Graphs, maps and their analysis feature heavily in GCSE geography papers and examinations across all specifications. I put this handy wall display guide together to help my GCSE Geography students identify and describe the most common types of graphs and maps that they may see in the paper 3 examinations. It also gives a brief overview of the advantages and disadvantages of each type of display method- something students often struggle to articulate. It helped middle ability students picks up easy marks in their paper 3 fieldwork examinations and also made a great addition to classroom displays for open evenings and parent’s evenings. I hope you enjoy it! As this is a FREE resource please consider buying a copy of my ebook ’ Time Smart Teaching; 8 Insider Tips that Schools Don’t tell you!

Quiz -Quiz trade is a card trading learning game, encouraging students to ask each other questions in order to learn from one another. A type of peer lead learning. It involves student getting out of their seats and checking other student’s understanding on the topic ’ Living World’ and ecosystems knowledge for AQA exam specification. Tropical Rainforests are a core topic , which means that this content is likely to be more broadly tested in their GCSE Geography examination series. There are 15 separate quiz cards linked to rainforest climate, soils, challenges and characteristics. These quiz cards provide fairly in depth information and responses, and are suited to the middle and higher ability levels generally.

Extreme weather can be defined as atmospheric conditions that lie outside what is normal or expected based on location and previous climatic averages. Some experts argue that climate change is leading to more extreme weather events becoming more common in the UK and globally. This lesson examines the role of the turbulent jet stream as a key influencer on UK climates, and how if it gets ’ stuck’ our weather patterns also become static leading to heatwaves, droughts and flooding. This lesson includes article analysis from the Guardian, the use of the blue Oxford GCSE textbooks to fill in a table plus infographic analysis. Past paper worksheet included. Full lesson.

Landforms along the coast that form as a result of deposition include beaches, spits, bars, salt marshes and sand dunes. This differentiated grid has a higher and middle ability version to allow students a head start if they need it. The sheet is deisgned to be used with ICT / internet so students can follow the weblinks on the sheet to get the required information of landform characteristics and and how they form. This would make an ideal revision/ intervention task for paper 1 ’ UK Physical Landscapes’.

This lesson examines the ways in which we mitigate, or reduce the severaity of the impacts of global climate change using actions on a range of scales. The lesson focus is on the role of the Paris 2015 climate summit, but includes optional update on the USA Trump administration and their retraction on president Obama’s climate promises. This lesson works alongside the use of the blue AQA Oxford GCSE texts books, but could easily be done without.

This lesson is designed to follow on from the Sumatra Earthquake case study lesson to look at how Chile’s preparation planning and protection ( 3 P’s) helped it to cope with the aftermath of the large magnitude earthquake in 2010. Students then have to plan and write a 9 mark question comparing the 2 earthquakes. A detailed help framework and model answers are provided for each level ; basic, clear and detailed.

This detailed resource assesses the social, economic and environmental impacts of the Sumatra Earthquake in Indonesia in 2005. The quake caused a small tsunami and caused major destruction in the islands like Nias off the NW coast. This followed on from the awful boxing day tsunami a few years earlier meant that the country was already struggling to recover. This full lesson develops active reading skills, photo analysis and annotation skills, and helps them to classify effects as social, economic and environmental. This case study will be useful for the Challenge of Natural Hazards section of the Paper 1 exam.

The physical geography of the UK can be briefly split into NW/ SE divide. With glacial valleys and high mountains in the North, and rolling hills and river valleys in the south. This lesson serves as an introduction to the GCSE AQA ‘UK physical landscapes’ topic. The lesson is designed to be used in conjunction with the blue Oxford GCSE Geography textbooks. Students look for map clues at the start to figure out where in the UK the photo was taken. Then they annotate a UK relief map from the powerpoint slides. There is a great True or False additional starter activity too.

The evidence around man made climate change centres around the strong relationship between co2 parts per million in the atmosphere, and the global average temperature. This full lesson examines in depth the data for this correlation and other evidence, such as steady Arctic sea ice decline. There are 2 lessons to choose from, with a mix and match opportunity to select tasks that best fit the needs of your class.

A full lesson on the river lower course with a specific focus on the formation of levees during flood events. There is a recap starter on ox bow lakes.

Coastal mass movements occur when gravity acts on an unstable part of a cliff face which may have been eroded or undercut by destructive wave action. Students on the GCSE geography AQA specification need to know an example or case study of mass movement for their paper 1 examination. This lesson looks at the causes, effects and responses to the landslide at Holbeck Hall, which fell into the sea in 1993. This full lesson includes the overview on the different types of mass movement; rockfall, landslide and rotational slip. It then covers Holbeck Hall and an associated 6 mark exam question with a student-friendly peer assessment mark scheme.

In this 3rd lesson on our cold environments series ’ Pole to Pole’ we explore how the resourceful and hardy ’ Nennet’ tribe have made a lifestyle herding reindeer throughout Siberia, Russia. Students must use their geographical enquiry skills to gather information about the tribe through an information hunt activity, building in kinathstetic learning experiences into the classroom. There is a link to video content from Simon Reeve’s 'Russia ’ series in which he faces frost nip whilst travelling with the tribe.

Volcanoes are weak points in the earth’s crust where plate boundaries appear, and periodically let lava escape to the surface. these can also be found at hotspots. For the GCSE Geography AQA curriculum students need to be aware of 2 main types of volcanoes, where and how they form, and their distinguishing characteristics. this PowerPoint lesson resource assumes a basic level of existing understanding and recaps on the basic structure and eruption characteristics of each. there is a BINGO starter game linked to a video resource. Added challenge for higher ability to explain 3 of their bino words to the group. Following on from this the teacher can talk through the next slides, on parts of a volcano and its layered structure and associated hazards. or print the information out ready for the TRUE or FALSE activity/ grid, which has answers attached. At the end students are prompted to think about which celebrity embodies each type of volcano the most. This is to help them memorize and make connections to enegage in their long term memory for the examinations. Approx lesson length: 45 minutes.

Using a simple 3d slot- in Christmas tree template, this will keep your kS3 geography classes happy and crafting in the festive season. The Christmas tree templates have been adapted on photoshop to show a choice of 3 designs; maps of lapland, images of biomes and flags of the world. Student can also use a blank template to record and reflect on their geographical learning from accross the year. These templates could also easily be used to make geographical themed christmas bunting! Simple and easy to do, but effective and would make a lovely set of classroom displays, ideal for open evenings. These designs will work well photocopied in black and white, and students can add colour themselves to extend the activity and keep photocopying budgets down.

Hot deserts are known for their harsh climates and unforgiving landscapes, yet their are economic and environmental opportunities in these regions in you look closely enough. Water and resource management becomes even more important in the Sahara as drought and desertification takes hold. This 4 lesson bundle covers everything your students need to know about a desert case study for their examination on the ‘Living World’/ Ecosystems’ topic for the AQA exam board specification. The first lesson analysis the climate of the Sahara using a living graph to cut and stick statements around. The second lesson focuses on hidden resources in the Shel, such as oil, minerals and hidden underground aquifers. Students make a chloropeth map to show where these are found. Students will also take part in group work to present to the class about how different plant and animal life has adapted to the harsh conditions of the Sahara desert. In addition, they will sort statements into a venn diagram to classify the various human causes of desertification (climate change, agriculture or population pressure) before summarising their notes into a mindmap. Finally, they will examine a range of approaches in use to combat desertification, and write up a full report of their findings. By the end of these resources you students will have a sound and detailed understanding on the concepts of; Desertification Adaptions Economic opportunities Social, economic and environ aggroforestry They will also attempt exam questions such as; Explain the human causes of desertification Explain how the desert climate impacts upon the people living there

Most countries devise their electricity generation mean through a mix of fossil fuels and renewable energy resources. This A3 revision poster gets students analysing energy mix trends from pie charts located onto the world map. The original map is available as a free download from the EDF energy website; edfenergy.com/energy/education however a large copy is made available on the second slide of the powerpoint. Students answer prompt questions onto the A3 sheet around a copy of the pie-chart map, such as ’ describe the UK’s energy mix’ and also ’ compare the energy mix between the USA and Brazil.’ There are questions designed to make student connect more broadly to the topic ’ Challenge of Resource Management. The energy mix section on this topic is core contact, therefore important for all students to understand. These would make ideal classroom displays or as independent revision work in the lead up to examinations. This worksheet is designed for middle to higher ability students but could be easily adapted for lower abilities with a few prompts/ sentence starters here and there.

Advent calendars are traditionally associated with the December count down to 25th, Christ’s birthday. At the end, kids can look forward to earnings their biggest chocolate on Christmas day. This advent calender is perfect to use with years 7 8 and 9 in the final classes before the festive break. These can be used as mini starters, or take up the whole lesson. The answers to the questions on each day are provided, so make sure you have small chocolates or candy to give out for any students who complete and self mark their quiz. There is a mixture of vocab, general knowledge, map skills, locational knowledge throughout plus all important literacy. anagrams. Use this resource in conjunction with my original ’ 3D stand up geography christmas trees’ to get a fabulous festive geography display going in your classroom.

This is a short ( 3 mins approx) mid-unit test to check students understanding on the concept of sustainable tourism. It could also easily be set as a classwork or homework task. Students must show they can define sustainable tourism, explain the negative impacts of mass tourism, and annotate an ecolodge with its sustainable features. This was originally written for year 9 as an introduction to the Unit 1 travel and Tourism Btec course ( and unit 1 examination). It could also easily be used for Ks3 Geography. Would go well with my other resource on ’ Sustainable tourism & Ecolodges’.