Colchester Royal Grammar School: Geography

Geography

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GCSE Course (AQA 3031)

The GEOGRAPHY syllabus (specification A) is designed to encourage the development of a wide range of skills to further knowledge and understanding of modern Geography.

Students will cover the following areas of knowledge and understanding: map reading; landforms and landscapes (how weathering, rivers, ice and sea affect the land and man's activities); settlement types and patterns; urbanisation, employment, housing, transport and planning in towns and cities; industrial activity and the management of resources (conservation and pollution); contrasts in world development (income, health, literacy, natural disasters, poverty, famine).

Geography will enable students to acquire skills of: understanding, reading and interpreting maps; interpreting photographs, including satellite images; drawing maps, diagrams, graphs and tables; collecting, analysing, presenting and interpreting various types of data; including, as a compulsory element, the use of lOT-based techniques; discussing problems such as employment, energy, development and pollution.

Work will involve reading, writing, drawing, using videos and class discussions. The coursework component, which is carried out and completed in year 11, will be based on the student's individual fieldwork, normally in the area around his own home. Students are also offered the chance to participate in a residential field study course on the Norfolk coast.

Assessment will consist of two written papers and coursework:

• Paper 1: Skills & Physical Geography (1 hour 45 minutes, 40% of total marks)
• Paper 2: Human Geography (1 hour 30 minutes, 35% of total marks)
• Paper 3: Geographical Enquiry Coursework (25% of total marks)

Geography seeks to foster an awareness of the environment, both natural and manmade, and an appreciation of the significance of values in decision-making in the management of the environment. It develops important skills in the collection, processing, interpretation and presentation of information. Its emphasis on graphicacy and communication skills is important for many careers.

Geography is a distinct help for many careers in agriculture, horticulture and forestry; cartography and landscape architecture; local government, town and country planning; transport and communications; travel agency and tourism; armed services; civil aviation; estate agency; leisure industry; nature conservancy and surveying.

A-Level Course (AQA AS 5031, A 6031)

Full specification

Geography at A-level aims to help students make sense of the world in which they live. It makes them aware of the role of geographical analysis in understanding and solving contemporary human and environmental problems. It introduces them to the main components of Physical and Human Geography and the processes operating within these areas. It seeks to develop a sense of location, an appreciation of change and an understanding of the importance of scale. It equips students with a wide range of skills and techniques in collecting, recording, processing, analysing, interpreting and reporting data. Students are offered the opportunity of attending a week's residential fieldwork course, normally in Wales.

The course is made up of three broad components:

1. The Natural Environment
   Topics to be studied will be rivers and flooding; ecosystems; human interaction with processes which operate in coastal environments; climatic hazards and changes; geomorphological processes and hazards particularly those associated with plate tectonics.
2. The Human Environment
   Topics to be studied will be population dynamics, pressures and resource management; settlement patterns especially managing cities; types of economic activity; tourism.
3. Practical and Applied Geography
   This will cover different techniques for data collection and analysis and various methods of representing and interpreting data. These techniques are used in an examination paper at AS level and a personal investigative enquiry at A2 level.

AS-Level Course

Unit 1 (17.5%)
Natural Environment

Unit 2 (17.5%)
Human Environment

Unit 3 (15%)
Geographical Skills Examination

A2-Level Course

Unit 4 (15%)
Natural Environment

Unit 5 (15%)
Human Environment

Unit 6 (20%)
Personal Fieldword Investigation

Beyond A-level

A-level Geography is normally required for entry to study for a degree in Geography at university. It is also a helpful preparation for studying for degrees in Economics, History, Politics, Town Planning, Surveying and Environmental Science. Because of the topics it covers and the skills it develops, Geography is useful for a wide range of career options. These include marketing and retail management, banking, insurance, accountancy, publishing and journalism, cartography, surveying, town and regional planning, transport planning, civil service, local government.

Examples of employers talking about Geography graduates include: "Geography produces the kind of rounded candidates we are seeking" (Personnel Manager - International Oil Company). "Geographers have a good mix of skills: practical and theoretical, numeracy and literacy" (Planner). "Geographers fare slightly better than average in making progress in the bank .... their balance of literacy and numeracy skills developed in a wide-ranging discipline are something to do with this" (Recruitment Manager of an International Bank).