
On Thursday morning, we were out and about measuring infiltration rates around the school grounds. Remember that when you are writing up the investigation, you will need to include:
Aim
Hypothesis
Method
Results
Analysis/Discussion
Conclusion
Evaluation
Your graphs should be line graphs showing how the water level dropped over time.
As you know, I am not in school on Monday as it is Year 11's Burbage visit. In my absence, I would like you to look back at your flow diagram from Monday's lesson. For each component, I would like you to write a sentence or two to explain what that component is, and then to consider the factors that affect each component - eg when we talked about infiltration rates, we said that the permeability of the surface, soil compaction, antecedent moisture, etc. would all cause variations in the rates of infiltration.
Both your investigation write-up and the work I'd like you to do on Monday need to be ready for Thursday's lesson to hand in to me.
Don't forget, if you have any problems with it, email me or come and find me on Tuesday or Wednesday - don't just turn up on Thursday without having done the work!
Year 13 - Cold Environments
Wednesday's lesson began - after the technological difficulties - with a look at the first part of Iain Stewart's Power of the Planet:
We then talked about glaciers as systems, with inputs of precipitation, energy and sediment, processes of ice movement, erosion (abrasion and plucking) and deposition, and outputs in the form of sediment, meltwater and calving.
We looked at the structure of a glacier - zones of ablation and accumulation - and the stratigraphy of a glacier... how temperature and velocity vary throughout the glacier... mechanisms of glacial movement.
We then watched another section of the Power of the Planet where Iain Stewart and glaciologist Miriam Jackson investigated what was going on underneath a glacier. You can watch that clip again here.
We finished with a quick look at processes of glacial erosion.
For next Wednesday, you are findng out about five glacial landforms - with examples of each and pictures (photographs or sketches) of each where possible.
Year 13 - Recreation and Tourism
Apologies for the lack of updates - it would be fair to say that this week has been rather busy!!
On Tuesday - we looked at tourism resources. We talked about primary and secondary tourism resources, and started to think about the tourism resources in the East Midlands... We mentioned lots of things - the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage site, the Peak District, Sherwood Forest and the whole Robin Hood thing, Center Parcs and Alton Towers (though Staffordshire, so not officially East Midlands) were some of the key places we mentioned, together with the key cities of the 6 counties that officially make up the East Midlands (Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Rutland, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire). Also various smaller scale attractions - Crich Tramway Museum, Matlock Bath and Gulliver's Kingdom, amongst others. There was a brief discussion about American Adventure and why it is no more... http://www.coasterforce.com/American_Adventure.
When I see you on Tuesday, you will have produced a piece of work (map, writing, mind map, movie, etc.) about the tourism resource base of the East Midlands.
In addition to those above, websites you might find useful include:
- East Midlands Tourism
- Discover East Midlands
- East Midlands Development Agency - Tourism
- East Midlands Tourism Strategy
- East Midlands Airport
On Thursday, we looked at Las Vegas as an example of a secondary resource - a resort designed specifically to attract tourists.
We mentioned Flickr as a very useful and interesting resource - well worth doing a quick search for Las Vegas (Creative Commons search if you are planning to use photos for presentations, etc.)
On Tuesday - we looked at tourism resources. We talked about primary and secondary tourism resources, and started to think about the tourism resources in the East Midlands... We mentioned lots of things - the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage site, the Peak District, Sherwood Forest and the whole Robin Hood thing, Center Parcs and Alton Towers (though Staffordshire, so not officially East Midlands) were some of the key places we mentioned, together with the key cities of the 6 counties that officially make up the East Midlands (Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Rutland, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire). Also various smaller scale attractions - Crich Tramway Museum, Matlock Bath and Gulliver's Kingdom, amongst others. There was a brief discussion about American Adventure and why it is no more... http://www.coasterforce.com/American_Adventure.
When I see you on Tuesday, you will have produced a piece of work (map, writing, mind map, movie, etc.) about the tourism resource base of the East Midlands.
In addition to those above, websites you might find useful include:
- East Midlands Tourism
- Discover East Midlands
- East Midlands Development Agency - Tourism
- East Midlands Tourism Strategy
- East Midlands Airport
On Thursday, we looked at Las Vegas as an example of a secondary resource - a resort designed specifically to attract tourists.
We mentioned Flickr as a very useful and interesting resource - well worth doing a quick search for Las Vegas (Creative Commons search if you are planning to use photos for presentations, etc.)
Saturday 13 September 2008
BBC Aerial Journeys
Thanks to Val Vannet for highlighting Aerial Journeys - a collection of programmes from the BBC Archive featuring - as the name suggests - aerial journeys.
One that will be of particular interest is The Living Isles - After the Ice. (And no, I don't remember it from the first time round!!)
New battle over Arctic oil plans
This news story from Thursday about the plans for huge expansion of oil and gas drilling in the Arctic will be of interest to both AS and A2 geographers as you will all be looking at Cold Environments later this year.
Well worth a look at the video clip of David Shukman flying over Prudhoe Bay as well...
On the theme of exploitation of Arctic "resources", the controversy over Greenland's whaling continues...
Wettest January to August period on record...
According to this article from the BBC, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) have confirmed that this year has seen the wettest January to August period on record. Worth a read, and worth a look at some of the reader comments as well!
Thursday 11 September 2008
Today's lessons...
AS
After introducing the course, outlining expectations and completing our profiles, we went on to look at the hydrological cycle. We talked about the systems approach and will look in more detail on Monday at the idea of open and closed systems. For Monday's lesson, you're putting all the key terms we talked about into a diagram... You might find the S-Cool website helpful if you are struggling.
Although you have the bits of the specification that you need, if you want to look at the whole thing, you will be able to find it on the AQA website
A2
After long discussions about Wales and AS results, we reminded ourselves about some of the key words and ideas that we need to consider relating to Recreation and Tourism. Again, some useful reminders on the S-Cool website.
There will be more information about Wales on Tuesday, but if you are planning a shopping trip this weekend, the OS map you need is OL17 - the Explorer (orange) map for Snowdon and Conwy Valley.
After introducing the course, outlining expectations and completing our profiles, we went on to look at the hydrological cycle. We talked about the systems approach and will look in more detail on Monday at the idea of open and closed systems. For Monday's lesson, you're putting all the key terms we talked about into a diagram... You might find the S-Cool website helpful if you are struggling.
Although you have the bits of the specification that you need, if you want to look at the whole thing, you will be able to find it on the AQA website
A2
After long discussions about Wales and AS results, we reminded ourselves about some of the key words and ideas that we need to consider relating to Recreation and Tourism. Again, some useful reminders on the S-Cool website.
There will be more information about Wales on Tuesday, but if you are planning a shopping trip this weekend, the OS map you need is OL17 - the Explorer (orange) map for Snowdon and Conwy Valley.
Welcome/Welcome back!
If you are an A2 geographer reading this, you've hopefully been following the posts over summer anyway, but if not - welcome back!
If you are an AS geographer reading the blog for the first time after this morning's lesson - welcome!
I set up Geogtastic6 last year and we only had AS geographers. My plan is to continue this year with both AS and A2 on the same blog. That does mean that not every post will be directly relevant to you, but as we are doing the new AS and the old A2 this year, there will be some overlap (eg. you will all be doing some Population work, and some Cold Environments work). You will also find labels at the bottom of each post - if you click on those, they will take you to all the posts with that particular label - which means that you can check out rivers-related work that we did last year, for example.
If you find any useful websites, or hear about any interesting geographical news stories, upcoming geographical TV programmes, etc., leave a comment and let us all know!
If you are an AS geographer reading the blog for the first time after this morning's lesson - welcome!
I set up Geogtastic6 last year and we only had AS geographers. My plan is to continue this year with both AS and A2 on the same blog. That does mean that not every post will be directly relevant to you, but as we are doing the new AS and the old A2 this year, there will be some overlap (eg. you will all be doing some Population work, and some Cold Environments work). You will also find labels at the bottom of each post - if you click on those, they will take you to all the posts with that particular label - which means that you can check out rivers-related work that we did last year, for example.
If you find any useful websites, or hear about any interesting geographical news stories, upcoming geographical TV programmes, etc., leave a comment and let us all know!
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