Last minute Unit 3 revision for Yr13!

Take a look at this website for some great information on Unit 3 (all topics). Fantastic for some last minute revision! Good luck for tomorrow.

Year 13 Unit 4 Pre-release, 2012

The pre-release EXPLORE and FOCUS themes are now available on the Edexcel website. Remember, the explore idea is about the theme that you should now focus on and the research is more about the examples and case studies that you need to find.

Click the heading to be taken there, although this the information relevant to us......


OPTION 2: Cold Environments – Landscapes and Change
• Explore the processes which shaped the landscape during the Pleistocene within a
region such as the British Isles.
• Research the wide variety of landscapes and landforms created at differing scales by
glacial and periglacial processes within a chosen region.

OPTION 3: Life on the Margins – the Food Supply Problem
• Explore the need for, and effectiveness of, different strategies that are designed to
improve food security.
• Research a range of food security strategies, including ‘sustainable’ ones, at differing
scales and locations.


OPTION 5: Pollution and Human Health at Risk
• Explore the relative health risks from incidental and sustained pollution, and how and
why these vary both spatially and over time.
• Research locations at varying scales and levels of development, that have experienced
or are experiencing health risks from different types of pollution

The Guardian online - Global Development Section

This section of The Guardian on-line newspaper is an excellent resources for all pupils, particularly A-level students. Have a look around it and save the site to your favourites as it will keep you informed of the latest news in terms of World Development. It has case studies of countries and how they're doing in terms of Millennium Development Goals, lots of data that can be searched and graphics to look at and plenty of videos and podcasts to watch and listen (click on image or title to be taken to the site)

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Rising food prices affects the poor- useful for Year 13, Unit 4

A report in June 2011 showed that the poor of the world are being affected much more seriously by rising food costs than any other group. Women appear to be harder hit then men as well.

The report says the world is being divided into "losers" and "winners":
"The losers – those already struggling in low-paid, informal sector occupations such as petty trading, street vending, casual construction work, sex work, laundry, portering and transport – are clearly worse off than last year."

Click on the title for further information and look at the links on that webpage for more about food price increases and the effects on people

Click on the photo to be taken to a graph and data about the rising costs of food around the world.

Unit 4 Life on the Margins (Year 13)

Hopefully you have all been busy working on unit 4, researching and preparing yourselves for the exam. This post is really just to give you some things to think about.

Possible questions they could ask in the exam?

Maybe something along these lines....

1) "Strategies to improve food security have benefits as well as costs". Discuss.

2) Explain why strategies used to increase food production have costs as well as benefits.
3) Evaluate the costs and benefits of strategies to increase food production in order to improve food security.
4) To what extent can food production be increased without any costs?
5) Explain why strategies to increased food production have varied success in improving food security
6) Evaluate the success of a range of strategies designed to increase food production.
7) Assess the impact of strategies to increase food production to improve food security at a range of scales.



Research
Here are some things you may wish to consider (and maybe research further)

Land-grabs article from Guardian (with lots of links to other relevant stories)

Does US Food security strategies go far enough?

When looking at different scales, you should be thinking about strategies to sort food supply/security that are for small areas/villages (small scale/local - maybe something from a NGO like FarmAfrica) to those which are designed to help entire countries (Green Revolution - impacts on places like Thailand, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Mexico or the Cuban Organic farmning example that is linked to later on in this post) and maybe some strategies that could be used on a larger scale/global (such as GM crops)

7 minute video on Cuban Organopnicos
Article on how Cuba have tried to become self sufficient using organic farming

The costs of increasing food supply/security?

Soil erosion/degredation
An article about how use of chemicals on the land in Punjab (India) in order to increase food security has led to soil degradation

You could also look at the effects of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on the environment in Europe. The CAP was set up after WWII in order to ensure Europe never experienced food shortages again (ie improve food security) but many felt that it had a negative impact (economically, socially and environmentally).

Year 13 Human Geographers - Unit 4 (Life on the Margins)

The dates for you to hand in summaries of each Enquiry Question are laid out below. The idea is that you use all your research to sum up the over EQ in a side or two of A4. The point of the summary is so that your teacher can check that you are on the right track in terms of content and understanding. It is not designed as a way of practicing writing in exams - we'll cover this later. Remember that each EQ is made up of smaller questions (parts A, B, C and D and these should be used to help you return to the original overal EQ and write your answer) One of the skills needed is the ability to use the research and pick out what is important - so a short summary is better than something that goes on for 4 pages. You must learn to be selective with the research and information you have used. Don't worry too much about sourcing/referencing at the moment, though you can add these in if you wish. It would be useful to add a bibliogrphy for the summary.

Friday 12th November - hand in summary of EQ1
Tuesday 23rd November - hand in summary of EQ2
Friday 3rd December - hand in summary of EQ3
Thursday 9th December - the date of the pre-release materials (make sure you have got a copy)
Tuesday 14th December - hand in summary of EQ4
Tuesday 1st February 2011 - date of the exam!

Hand this work in by the date shown, preferably typed and sent to staff email addresses
ks.haba@ksn.org.uk (Mr Bains)
ks.refo@ksn.org.uk (Ms Ford)
ks.pesp@ksn.org.uk (Mrs Spooner)
ks.gipa@ksn.org.uk (Mrs Palmer)

We will be practicing and going over things like how to approach the methodology, introduction, essay/report plans and so on in the lead up to the pre-release material being made available. After the Christmas holidays we will start practicing actual Unit 4 exam questions.
Make sure you ask about anything you are unsure of - either in lessons or by email.

And finally, make sure you have looked at the shared area where there are LOADS of useful hints and tips sheets and presentstions. In particular, have a look at the powerpoints produced by Edexcel (our exam board!) as they give you lots of good ideas and information.

Good luck!

Click on the picture to be taken to Amazon.co.uk where you can buy the student guide for Unit 4 for £6.99

More useful sites to visit (in fact these are ESSENTIAL sites to look at):
http://www.wfp.org/hunger/map

http://www.fao.org/hunger/en/

Make sure you explore these sites fully. The bottom one has links to information about food insecurity, the location and prevelance of hunger, the people who are affected and so on.

Pre-release material for unit 4 (Year 13 students)

The pre-release materials will be available on the 9th December 2010. You can find it by following this link.
You will not be able to take this material into the exam with you.

International Aid from the UK to increase

The Government has been cutting spending in an attempt to save money. But it announced that the amount of money being spent on aid for poorer countries will be increased by about 40%. This means that the UK will hit the UN target of 0.7% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) being given as aid within 3 years. Each country has this target, though only a handful have ever managed to meet it. However, aid to China and Russia will be stopped.

Click on the post title to watch a 2 minute clip from the BBC that looks at the issue and opinions.

Click here to read more about this story

Click here to watch a short and simple presentation from the BBC called "Beating Poverty"

Attention Year 13! Colonialism and Neo-colonialism

Your current topic of Superpower Geographies is constantly in the news. Make sure you keep up to date with the changes in power and relationships that are taking place.

This week Nigeria have been celebrating 50 years of independence from their former colonial power - Britain. But how has the last 50 years been for Nigeria? Have they made advances since gaining their freedom?
The link below is for an article about the independence of Nigeria and is worth a read:
Guardian article on Nigeria's 50th year of independence from Britain

And here's another article, from today (2nd October 2010) about the new form of colonalism - in this case China's growing relationship with Africa. China has now overtaken the USA as Africa's number one trading partner. They are more than happy to deal with some of the countries Western countries frown upon (Zimbabwe for example). Read the article by clicking the link below:
Independent newspaper article on China in Africa

Look at the podcast section and you will see more useful information, in a form that you can listen to.

If you click on the title of this post you will see a blog by someone about China and India's battle for supremacy in China. There are 4 parts to to, follow the links at the end of each article.

Attention! Year 12 going into Year 13

How water raises the political temperature between countries

You've had some introduction to the A2 course by now. Below is a part of an article which relates directly to Unit 3 Water Conflicts.

It's well worth reading to prepare yourself.

Fifteen years ago Ismail Serageldin, an Egyptian who was vice-president of the World Bank, shook politicians by predicting that the wars of the 21st century would be fought not over oil or land, but water.
So far he has been proved wrong, but escalating demand for water to grow food and provide drinking water for burgeoning urban populations has raised political tensions between many countries.
To see the whole article click the heading at the top of this post.

Interactive Atlas of the Millenium Development Goals

Have a look at this resource. It has been produced by the World Bank and shows how each country around the world fares against the Millenium Goals. This Online Atlas of the Millenium Development Goals takes each goal and resizes the world map to show the inequalities that currently exist.just click on one of the development goals on the right hand side of the screen, select a map and then resize it by clicking 'play'. The results are fascinating.

How can I revise?

• Flashcards: On small cards, summarise a case study into one (or both) sides of the cards and refer to it regularly. Make sure that you include key facts and number as you condense the case study to fit the card.
• Colour coding: colour code large pieces of text into sections. For example, it could be the social, economic and environmental impacts of the Cardiff Bay redevelopment.
• Memory tests: You could look at an important diagram (eg the cross section of a meander) for 20 seconds, then cover it over and draw what you remember. Then give yourself another 20 seconds to see what you missed and add it in. Eventually, you will be able to draw the sketch without looking at a copy.
• Key words test: You could ask someone to read out 10 definitions and you have to say what the key word is. Then you could try it the other way around which is harder with someone giving you a key word to define.
• Spider diagrams (mind maps): Write a key theme in the centre of an A3 piece of paper. Write the sub-themes around it with important ideas and case studies to back them up. Stick your finished spider diagram somewhere visible where you will be able to refer to it often (e.g. fridge door, bedroom wall).
• Practice exam questions: Look at the examples of past case study questions. Practice writing responses to these questions using the flashcards or colour coded case studies you have created.
• Summarising: Condense a section of text into a set number of bullet points.
• Reading aloud: Read a case study summary aloud, then try to say aloud all the facts and figures you remember without the summary. You could also read your keyword lists aloud.
• Repeated writing: Copy out pieces of information more than one time (five times would be appropriate). The repetition will help you to fix the facts in your memory.

For more revision and study skills tips use the links on the left hand panel.